By Dare Akogun
The Social Democratic party in Kwara State has described the allegations of N8billion fraud against the chairperson, Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS), Mrs Shade Omoniyi as a confirmation of its Governorship Candidate, Alhaji Hakeem Oladimeji Lawal’s position on revenue generation.
The Directorate of Media Strategic Communications Kwara SDP in a statement issued today and copy made available to Sobi FM noted that Hakeem Lawal had during the gubernatorial candidates debate last month, pledged to reduce activities of consultants along the revenue generation line to reduce cost, improve staff welfare and get more resources for the development of the State.
The leading opposition party maintained that the engagement of KW-IRS Chairperson’s husband for revenue generation shows the sharp practices, insincerity and high-handedness in the revenue generation line.
According to a story published on Sahara Reporters, the Chairperson who was appointed to succeed Professor Muritala Awodun in October 2019 had inherited a platform called Amanda, but dissatisfied with the former consultant providing this platform, disengaged their service and replaced them with an arrangement through her husband’s IT company to commence operations from January 2020.
“The arranged firm was offered a commission of 15 percent on the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collections of the state from what is termed spendable IGR which is about 45 percent of total collections, and 10 percent commission on the non-spendable IGR collections of the State,”
In 2020, KWIRS’s IGR figure was N19.6 billion, and the Project Phoenix consultant (Compumetrics Solutions Limited) was paid about N2.2 billion in commission, despite the fact that the platform had yet to be deployed because they were experimenting throughout the year.
KWIRS generated IGR of N26 billion in 2021, and the consultant received a commission of N2.8 billion. KWIRS reported collecting IGR of N23 billion in the first three quarters of 2022 as of September 2022.
Hakeem Lawal while speaking at Governorship Debate organised by Kwara Tabloid, an interactive platform for stakeholders from different sectors, projected N10billion monthly Internally Generated Revenue for the state.
According to him, the current monthly Internally Generated Revenue of Kwara State is about N2billion monthly including non-spendable. This is still low compare to overhead and resources needed for infrastructural development, salaries and other financial commitment of the state.
“What our administration would do is to reduce activities of consultants in revenue generation and motivate staff of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS). This help the state accrue more revenue because consultants will take percentage. We will improve staff welfare and reward excellent performance of civil servants.” he added.
The party took note of the watery rejoinder from KW-IRS this morning and urged the people of the state to raise their antenna of monitoring and alert, adding that the Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress have failed Kwarans, and the voters need to support credible alternative with roadmap for kwara transformation.
It averred that SDP remains the new face of Kwara progress and liberation and urged Kwarans to vote enmasse for it’s candidate, Hakeem Lawal who possesses academic qualifications, experience and native intelligence to grow Kwara economy.
