Interswitch Moves to Boost IGR in Northern States

James Emejo and Deborah Adesoba in Abuja

Leading integrated payments and digital commerce company, Interswitch, has said it is working with Internally Revenue Services (IRS) in the Northern states to help them leverage technology to increase their domestic revenue base.

According to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Northern states are lagging behind their southern counterparts in terms of the value of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) they collect.

Speaking in Abuja at an engagement forum with State Revenue Boards – Northern Region to discuss revenue collection and growth strategies using technology, Regional Head, North and Abuja Business, Interswitch Group, Mr. Thomas Ezeh, said despite the challenges of insecurity, infrastructure, knowledge and operational gaps which are impacting states’ ability to increase IGR, “We see challenges and we also see opportunities and we hope to harness these opportunities as we move on”.

He said what is currently generated in states represented only a percentage of their potential, which can further be optimised by deploying appropriate solutions.

Ezeh said technology remained critical to improving their revenue collection as well as plugging leakages and addressing corruption.

He said, “One of our major activities in the states is to help them collect their revenues and so we work with the IRS of the states and we felt it is a good time to call them together and discuss and share thoughts with them.”

Ezeh added that the technology company has continued to champion the automation of revenue generation using innovative solutions such as the Treasury Single Account (TSA) solution that facilitates the consolidation of revenue from states’ revenue collection bodies.

On his part, Group Head, Government and Mass Transit Business, Interswitch, Mr. Osasere Atohengbe, told THISDAY in an interview that the objective was to help plug leakages and optimise the various potentials that exist between the respective verticals in the states’

He said Interswitch would also bring visibility to the government’s business, including analytics and intelligent decision-making.

He noted that the company’s intervention in revenue collection dated back to over 10 years when it helped the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to optimise its services as well as helped over 30 states of the federation to optimise the services that they provide, bringing visibility and transparency and helping to plug leakages.