The Ekiti State Government has praised residents and tax payers for their voluntary compliance to payment of taxes leading to increase in the monthly Internally Generated Revenue to N2.74 billion in June this year.

The government noted that despite suspension of compliance through blocking of roads and locking up of business premises since July 2025, revenue generation through taxes has been on the increase.

The Executive Chairman Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service (EKIRS), Mr Olaniran Olatona spoke yesterday in Ado Ekiti on the strides of service since the beginning of the year and other sundry issues relating to tax administration in the state.

Olatona declared that the state is not planning to impose any new taxes on the residents in addition to the current ones being paid to the government.

“You would recall that on December 16, 2025, we had a media engagement ahead of the commencement of the New Tax Regime on January 1, 2026. Then, I assured Ekiti people that the new Federal Tax Laws were designed to further strengthen the economy and would not result in unauthorized deductions from individual bank accounts or cause undue hardship for the citizens.

“I said the tax reform is part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government’s efforts to modernise the tax system, improve revenue generation and promote fairness in tax administration across the country.

“I emphasised that the tax reform was designed to broaden the tax base, encourage voluntary compliance, reduce multiple taxes, reduce revenue leakages, while also creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and contribute meaningfully to economic development.

“I clarified that the new tax reform does not mean an increase in taxes for Nigerians, but designed to protect low-income earners, thereby allowing them to grow and develop economically until they reach a level where they can voluntarily comply with their tax obligations.”

“I am glad to report to you today that the Internally Generated Revenue of Ekiti State has been on a steady rise since the new tax regime, this is in spite of the earlier apprehension we had that the revenue would drop.

” I must also mention that during this period, we paused enforcement to simulate the likely impact of the New Tax Administration Acts and revenue did not fall. That tells you that our growth is built on voluntary compliance, not on coercion.”

He said that from all indices, it is not enforcement the state needs to grow its tax revenue, adding that when enforcement was active in the first half of 2025, the Service collected ₦13.44 billion, an average of ₦2.24 billion a month.

“With enforcement paused, second-half 2025 collections were ₦13.65 billion — actually ₦205 million higher (+1.5%) than the enforcement-active first half.

“Monthly average rose from ₦2.24bn (H1) to ₦2.27bn (H2), even as the enforcement machinery was switched off.

“The first half of 2026 delivered ₦15.60 billion — +16.0% over the corresponding period of 2025.  June 2026 alone reached ₦2.75 billion — a record month, and 33.2% higher than June 2025.

“Collections have held a stable ₦2.74 billion plateau since April 2026 — the current run-rate annualized to roughly ₦31.2 billion for the full year.”

The revenue boss explained that though the EKIRS doesn’t have power to cut taxes, saying that as parts of its social responsibilities, it has assisted many tax payers who lost their property to rainstorm in addition to providing water for some communities among other interventions.