By David Uka, Abakaliki
The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Abakaliki & Society District, has pledged to assist Ebonyi State Government to plug all revenue leakages.
The Chairman of the Institute Abakaliki district Barr. George Ukpai disclosed this in Abakaliki, shortly after the inauguration of the Abakaliki district of CITN and his investiture as the poineer Chairman.
Ukpai who is Ebonyi State Auditor General for Local Government, said the institute was going to assist those in charge of revenue generation in the State to introduce internal controls that would help to safeguard the generated revenue for Government.
Ukpai added that the institute would also embark on capacity building programmes to enlighten the tax paying public on the need to voluntarily pay tax, adding that, tax payment was a civic responsibility required of every good citizen of Nigeria.
According to him, through tax education and enlightenment, we would be able to secure voluntary compliance to tax payment.
He also advocated for a proper training of those in charge of revenue generation to achieve the desired result.
“Pluging loopholes in revenue generation is part of the capacity building programme that is going to be embarked upon by the institute. One thing that happens in Finance and administration is when people are not aware of a number of things, so many things go wrong.
“We strongly believe that those staff who are involved in revenue generation on behalf of government should be properly trained on what to do. And we are going to assist those that on the line of revenue generation to introduce internal controls that will help to safeguard the generated revenue for Government.
“When there are loopholes fraud and pilferage are bound to occur. So, our attention is going to be nipping that in bud. Closing those loopholes in the first place, because it is only when that opportunity is created that fraud or pilferage will arise.
“Take for instance, if the collection of revenue in the State is fully automated, such that you have no contact with anybody and then, all tax payers are documented on the tax payers data base. If you have a database of all tax payers in the State, it becomes easier for a tax administrator to send demand notices to the various tax payers you have at the database.
“And so, you have no contact with them. All tax payment would be made directly into the Government designated account. With that, you have no contact with cash, and the issue of pilferage or irregularities will not arise.
“Again, there should be absolute tax enforcement and audit.Through audit and tax investigations, any revenue that has been left uncollected will certainly be brought to bear. So, these some of the strategies we hope to collaborate with revenue authorities in the State on how best we can develop that to plug any loophole that may be in existence”, Ukpai said.
