Kaduna targets N3.5b monthly IGR – Commissioner

The Kaduna State Government is targeting N3.5 billion monthly Internally Generated Revenue, the state Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Muhammad Abdullahi, has said.
Abdullahi told the News Agency of Nigeria that the state generated N1.6 billion in July, which doubled the N700 million and N800 million generated in November and December in 2015.
Muhammad Abdullahi said: “We think Kaduna State can generate N3.5 billion a month and we are confident we would get there. This is not a theory; it is practical.
“We are at N1. 6 billion now and confident that by this time next year, we will hit at least N3 billion.”
The commissioner said plans had been concluded to build a strong revenue service with brilliant team to actualize the N3.5 billion IGR target.
Abdullahi said a world-class consultant had been hired to achieve this, adding that the effort was already yielding positive result.
He explained that the state was able to double its IGR in the past few months by not imposing a single tax.
In fact the new tax law that we have passed reduces some tax rates; we only improved efficiency in tax collection.
Abdullahi Muhammad further explained that: “What was happening in the past was that most of what government is collecting as revenue does not end up in government accounts.
“There was sloppiness in the collection processes and a lot of diversion of the resources.
“Therefore, what we did was to close the gaps, such that only the state revenue service is empowered to collect revenue.”
Abdullahi said that the Kaduna State Government was advertising contracts while other states were struggling to pay basic salaries because the state had cut the cost of governance.
He said: “We APC government are committed to ensuring that resources are moved away from government to the people that get the government elected to deliver services.”