Niger targets N2bn monthly revenue

The Niger State government has said it is targeting to generate N2 billion as monthly revenue.

This is as the state announced plans to automate its revenue collection to prevent leakage from human contact in revenue collection.

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Speaking to journalists in Minna, the new chairman of the state revenue board, Alhaji Muhammed Madami Etsu, said, “The state has been generating N600 to N700 million monthly in the past one year. I was appointed in May and I resumed in June but I have started making an effort to change the trend.

“In May, we made N1.1bn in the month’s collection. I am projecting N1.5bn average monthly until we improve it to N2bn which we have the potential to generate compared to other states.”

He said the board is faced with a lot of challenges which he has already started addressing for the good of the board and the state.

“I hope that within the next six months, Niger should climb up to the first 10 states with the highest IGR as we have no business being at the bottom of the ladder considering the fact that we have the largest landmass and are number three in population.”

On strategies to be adopted, he said “we have launched the integrated tax administration system in addition to the automation of some of the collections. All streams of income with streams of revenue from all sources within the state that should be collectable as IGR will be automated.”