Delta State Board of Internal Revenue (DBIR) has expressed its zeal to commence a comprehensive audit of the 25 local government areas in the state to determine their level of compliance in relation to revenue generation and remittance.
Chairman of the Board, Hon Joel-Onowakpo Thomas who made the disclosure to Blank NEWS Online, said the local government audit will commence on Monday, February 04, 2013.
The pronouncement which came shortly after the Board’s meeting with the Auditor General (Local Government) and Local Government Service Commission in Asaba, is a measure aimed at ensuring effective revenue generation at the local government level.
According to Hon Joel-Onowakpo, the collaboration among the three state government agencies was geared towards finding a common ground to addressing the issue of revenue generation and remittance to the appropriate quarter, particularly at the various councils in the state, which according to him ,had not done well in terms of remittance.
“Basically, the three offices have come together and agreed on a working morality to embark on audit exercise of the 25 local government areas in the state in order to determine their level of compliance with regard to the remittance of the revenues generated.”
While noting the various challenges facing the board at the local government offices, the Revenue Board chairman said most of the local governments have derailed from the provision of the law, as they do whatever they like with the revenue generated without remittance to the board
He said that the only way to address the fundamental issue was to bring the three critical government agencies together to audit the 25 councils with a view to determining their level of compliance with the provision of tax law, saying that a lot is hidden in the councils.
Joel-Onowakpo said that with the N61Billion revenue target for the 2013 fiscal year, the board had taken a holistic assessment of its operations and measures to block all the observed loopholes, assuring that with the caliber of staff at the board and their commitment, the state government revenue target for this year would be attained.
He said that there was the need to expand the revenue base of the state government in line with the philosophy of the Governor,Dr.Emannuel Uduaghan” Delta Beyond Oil” project rather than relying solely on federal allocation which is determined oil revenue.
“Mono economy is not good for any person or government. So we should be able to create alternative source of revenue beyond oil. This is the philosophy of the governor and he is seriously building capacity towards that.“
