Abia BIR Targets N1bn IGR In 2019

The Executive Chairman, Abia Board of Internal Revenue, Chief Udochukwu Ogbonna, has said that the agency is targeting to make N1 billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by 2019.
Ogbonna said this in an interview with newsmen on Monday in Umuahia.
He said that the board had introduced some reforms and measures to check the activities of illegal revenue agents and blocked all the leakages.
He said that the reforms included the harmonisation of revenue collection in the state and eliminating illegal revenue agents.
According to him, the harmonisation has yielded tremendous result with more than 70 per cent increase in the monthly revenue profile of the state.
“Our target is to achieve about 300 per cent increase, which would give the state about N1 billion monthly.”
He said that the state House of Assembly had passed a law which empowered the agency to solely collect tax for the state.
Ogbonna said that all revenues collected by the board were paid into the state government’s consolidated revenue account.
He declined to disclose the current monthly revenue status of the state, saying that it was not in his powers to do so.
He blamed Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for issuing letters to agents to collect revenue on their behalf, in spite of the extanct law.
He said that the development was causing confusion and described the activites of illegal revenue agents as inimical to the interest of the state.
He alleged that the monies the agents collected from unsuspecting residents did not get into the state coffers but private pockets.
“We have written to the Police urging them to stop entertaining any letters from the agents, allegedly issued to them by the MDAs.”
Ogbonna warned residents to desist from paying cash to agents, saying that every payment should be made to the state’s bank account.