Kano revenue board targets N10b monthly income

Victims Support Fund donates N40m to blast survivors

THE newly appointed chairman of Kano State Revenue Board, Sani Abdulkadir Dambo, has promised to shore up the state’s revenue generation to N10 billion monthly, stressing that he would also make maximum utilisation of the informal sector for efficient tax collection.

He disclosed this at an interactive session in his office. Dambo highlighted that the current revenue figure of the state which is between N1 billion and N2 billion monthly was realised from the employed population in the state, which according to him did not make up to 20 percent of the total number of people in the state.

“Most of the tax collected in the state is from Pay As You Earn (PAYE). So we can ask where is the personal income tax? What is the population of workers in the state compared to other business community, artisans, small scale businesses and lots more?” he asked.

According to him, tax enlightenment programmes should be encouraged, apart from utilising the informal sector of the economy, with the aim of maximising monthly revenue drive.

He emphasised that, “When people are fully enlightened on the importance and necessity of fulfilling their obligations as patriotic citizens in paying taxes for the development of the state, I am assuring you that we can realise up to N10 billion per month.”

On the partnership between the state government and development partners from within and outside the country, the revenue board boss assured that they would continue synergy with them in the interest of the state.

“We are ready to continue working with the development partners like DFID and others. We learnt a lot of things from them that are very useful and beneficial for our state. We get new initiatives and methods in tax administration from them,” Dambo stated.

The use of consultants in revenue generation, according to him, was a good initiative for the state revenue administration. “That is why you find consultants in revenue generation in USA, UK and other developed states,” he added.

“Consultants are there as just advisors, not for them to collect taxes from tax payers. It is consultants who will give you graphic illustration of how to get more revenue. So synergy between consultants and our workers will help the state get more revenue for executing development projects,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Victims Support Fund has donated the sum of N40 million to victims of the recent Kano market attack, who sustained injuries and are receiving treatment at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital.

Revealing this during a visit to the two hospitals, the Executive Director of the Fund, Professor Sunday Ochoche, who led the team said they were in Kano to commiserate with the government, the victims and the people of the state over the incident at Farm Centre mobile phone market.

“The Fund gave N20 million to each of the two hospitals we visited, making a total of N40 million. We are all here to assist the victims and bring succour to the injured people,” he disclosed.

He said to encourage judicious use of the donations, the Fund would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the hospitals involved on how the money would be expended.

“The MoU would clearly state how the intervention should be distributed among the victims for their immediate medical needs and attention. After signing the MoU I am assuring you that the money would be handed over to them within 24 hours,” Ochoche stated.

He added that before the visit to Kano they had visited 14 hospitals in some north eastern states and the sum of N200 million was given to the affected victims. “We have given out N240 million so far to the affected victims, including the N40 million given to hospitals in Kano,” he explained.