Funding FCT budget with 100℅ IGR possible – FCT-IRS Chairman

By Stanley Onyekwere

Funding FCT budget with 100 per cent from Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) source is possible, with collaboration and synergy with other revenue generating agencies in the Territory, according the Acting Executive Chairman of Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS), Mr Haruna Y. Abdullahi.

Abdullahi made this assertion when he received the delegation from the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) led by its Director, Alhaji Wadata Aliyu Bodinga at the Service headquarters  in Abuja.

He explained that the Service has been championing the course of harmonising revenue from all revenue generating agencies in the FCT with a view to block leakages, address multiple taxation and grow the revenue base in the FCT.

In a statement from Head, Corporate Communications, FCT-IRS, Mustapha Sumaila, which was made available to PeoplesDaily yesterday, the Chairman said the effort will  make the FCT to have capacity to fund its budget solely, through the IGR.

“We hope to see that FCTA will fund its budget 100 per cent from the IGR, so that whatever comes from the Federal Government as allocation, will be a surplus for them.

“From the management to the board and all other stakeholders, this is what we want and will be excited about this development, talking and finding solutions.

“We are passionate about harmonisation, I mean to harmonise the whole collection processes”, he stressed.

The FCT-IRS boss while assuring DRTS of the Service’s continued support, noted that FCT-IRS has been working tirelessly to raise and enhance the revenue base in the FCT.

He added that Service would  continue to extend hand of friendship across all revenue generating agencies in the territory.

Abdullahi also said the Service would review the priorities of DRTS in order to identify more areas for sustainable collaboration in order to enhance revenue generation.

Similarly, highlighting the benefits of the collaboration between DRTS and the Service, the FCT-IRS Director in charge of ICT, Oduba Oduba stated that the collaboration would help in facilitating the exchange of data between revenue generating agencies as well as to improve road infrastructure through the revenue generated.

Earlier in his remarks, the DRTS Director, Bodinga said the visit was targeted at three major areas; collaboration, support and training.

He said that DRTS under his leadership was committed to ensuring safety and orderliness in the FCT as well as to strengthen the existing collaboration between DRTS and FCT-IRS to boost revenue generation.

Also, Head of Planning, Research and Statistics, DRTS, Mr. Wale Durojaye expressed the readiness of DRTS to provide data, reports and projections needed to facilitate FCT-IRS collection.

Meanwhile, a committee had been constituted to articulate and harmonise areas of possible collaboration between the two organisations with a view to boost revenue collection.

The members are Mr. Malik Tukur, FCT-IRS Director Taxes, Oduba Oduba, Director in charge of ICT, FCT-IRS while Head of Planning, Research and Statistics, DRTS, Mr. Wale Durojaye  and the DRTS’ head of ICT, Mr Auwal Mohammed are also part of the committee.

In a related development, the FCT-IRS has extended the filing of annual returns to March 31, 2022 for organisations or agents, following the hitches experienced by taxpayers in the last few days due to Server failure.

Recall that the deadline for the filing of annual returns for the employers, agents or organisations was due on January 3, but the said technical challenges has necessitated the extension.