Lagos rakes in N436 billion internal revenue

The Lagos State government recorded N312.820billion as last year’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, spoke yesterday at a media briefing in Alausa, Ikeja.

The commissioner said the new IGR, represented 75 per cent of government’s projection and 72 per cent of total revenue.
He said the state recorded N247.946 billion, representing 80 per cent of the projection and 69 per cent of the total revenue in 2015.

Ashade said the State Revenue Service (LIRS), in 2016, raked in N247.022 billion, representing 80 per cent of the estimate, 79 per cent of the total IGR and 57 per cent of total revenue, compared to N225.041 billion, which represented 81 per cent of the estimate, 79 per cent of IGR and 56 per cent of total revenue in 2015.

The commissioner said LIRS achieved the feat because of the strategic reforms it introduced in revenue collection.

He said the reforms included a revision of tax Form , which he said was redesigned from a six-page modular to a two-page form with three language options of Yoruba, English and Pidgin; introduction of electronic submission of annual returns and activation of one per cent statutory incentive for voluntary compliance and self-assessment.

Ashade said LIRS was listing tax payers in the informal sector in the 57 local government and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to build a robust data base that would enable the government increase revenue generation capacity.

According to him, the tax agency has begun deploying technology to report consumption tax transactions online real time through what he called fiscalisation of consumption tax to attract more tax payers.

Ashade said: “We have continued to make use of advocacy and publicity campaigns to enlighten tax payers on the payment process and procedures.”

The commissioner said the campaign contributed to the increase the state recorded in the land use charge (LUC), which increased from N6,244,821,023 in 2015 to N7,156,883,229 in 2016.

He added that the success story continued as the LUC collection in the first quarter of this year stood at N3,990,690,508.

Ashade said: “As part of our engagement with tax payers, the ministry participated in the 2016 Lagos International Trade Fair to sensitise the public on the need to pay their taxes/levies, particularly the land use charge, and to showcase services rendered by the state government to its citizenry.”

He said the government, in the year under review, successfully acquired the former Elephant Cement House at the Central Business District in Ikeja, adding that the structure, named Lagos Revenue House, would consolidate the one-stop shop policy of the Akinwunmi Ambode administration.