Tax Justice Network (TJN), in partnership with the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS), has engaged the media in ensuring possible ways of increasing visibility of Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) through their reportage in Kaduna.
The round table engagement, which was aimed at enlistment of the support of media in Kaduna, was also supported by Christian aid.
The Coordinator of TJN in Kaduna, Mr Simeon Olatunde, described the media as a strategic partner whose contributions in promoting fair, inclusive and citizen driven tax process was paramount.
He noted that the TJN was a loose network of civil society and media advocates for equity and inclusive prosperity in Kaduna State.
It fosters social economic justice through an equitable and fair tax system in the state and beyond.
“Over the years, we have been promoting good governance, tax education and awareness to protect and advance taxpayers’ rights and compliance collaboratively with the state government, private sector and development partners to improve and enhance the tax system that is inclusive and citizens driven,” he said.
According to Olatunde, the knowledge of tax is scarce among the media partners in Kaduna, which informed the round table engagement.
“The Network which has a loose coalition with tax concern, discovered that the media who was also part of the network and have very scanty knowledge of tax which sometimes revolves around figures and tax lines.
“Everything we are doing at the network with media is only at the micro level, not at a wider coverage,” he said.
He, therefore, said the engagement was to carry along other media, to expand the scope and educate, and build their capacity to bring an end to the issues of tax education.
On educating the public on tax administration, Olatunde said the network engaged communities through Community Development Charter (CDC) process to discuss concerns about tax at their community level.
The coordinator stressed the TJN’s commitment in advocating development levy and tax for service, to ensure that a specific amount of money was going back to the community.
Mr Zakari Muhammad, KADIRS Head of Corporate Communication, said the specific objectives of the engagement was to increase the understanding and knowledge of media partners on IGR, and importance as a sustainable source of revenue generation.
He added that it was also to reawaken the media on their roles in empowering the residents to hold the government accountable.
Muhammad also said that the KADIRS was keen about receiving feedback, comments from stakeholders on achievements, challenges, and evidence in relation to the current state of IGR and its budget contribution in the media space.
He therefore emphasised the crucial role of media in reporting and advocating voluntary compliance in Kaduna state, while soliciting their support for a robust reportage of tax system, regime and other related issues within the tax space.
Media Resource Person, Mr Philip Yatai, said revenue generation, particularly IGR, was one of the key drivers of every development project.
He noted that the sole revenue earning for Nigeria, which is the oil, is depleting globally and attached with many issues.
According to him, every developed country has its development tied to its IGR.
Yatai therefore said that the KADIRS had been working, including media engagement, which was not enough.
He, therefore, said the TJN worked in collaboration with the KADIRS to bring onboard the media to carry out sensitisation, advocacy and development journalism on tax administration with emphasis on tax justice and tax for service.
Yatai called on the government and civil society to always respond to the media calls and work with them as partners to achieve the common goal of service to humanity and communities through tax generation.
The Acting Executive Chairman of KADIRS, Mr Jerry Adams, said the service was the sole authority mandated to collect and account for all taxes, levies, fees, charges and rates in the state as listed in the first schedule to the Law.
Adams, represented by the KADIRS Executive Director, Revenue Operations, Dr Muhammand Lawal, gave an overview of taxes and reforms since 2015 to date in Kaduna state.
He noted that a lot of transformation and structural reforms, which cut across manual to digitisation in tax administration, had seen improvement in KADIRS operations over the years.
According to him, the transformation over the years had increased the state IGR, which ranked the state among top five in the country on IGR.
Adams, therefore, urged the citizens to imbibe voluntary tax payment, to continue enjoying development across all stratas of the state.
(NAN)
