FCTA Targets N250B IGR, To Train Revenue Officers

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has set an annual target of over N250 Billion as a projected Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the Administration towards the accelerated development of the FCT.

The Mandate Secretary, Economic Planning, Revenue Generation, and Public Private Partnership Secretariat (EPRGPPPS), Rt. Hon. Barr. Charles Chinedum Elechi, made the proposal yesterday during an interactive session on revenue generation, monitoring, and tracking exercise held with revenue officers at the FCDA conference hall, Area 11, Abuja.

Addressing participants at the session, the Mandate Secretary charged all heads and officers of revenue-generating Secretariats, Departments, and Agencies (SDAs) to redouble their efforts in their revenue generation drive in order to boost the IGR profile of the Administration.

“The objective of this meeting is to put heads together and lay down a kind of ground rules. Whatever happens or goes wrong in the EPRGPPPS, the Governor of the FCT, that is Mr. President, will hear about it through the Hon. Minister of the FCT, and he will not be pleased”, the Secretary emphasized.

Hon. Elechi explained that the meeting was critical in view of the dwindling revenue profile of the FCT Administration, and the need to provide adequate qualitative infrastructure in the FCT towards accelerated development and economic transformation of the Territory.

He reminded them that the days of oil boom revenue were over, giving way to the generation of IGR to drive the machinery of governance.

“The days of oil boom revenue have gone. What is in vogue is the generation of IGR to drive the machinery of governance in the FCT. A good IGR can do a lot of magic. As you are aware, revenue generation is critical to the development and sustenance of every economy and infrastructural development. In this regard, it is very important to inform you that the FCT Administration is saddled with the responsibility of providing many basic infrastructural facilities for FCT residents,” he noted.

The Secretary further explained that “without revenue, the government cannot provide public infrastructure such as good roads, hospitals, schools and other welfare services. Improved IGR is paramount to the funding of the Administration to augment the dwindling Federal Government’s Monthly Statutory Allocations for accelerated infrastructural development in the FCT. Therefore, there is a strong need for all of us to redouble our efforts to attain our IGR targets and deliver on these enormous responsibilities.”

Barr. Elechi therefore, urged all heads of revenue-generating SDAs to brace up to the challenges ahead by working in synergy with other stakeholders for effective revenue generation and tracking. He charged every SDA to identify all revenue-yielding sources, pursue their revenue targets, and block all loopholes and revenue leakages. He further explained that the meeting was quite critical as it offered the opportunity to discuss the problems and challenges facing the various SDAs in revenue generation, collection, and management in order to explore ways of improving revenue generation and reducing leakages in the system.

His words: “From all indications, part of the major challenges we face in revenue generation and collection is the problem of revenue leakage and inefficient harmonization of taxes and levies. However, I learned that Management had made serious efforts in this direction through the creation of a tax and revenue harmonization committee to address the challenges”.

He said the committee was responsible for harmonizing all taxes, levies, and revenues collectibles in the FCT while rationalizing the tax system to reduce the incidence of multiple taxation and unnecessary conflicts that may arise from revenue collection in line with global best practices.

The Mandate Secretary also informed the revenue officers of the need to build their capacity for optimum performance in revenue generation and management as well as achieving the mandate and target set for them by the Hon. Minister.

“Beyond that, we need to explore ways of building the capacity of our revenue officers to improve their skills and knowledge in revenue collection and administration. This is very critical if we must achieve the mandate and target set for us by the Hon. Minister”, Barr. Elechi stressed.

To underscore his total commitment to achieving his mandate, the Secretary pledged to support all revenue-collecting agencies in the discharge of their duties to ensure effective revenue collection for the FCTA. He also pledged to design ways of 3 motivating revenue officers and Agencies for optimum performance. In his words, “There is no way we can generate revenue without providing incentives. Let’s work like a team to grow the IGR”.

The meeting agreed to create a revenue optimization and harmonization framework, capacity-building incentives, building a common database of revenue collection agencies and taxpayers to facilitate revenue generation and ease of doing business in the FCT.

The forum also provided an opportunity for the various SDAs and other key stakeholders to share their experiences, challenges, and achievements in their various workplaces.

 The meeting was attended by heads of revenue and other representatives from the various SDAs of the FCT Administration. Some of the SDAs include the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), the FCT Inland Revenue Service (FCT-IRS), the Department of Outdoor Advertising & Signage (DOAS), the FCT Water Board, Health & Environmental Services Secretariat, the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Transport Secretariat, among others.