Date: 2018-08-16

Dr Muritala Awodu, Chairman, Kwara Internal Revenue Service, said on Wednesday that the revenue agency generated N10.32billion as revenue between January and June.

The chairman, who made this known in Ilorin during the quarterly media briefing of the KWIRS, said that N3.8billion was realised as revenue between the months of April to June 2018.

Giving a breakdown of the performance of KWIRS in second quarter, Awodu said the sum of N1.3billion was realised in April, N1.2billion in May, while the sum of N1. 3billion was collected as revenue in June.

He added that the revenue body generated N6.44b in the first quarter of 2018.

The chairman said that the service has contributed about N13. 5billion to the state's special Infrastructure Development Fund since the fund was inaugurated in September 2016.

Awodu added said the evolution of IF-K has significantly assisted the state in executing capital projects across the state.

He said the service now remits N530million to the fund on monthly basis, up from the initial N500million remittance.

He said: "In 2015, there were over 60 projects abandoned across the state and there was no money but with the coming on board of the fund all the projects were completed.

"Given the available scenario in 2016, government would not have been able to start any new project. "However, with the IF-K, government was able to start several new projects and most of them are still ongoing across the state."

Awodu acknowledged the influence of the political environment on operations of KWIRS, adding that his team has put in place strategies to ensure the continued success of the service in coming years.

The chairman added that KWIRS has started the process of international certification in quality management system and business continuity management.

Awodu said: "We are going to be the first Revenue Agency in Nigeria to do this and we expect that by the end of this quarter we would have been certified.

"The essence of this is that whoever comes into the system would have a seamless process that does not depend on an individual to succeed." Awodu added that KWIRS has spent N52million on various community impact projects across the state, out of the N100million budgeted for such projects in 2018.