You Lied, acting chairman Nasarawa Board of Internal Revenue Tells House Committee On Finance And Appropriation

Rabiu Omaku

The acting chairman of the Nasarawa State Board of Internal Revenue, Usman Okposhi has debunked in strong term the allegation of embezzlement of Internally Generated Revenue by the committee on Finance and Appropriation in state House of Assembly.

The chairman hinted this during a stakeholders forum held at Taal conference hotel, Lafia, he reacted that the board has a central collection centre not as the Assembly allege.

“The Assembly did not do their findings very well by saying there was embezzlement of IGR as well lack of central collection centre, he also debunked the report alleging that taxes and revenue were not accounted for” saying is a mere allegation meant to ridicule the board”.

Okposhi said the board of Internal Revenue is on ground to give vivid details of their collection if the need arise, the chairman also said go ahead and write your report and I will react to it.

But investigation conducted revealed that revenue generated from Nasarawa Geographic Information System (NAGIS) and that all revenue from the ministry of land and Survey is not capture by the board, which are the custodian of taxpayers money.

It was also gathered that taxes and revenue collected from private school operators are not capture ,this give rise to instability and lack of central collection centre of IGR, this continued to affect revenue generation in the state.

It was gathered that there was upshot of revenue collection from the inception of the APC regime in the state, insider revealed that not less than N350 was generated from PAYE, followed by NAGIS which generated N1.5bn within last year, another source of IGR is the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.

The acting chairman of the committee, Hon.Isa Sani (APC) representing Obi 1 when contacted on phone said the report of the House committee on Finance and Appropriation was a true reflection of what transpired in the revenue board.

According to the committee’s report said there was instability in revenue generation, lack of central collection centre and embezzlement of IGR, the committee in its report during this year’s passage of budget urged the state Government to explore ways of improving on the Internally Generated Revenue.