NewsDirect 12th Award Ceremony: Benue Revenue Boss to bag recognition honour

By Titus Atondu, Makurdi

As the 2022 Nigerian NewsDirect 12th Anniversary Lecture and Award ceremony is counting days from now, the Award Committee has confirmed the resolution to bestow a recognition award on the Executive Chairman, Benue State Internal Revenue Service’s (BIRS), Chief (Mrs.), Mimi Adzape Orubibi, a development she has confirmed with her participation at the event.

Chief Mimi Orubibi was nominated for the 2022 NewsDirect Award of Excellence as Revenue Administrator of the Year by the 12th Award Committee of Nigerian NewsDirect Newspaper, the most authoritative daily national newspaper providing accurate news from source.

This  followed its findings which revealed the depth and volume of innovative contributions capped with strategic procedures adopted by her leadership as the Chairman of Benue State Internal Revenue Services to sustain and maintain a very vibrant and result oriented revenue system in the State.

An acceptance letter addressed to the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Nigerian NewsDirect titled  RE: NOTICE OF NOMINATION FOR THE 2022 NEWSDIRECT AWARD written  and signed by the Media Assistant to the Executive Chairman, Jacob Suswam, said, “I write to convey to you the esteemed acceptance of the Executive Chairman’s nomination for an award by your organisation at the 12th anniversary lecture and award ceremony.”

The letter further stated, “I also wish to confirm to you the Chairman’s  acceptance to the award as scheduled.”

The letter concluded, “Please accept the Chairman’s appreciation for the recognition and nomination and assurances of her warmest regards.”

Chief (Mrs) Mimi Adzape-Orubibi was born to the Royal family of Late Chief James Ityowua Adzape and Mrs Patricia Nyion Adzape of Kumakwagh, Turan in present day Kwande Local Government of Benue state.

With parents who were passionate about education, Mrs. Orubibi attended some of the best schools around at the time, beginning with Robert F Kennedy Nursery and Primary school Gboko for her primary education, after which she proceeded to Divine Love Catholic Girls Secondary School, Katsina-Ala where she passed out with flying colours.

She began her career as a tax expert with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in 2001 after graduating from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria with a degree in economics, and a Masters Degree from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.

Through dint of hard work and dedication, she rose to the position of Manager Tax, and in 2011 and 2012, Mrs Orubibi capped her distinguished career with FIRS by winning the award of The Best Staff in the whole of the South-South Geopolitical Zone owing to her outstanding performances in assigned tasks and responsibilities.

The confident and competent tax expert was appointed as the Executive Chairman Benue State Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) in 2015, by Governor Samuel Ortom, and is credited with introducing technological innovations among other achievements, that brought transparency and accountability in revenue collections in Benue State, thereby increasing the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

This earned her an award in 2017 by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) IGR Desk as the best in transparency and accountability.

Her sterling acumen in the business of Taxation equally earned her national recognition as she was made a member of the Presidential Committee on the Review of the National Tax Policy, 2016.

In 2018, Chief Orubibi ventured into active politics and contested the senatorial position of Benue North-East Zone as the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) where she garnered over 80,000 votes to come second as a first timer and defeated the then incumbent Senator Barnabas Gemade with a wide margin of over 50,000 votes in third position.

And in November 2021, Mrs. Orubibi was again appointed by Governor Samuel Ortom to head the revenue agency of the State as the Executive Chairman owing to her outstanding previous performance, and within the time on the saddle, the tax expert has stepped up monitoring of revenue collection activities that have led to incredible improvement in the revenue profile of the state.

She has also within the period initiated the digitalisation and automation of tax processes, procedures, administration and enforcement by adopting digital technology to enhance collection and enforcement in line with the Joint Tax Board, JTB’s directive for the automation of all tax processes by 2025.

These improvements recently earned Benue State a standing ovation at the recently concluded 4th Technical meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum for IGR Desk officers in Abuja, and also has the State ranked second in North-Central and 23 in the Country in the JTB Sub-National data performance on Internally generated revenue, which is a significant improvement from previous rankings.

Also, the service under her watch has deployed the following automation processes; an electronic accounting procedure comprising accounting for non-current assets, accounting for expenditures, accounting for human resources; a Tax Manager for online revenue collection processes and taxpayer data warehouse; monitoring and investigation of field staff using body cams; e-filing system to warehouse all documents and avoid file perforation.

Also, within the said period, she lobbied the Benue State House of Assembly and got amendments to the Benue State Revenue Administration Law 2015 to reflect present realities. The amended law now captures new revenue items that were hitherto neglected, and most importantly streamlined revenue administration in the State in conformity with the Federal laws.

Chief (Mrs) Mimi Adzape-Orubibi is a crusader for justice and a well  known philanthropist who has contributed immensely in the development of several communities, and empowered several youths and women.

She has carried out several medical outreaches, and funded the education of so many youths particularly the girl-child through scholarships.

With her track record in public and service to humanity, she was awarded a traditional title as the Iwanger I Kwande (meaning, the light of the Kwande people), and Adadiromma 1 of Eha Etiti kingdom in Enugu State all in recognition of her great contributions to the society.

The Tax Amazon who is a devoted Christian and a great mother of four children, is a member of several professional bodies like, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria (ICEN), Institute of Management (NIM) among others.

Chief Adzape-Orubibi has also received several reputable awards, with the most recent from the Nigerian Bar Association, Makurdi branch, as an Amazon of Taxation during her law week celebration, 2022 and an award of Excellence by the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Political Science Department. She has attended several workshops, trainings and seminars within and outside Nigeria.

She speaks English and Tiv languages fluently, and has travelled to several countries around the world.