Kwara Internal Revenue Service Rakes N23bn

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin.
The Executive Chairman, Kwara State Internal Revenue Services (KWIRS), Professor Muritala Awodun, has disclosed that the agency raked in N23 billion in 2018.

He, however, said “We know we are not there yet, our potential internally generated revenue (IGR) projection in 2015 was N5 billion monthly. if we are just at N2 billion, we are not there yet.”

The KWIRS boss made the declaration in Ilorin during the agency’s annual interaction with journalists on its activities in the previous year.
He said though the agency had increased the state IGR from the N6 million monthly it inherited in 2015, to N2 billion, the agency aimed at achieving N5 billion monthly.

He said the state had moved up to the ninth position, out of the 36 states, in terms of the top revenue generating states in the country.
He added that, the state was ranked second after Lagos by Africa’s Report Index which according to him, was based on the state’s success in poverty reduction, access to electricity, Ease of Doing Business, amongst others.

Speaking on the community impact activities of the revenue agency, Awodun said 723 direct jobs have so far been created by the agency in addition to 2,500 indirect jobs created.

On project and infrastructure development, the revenue boss said 40 projects that were abandoned before the coming on board of the agency due to dwindling resources have been completed with additional new ones being commissioned across the state.
He said the projects were made possible with the Infrastructure Fund (I-Fk) fund of the state government which mandates the agency to commit N500 million monthly.

AMCON MD, 15 Others Win Award

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Ahmed Lawan Kuru, was among the recipients of the ‘Businessday Excellence in Public Service Awards 2018.’
A statement explained that Kuru was one of the 16 public and civil servants that were recognised and honoured by the newspaper at an event that took place in Abuja recently.
Reading the citation of Kuru before he was presented the award, which was received on his behalf by Mr. Jude Nwauzor, Head, Corporate Communications, AMCON, the organisers said Kuru deserved to be celebrated because under his watch at the helm of affairs at AMCON, the corporation has sharpened its focus on recovery of debts, while keeping a disciplined check on its operating expenses.
It pointed out that the corporation under Kuru has made some ingenious decisions that have helped the government recovery agency a great deal.
One of such, according to them was that the corporation resorted to using firmer resolution strategies as well as the special enforcement powers vested in it by the AMCON Act 2010 (as amended), which has recorded impressive success in compelling recalcitrant debtors, especially those that are politically exposed and business heavyweights, to meet their obligations.
“In addition to its resolution mandate, AMCON through its interventions has saved several tens of thousands of jobs of Nigerians, who would have lost their livelihoods if their employers had been forced to close down, amongst other achievements too numerous to mention,” the statement added.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, recently praised the leadership of AMCON led by Kuru for doing all within their powers to recover bad debts from some individuals that are holding the Nigerian economy to ransom.
The Minister while reminding the public that AMCON was set up as a result of the global financial crisis, which destroyed the financial sector across the globe including Nigeria, however said she was happy because AMCON against all odds has been able to recover over N1trillion from inception to date.