_By Muhammad Mukhtar Idris and Smile Sunday_
The Executive Chairman, Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS), Mr. Aliyu Inda Salami, has reiterated the resolve of the Service in ensuring that Staff of the organisation are trained to improve their capacity and efficiency toward quality service delivery.
Salami disclosed this during his opening remarks at the refresher course training that commenced from February 24 through March 5, 2020, facilitated by Clemmeridian Investment Consult at Kogi State Revenue House, Lokoja.
The training tagged “KGIRS Capacity Building For Revenue Growth”, according to Salami, was geared towards ensuring that the participants have the requisite knowledge to execute tax administration and urged them to remain open-minded to the training, stressing that well-informed personnel will certainly reflect in higher productivity in terms of service and result delivery.
He called for the application of the array of knowledge that would be impacted by the seasoned Tax and Law Professors who are engaged by the Service to deliver the training.
The Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Evangelist Kingsley Fanwo, in his remarks during his visit to the training venue, expressed his gratitude to the facilitators and the Executive Chairman of the Service for conducting such a quality exercise. He further added that the personnel of the Service should embrace this unique opportunity presented by the erudite professors to shore up the State IGR by putting the Service on the same, if not better, pedestal in comparison with high performing States.
The lead resource person, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Clemmeridian Investment Consult, Mr. Clement Isikwe, while declaring the training open, encouraged the participants to be proactive in acquiring the requisite knowledge as it would assist and galvanise their day to day tax operations.
Other resource persons include: Professor Muhammed Taofeeq Abdulrazaq, Professor Josephine Aladi Achor Agbonika, Professor Kareem Adebayoka Olatoye, Professor Saka Muhammed Olokooba and Professor Kareem Adeyinka Adedokun.
Isikwe highlighted the objectives of the training to include causing a paradigm shift in understanding how revenue-based organisations reason, take decisions and map out strategies necessary for revenue generation at global standards.
Other objectives include: understanding the critical success factors in revenue-based organisations, possessing and deepening the understanding of what it takes to succeed in a revenue-based organisation, and, lastly, to equip the participants with the necessary tools to succeed in all areas of life.
The various topics that were discussed at the training include:
i. The Current Issues in Nigeria Taxation.
ii. An Overview of the Personal Income Tax and Company Income Tax Regime in Nigeria.
iii. Leadership and Tax Policy Administration in Nigeria.
iv. Tax Offences and Penalties.
v. The Burning Issues in Taxation and How Best to Solve Them.
vi. Stamp Duties, among others.
The closing remarks were given by the Director of Legal Services and Enforcement, Barrister Isa Jamil. In his words, “I am impressed with the caliber and pedigree of the facilitators”.
He also appreciated the thoughts and wisdom of the Executive Chairman in putting together the refresher course which turned out to be a huge success.
He emphasised further that the knowledge gathered from the two weeks training remain invaluable as it will go a long way in improving the revenue generation of the State, and equip the Service with the competitive edge in service delivery in comparison with her counterparts across the nation.
