Bauchi targets over N70bn IGR yearly

Rauf Oyewole, Bauchi

The Bauchi State Government has tasked the newly inaugurated Board of Internal Revenue Generation to improve on the current N30 billion annual revenue generation to over N70 billion for the development of the state.

While speaking shortly after the inauguration of the Board on Monday, the Executive Chairman of Bauchi Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), Alh. Mu’azu Usman said that the administration of Governor Bala Mohammed has increased the revenue of the state from N6 billion in 2018 to over N30 billion as at 2023.

Usman said, “We recognise the resolution of the governor in the area of revenue generation and the revenue target being given is realistic because we know the potential in the state and if utilised properly, the state will be financially independent. Over 15 years of this board, our vision is to make the state financially buoyant.

“Looking at the records, when this government came on board in 2019, the IGR collection was just N6.5 billion yearly, now we have raised it to over N30bn annually, this is through the efforts of the governor.”

He urged the residents of the state to be more committed to their civic responsibility of tax payment to make the government’s projections on paper a reality.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu, said that the Governor has many expectations from the Board. Adding that the board has been charged to fund some projects being awarded in the state. According to him, a bond of N100bn was raised last year and he said the project would be financed with the IGR not federal allocation.

“The Governor’s projection is for us to generate between N5bn and N7bn monthly. This is a challenge to us. We have made a lot of changes in our IGR base. We have changed our consultants and made recommendations to the Governor who gave us approval to look for another competent consultant,” Adamu said.