In its bid to realise the ongoing reform programmes in the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service, the governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, yesterday banned all forms of manual collection of revenues in the state.
Governor Ugwuanyi stated that the order was in line with the current realities in the sector.
The governor who was speaking at the commissioning of the Revenue Centre in Enugu, as well as the launch of the Government Revenue Automation Project and the release of operational vehicles, said the era of manual collection of government revenues was over.
He also, directed the state Internal Revenue Service to ensure that it eliminates manual processes in its operations, stressing that the new order was the automation of all activities in the collection of revenues.
Such revenues, he said, included enumeration, assessment, collections and issuance of tax clearance certificates, levies, fees and other non-tax revenues by various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government.
Ugwuanyi said the objective of the project was to permanently plug all loopholes through which government funds leak to private pockets, eliminate corruption and ensure that all revenues are properly accounted for in a transparent and accountable manner.
He noted that his administration at inception presented a four-point agenda for the actualisation of the socio-economic vision of the state, adding that the state government has implemented the agenda to the letter resulting in the rapid and sustainable improvement in the living standards of Enugu people.
He further disclosed that the effect of paucity of funds to execute government’s development agenda due to the dwindling resources of the state’s federal allocation caused by drop in global oil prices, led his administration to embark on “a plethora of policies and measures designed to aggressively exploit all sources of internally generated revenues (IGR) in the state”.
