Kano engages tax consultants, targets N10b monthly IGR

KANO State government has engaged the services of nine tax consultants to work with the state revenue generation agencies to boost its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

This is to prevent total dependence on the Federal Government monthly allocation and meet financial obligations as well as execute capital projects.

Besides, the government plans to generate about N10 billion monthly, a target projected to be attained in the next two years.
Signing the agreement with the tax consultants at the weekend, Kano State Commissioner for Finance, Prof. Kabiru Isa Dandago, stated that the firms would assist government with technical input and deploy their expertise in partnership with various state revenue generating agencies in order to recover existing debt payable to government and discover untapped sectors.

Prof. Dandago explained that government resolution to engage the services of consultants was because of its conviction on the abundant untapped resources, which are capable of generating more income for the state.

While lamenting on the wide gap between the IGR of Lagos and Kano despite the comparative advantage in population and landscape, Prof. Dandago insisted that Kano has the resources and ought to generate more revenue than Lagos.
“We are ever ready to boost our revenue drive because we believe Kano has all it takes to do so and even more. Although for now we are trying to catch up with Lagos, but we can do more. The government under of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has resolved to take paradigm shift in revenue generation.

We want to move from being a parasite waiting for Federal Government monthly revenue before we fulfill our financial obligations and carry out our capital projects. The government is not comfortable with a situation where Lagos is generating about N20 billion monthly and we in Kano find it difficult to generate N1 billion,” Dandago noted.

Speaking on the contract with the consultants, Dandago stated that the firms were engaged between five and 10 years for tasks ranging from tax administration, debt recovery, tax on rent, interest income earning, revenue on land and others.

Some of the consulting firms are Marock Consultants Limited, M. Yahaya & Associates, Danjaura Global Investment and Alkas Solutions Nigeria Interbank Settlement System.
Others are Salihi. B & Co, SMD Consulting, Veritex International Limited, Rumed Nigeria Limited and Ray Integrated.