Akwa Ibom to digitise tax collection in 2025

Akwa Ibom State Revenue Service said it would commence full digitalisation of all tax collection processes in the state beginning from the 2025 fiscal year.

The executive chairman of the service, Mr Okon Okon, stated this while briefing newsmen in Uyo, the state capital, on Sunday to highlight a two-day strategic session for the 2025 fiscal year.

He said the board, in its bid to boost revenue generation in the state, plans to roll out electronic assessment, e-tax clearance process, e-filing of tax returns, and automation of registration and reporting processes.

He said, “We are pleased to inform our public that we will be speeding up on our digitalisation programme next year by further expanding the automation of our processes and deepening our data-driven initiatives.

“This is to significantly improve our operational efficiency and increase the State’s IGR without increasing any tax rate.

“We are confident that without increasing any tax rate, the IGR of our State would be improved via the application of technology, increased tax awareness campaign, and the expansion of the tax net to capture tax evaders.

“Therefore, our focus for the next fiscal year would be to transform our processes from a semi-manual system to full automation. We intend to achieve an end-to-end automation of all our tax processes.

“AKIRS plans to roll-out electronic assessment, e-tax clearance process, e-filing of tax returns, automation of registration, collection and reporting processes with the ultimate aim of enhancing efficiency in revenue collection, taxpayers’ experience and minimisation of human interference”.

While assuring the people that the revenue service would be cautious not to embark on any initiatives that will stifle business growth or create an unnecessary burden on individual taxpayers,

Okon said that the board will upscale its ongoing tax sensitisation and enlightenment campaign to raise awareness on tax payment as a civic responsibility and deepen voluntary compliance in the state

He said Akwa Ibom has been performing creditably well in its revenue profile over the years, adding that the State’s IGR rose from N34.75 billion in 2022 to N43.18 billion in 2023 as indicated in the figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics and Joint Tax Board, the apex body for tax authorities and final authority for reporting tax revenues in Nigeria.

He also disclosed that the state ranked among the top 10 in IGR performance in Nigeria in 2023, coming 4th among the nine States of the Niger Delta in the recently released ranking published by the NBS.

“Our IGR trend shows significant and steady growth, with about 170 percent increase over the past six years, rising from N15.96 billion in 2017 to N43.18 billion in 2023,” Okon said

He attributed the growth to significant governance reforms by the state Government, improvement in corporate governance, and operational processes by the Board and the business-enabling environment created by the administration of Governor Umo Eno.