Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Executive Chairman of the Edo Internal Revenue Services (EIRS) Otunba Oladele Bankole-Balogun has revealed that the state’s Internally Generated Revenue increased has increased to a staggering N79 billion.
Bankole-Balogun, who disclosed this in an interview, said the state’s IGR as at the end of August was N74bn, pointing out that it has climaxed to N79bn by September ending.
According to him, the state government had deployed technology and innovation that would help it to meet up targeted N100bn in Internally Generated Revenue by December ending.
He disclosed that the EIGR has made tremendous gains in the area of increasing the state IGR and being able to manage some of the challenging issues with tax evasion and tax avoidance.
Bankole-Balogun said the state was making steady progress through audit processes, assessments and good use of the courts.
He said the current administration of Monday Okpebholo inherited a virtually non-existent digitalized system.
He said his team was working assiduously to totally digitalize collections in Edo State such that in the near future, cash collections and manual collections would be reduced to the barest minimum.
His words, “At the moment, the Edo State Internal Revenue Service is making tremendous gains in the area of increasing the IGR of this state. There are so many components to our taxation and each and every part of this mix is seeing significant improvement as compared to last year in review.
“There are some other companies that are lined up and individuals lined up somewhere. It has been traditionally difficult, as you say, to come to grips with high net worth individuals. They have all the resources to evade and avoid tax, but we’re on top of it.”
He expressed the state preparedness for the new tax regime from January 1st, 2026.
He continues: “As you know, the new tax regime that will come in on the 1st of January 2026 places very little emphasis on the low income and places a lot of emphasis on the high income. Our objective is to tap into the high net worth individuals who are able to pay much more than the lower income so as to harness that group and maximize the potential from the group.
“Digitalization is on top of it. Tax bodies on top of it. The FIRS, which will now be the Federal Revenue Service, is also on top of it. The Edo State Internal Revenue Service is also on top of it.
“Technology will help and as you know TINs, BDNs and NINs are going to be critical to doing any financial transaction in Nigeria from the 1st of January.
“So all of these mechanisms put together, hopefully, will help us to be able to get more from these people who can pay more actually to give everybody a better life.“