By Sam Kayode
The Chairman of the Borno Revenue Board, Prof Bello Alhaji, has said that almost 50% of revenue meant to get to the government never got to the vault before he assumed duty as chairman.
Speaking to METROWATCH on his major challenges, the Prof said that immediate efforts have been made to correct such anomalies so that the loopholes will be covered.
As at the time of conducting this interview in his office, the state internally generated revenue (IGR) had risen so fast that it would have been competing with the medium players in the North-east and warming up soon to catch up with Kaduna and Kano but for the insurgency still grinding the northern senatorial zone and the lake Chad region of the state
On achievements, Professor Bello Alhaji noted that in less than six months in office, he had doubled the tax base of the state as he met it adding that he was not new to the pattern of tax matters.
“Actually I am not a new comer in the financial business i actually assumed duty from Borno Renaissance Micro Finance Bank in July 2023 and hit the ground running since I came here.
“I was the MD and chief executive officer so you can understand where I am coming from as an insider of the finances of the state government. We know when there are leakages and how to close them up”.
Prof Bello stressed that the primary challenge he met on ground was that half of the revenues collected by most operatives of the agency do not get to government but they are working on it . without leaving it to lie low.
On motor licences, he said that he met 3.1 million as the highest for motor license authority from January. “It used to be N3 million when we came and turned things around and it rose from from three to now over 12 million per month. And that to me is commendable.
“Even the pay as you earn (PAYE) which is self regulatory has gone up. We are making about a billion naira in payee as at 15th of April. It’s attributed to the way we blocked leakages.
“From January till April we have generated over N5billion in three months. This is attributable to the way we blocked loopholes” Remarked the chair.
Professor Bello, a development economist, hinted that six area offices of the agency are in near redundant stages now because he stopped personnel from going out to collect money indiscriminately from people the way they used to.
Speaking on the excesses of some of the revenue staff, he went on “even today, we had another case which is a similar case of staff siphoning money as usual. Sadly before I got here, once you are in the board, you are presented as a rich and comfortable guy no matter your level and that is wrong.
“For my part, money is important if it comes through the legal means.
It should not be seen as important when stolen. That is why I told you that our greatest challenge is that of leakages and we have all sorts of collaborators in the tax business, etc.
“But we have started the automated exercises which is 80 percent complete as we are now distributing demand notice to over 40,000 clients in town. That will curtail the brazen tendency by staff to divert funds meant for government.
“Massive sensitisation programs has won a lot of people into the compilation list in the state which has helped. I spent four months in this campaign to sensitise people especially in the electronic media “.
On multiplicity of tax which he alleges is another heavy challenge. He said that with the current arrangements, automation has taken care of such kinds of taxes adding that about six types of taxes are applicable to the state and they are collecting their dues.
On the funds generated by Borno Geographic Information Agency (BOGIS), he said that BOGIS is a specialised agency and they are more worried about levies for services rendered instead of taxes.
“You must have landed property or house to be a customer of BOGIS. But we are linked to them through automation. So after three months they are done, they remit through us. “
The chair noted that taxes such as fire fights as a contingency package, signage for sign board, which are of different types, directional, digital and the last is called royalty which is paid by organisations with bore holes are all accruable to the government.
“Theses are the common taxes in the town. Those who discover the tax payers after assessment are taught how to circumvent it. They can assess a business for 25k and tell them to pay 10k. And that is a minus to the government.
“Right now i have one in the custody of Police who has refused to hid to advises. I even offered him some jobs but he did not listen and at the end of the day, he was caught red handed issuing receipts to a school so i had him arrested. ” Said Bello.
On outlets for the payment of taxes, he said that they have recruited about 150 POS operators who are already collaborating with them to collect the taxes. Tax payers can always pay through them.
“It is done automatic through a wallet. Once they ask you the type, you pay. Each of the taxes have their insignia, they will know what to do based on your demand notice because each tax has its own REMITA number.
“Actually the cash is his own. The service is free on extra charge. So all the tax payer does is to visit them and within minutes the payment is effected.
“A tax payer can equally pay through his android phone using our backup. The POS man is not charging any extra for these services based on our arrangements because he is being paid. The fourth avenue to pay is through the website. And you will receive instant alert” he posited.
On fiscal targets, he said they have a lot of expectations for the growth of the agency adding that the budget itself is based on expectations because of exigencies of last year.
Professor however regretted that they no longer have access to their PAYE amounts as a result of the introduction of IPPIS by the federal government agencies.
Consequently in 2023, about 9 billion of the amount meant for Borno state was remitted as part of the Federal budget but they are processing it to ensure that it comes back to the state. If it comes fine if not but he actually dropped his target form 20 to 19 billion naira.
On catching up with contemporary states in terms of revenue generation, the Chairman maintained that Kano and Lagos have potentials on ground which matter and can make them generate that amount they make monthly.
“What i have done in Borno if it was in Kano, they will make more money. What is pushing kano revenue is the size of the kinds of businesses they have which we don’t have. Here we have two three million businesses so we can’t compare or even compete now yet.
On compensation of staff excellence he went on: ” We are well compensated because we get five percent of all our collection monthly and we use that to run the organisation. I have been using soft means to change some of them but those resisting we transfer them.
“But i am also worried about their welfare which i don’t joke with. We have casual and ad-hoc staff totalling about 186 and we pay their salaries here from our five percent. The state government cannot give us all our personnel needs so we employ ad hoc. State government takes care of fifty six of them
Zonal offices and council staff
The chairman pointed out that in Askira council area, his staff had challenges with the chairman and management there over who should pick up the revenue adding that it was amicably resolved because with the harmonise tax law of 2020, the power of the collection of revenue has been invested in them. It is no longer the duty of the council.
“The revenue is still that of the Council but we do the collection because we have staff down there to ensure that we have access to collections. If they are collecting it would be a different story”, said Prof Bello
