Government introduces e-payment of taxes to plug leakages

The Kaduna State Government said on Tuesday that it had replaced physical collection of taxes with e-payment as part of efforts to block leakages in revenue collection in the state.

Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai stated this at a dinner organised by the state’s Ministry of Budget and Planning.

According to him, the measure is to block all leakages in all areas to ensure that every penny collected would count.

“We have banned physical collection of taxes by public servant and centralised the collection of all tax electronically, through the state’s Board of Internal Revenue.

“Our goal is to be able to block the about 45 per cent leakages in our revenue collection system to improve capital development in the state.”

El-Rufai added that to hike revenue generation, the government had also taken step to computerise land ownership in the state such that land owners could get title and pay something to the government.

He said the administration had taken necessary steps to cut cost of governance and direct resources to where it really mattered.

“From day one, my administration has realised that the problem of oil prices could continue.

“We took steps to cut cost of running the government, reduced overhead and focus our investment in education, healthcare, agriculture, job opportunities and security where we think it matters.

“For example, in spite of the financial difficulties, we are renovating about 400 public schools and are equipping the 255 primary health centres and 23 general hospitals in the state.

“We are rehabilitating our township road and feeding our school children to make sure they remain in school.

“These are large outlets of money, but we are able to do that because we are plugging leakages, cutting cost and ensuring that our money doesn’t go to just political appointees and civil servants to have a good time.

“We are starving the government of the usual things that they used to so that we can put our money in education, health care and so on.''

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the state government had in August requested the public to submit a two-page document on any idea in any sector that would move the state forward.

About 478 entries were received out of which 15 were selected by a credible screening committee chaired by the Head of Kaduna Business School, Dr. Dahiru Sani, and would be included in the state four-year development plan.