Abia unveils plan to increase IGR to N120bn per annum

By Ijendu Iheaka

The Abia Government has unveiled plan to improve its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from N40 billion to 120 billion by end of 2025.

Abia Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, told journalists in Umuahia on Tuesday, that one of the steps is to bring more people into the state’s tax net.

To achieve this, the Commissioner said the state will soon commence enumeration of all houses and business outlets, with the aim of bringing more residents and businesses into its tax net.

“In the coming weeks the state will begin a comprehensive enumeration of houses and businesses and these will be integrated with the Abia State Social Identification Number (ABSSIN).

“Government will ensure equity in taxation and more importantly, it will serve as a gateway for Abia people to access vital social services,” he said.

He said that the policy will enable residents to access government social services, assist in the design of optimal economic policies, and also help secure the state against criminal activities.

He urged the poeple of Abia to support Gov. Alex Otti’s administration by paying their taxes, and informed residents that the comprehensive data capture of houses and businesses in the state would be integrated with the Abia State Social Identification Number, ABSSIN.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr Uwaoma Ukandu said the project would be at no cost to Abia government because its technical partners were already benefitting from doing business with Abia.

Ukandu said that the enumeration would be done statewide beginning from the urban to the rural areas.

He said that government would use the enumeration to gather data for planning and to make people who did not pay taxes to begin to pay taxes.

(NAN)