Ondo Revenue Service generates N30.8bn in 2021

Ondo State Internal Revenue Service (ODIRS) on Thursday said that it generated N30.8 billion in the year 2021.

The Executive Chairman of the Service, Mr Tolu Adegbie, stated this in Akure on Thursday when students of Tax Club under Private and Property Law Department of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo, paid him a visit on excursion.

According to Adegbie, the service generated N10.9 billion in 2017, while it generated N24.7 billion in 2018.

The chairman said that in 2019, the agency generated N30.1 billion and only had a reduction in 2020 due to global COVID-19 pandemic but still garnered N24.8 billion.

Adegbie said the revenue service had over the years improved on the old ways of revenue generation to digital way with more efficiency and ease.

The Chairman said that N200 million was generated from people staying in the government forest reserve in the year 2021.

He noted that when the Revenue House was to be built, the agency generated N6 billion outside the normal revenue to build a standard Revenue House.

Adegbie noted that an area that had not been tapped properly was the area of revenue law where the future of revenue generation lies.

He said that the service had an efficient system with a developed Information Communication Technology (ICT) capacity, functional legal department and youthful staff to drive the dream of the service.

“Two weeks ago, we locked up three hotels and two event centres for not paying consumption tax. Everyone was calling up and down and I said No.

“We got court orders and they were locked up by the court bailiff.

“So what you are doing is very important when it comes to taxation. It is the basis of what we do here,” he said.

The Head of Department, Public and International Law, Dr Joseph Aremo, noted that members of the Tax Club were final year students that were dreaming to be tax consultants.

Aremo appreciated the leadership of the service for running the Revenue House in a highly professional way.

A Lecturer in the Department of Public and International Law, Mrs Anthonia Oloko, said the excursion was important for the students to learn the practical aspect of taxation.

A Student of Private and Property Law,, Elizade University, Mr Olalere Popoola, said the excursion had been an eye-opener and improved their knowledge of what had been learnt in the class.

The students later visited the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).