By Francis Akinnodi

Ondo State Internal Revenue Service (ODIRS) has called for synergy between the state government and the eighteen local government councils to drive revenue generation in the state.
Executive Chairman of ODIRS, Mr. Tolu Adegbie made the call while speaking with The Hope in Akure yesterday.
He said that the agency was committed to improving the revenue base of Ondo State with a view to bringing development to the people, noting that the newly inaugurated Joint State Revenue Committee would help harmonise tax administration in the state.
“We have generated over N30 million or about N36 million for the LGAs since we started collecting Radio and TV license on their behalf. This is without any investment on the part of the LGA.
“We have also been collecting Land Use Charge on behalf of both the state and the LGA. This year we have collected and distributed about N100 million between the two. And we hope to collect and distribute another N100 million before December 2020 making this year, highest collection of LUC in the history of the state”, he said.
Adegbie said the ODIRS would help the LGAs to generate and collect more revenue without unnecessarily creating more tax burden for the citizens.
The Hope reports that the State Government have charged the newly inaugurated Joint State Revenue Committee to enhance revenue generation, collection and reporting activities in the state.
Adegbie noted that the committee was a product of the state revenue administration law 2019, approved and signed into law by the State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
According to him, “Section 28 of the law deals with the establishment of the Joint State Revenue Committee which shall comprise the chairman of the state internal revenue as chairman, chairman of each local government revenue committee, a representative of the state Ministry responsible for local government affairs not below the rank of a director.
“Others include legal adviser of the state internal revenue service and the secretary of the committee, who shall be a staff of the state internal revenue service”.
He said the committee was tasked to harmonise tax administration in the state, deal with revenue matters of common concern to the state and local government authorities.
“Also to enlighten members of the public on the state and local government revenue matters and consider relevant resolutions of the Joint Tax Board for implementation in the state.”
The ODIRS chairman explained that in the era of dwindling LGA revenue, there are opportunities the local councils can tap into to improve their revenue generation and collection if they work together as a team.
“An audit of state dormant local government account in banks may yield very surprising fruitful results, a review of the list of rates and levies collectable by LGAs and who is currently collecting them may enable serious leakages to be blocked.
“Automation of the collection process leveraging on technology and some of our partners may be worth considering for the various LGAs and stoppage of some of the illegal activities of touts when it comes to market levies may also yield more revenue for the various LGAs.
“All of these and more are the opportunities that we believe lie ahead of both the state and the 18 local governments if they work together as a team”, he explained.
Adegbie further explained, that to sustained the committee, “Mr. Governor has approved sitting allowances for members of the committee payable after each meeting to cushion the effect of transportation of committee members from all over the state. This cost is to be borne by the ODIRS together with all other Secretariat costs.
“It is my believe that with this kind of support from Mr. Governor, the tax administration, tax collection, tax generation and tax reporting activities in Ondo State will be better streamlined and the revenue collected will get to the right sources and will be to the benefit of people of the state.”
He however appealed to Ondo State residents to pay their taxes for more development, saying the agency has created enough structures across the state to make tax collection easy.