The Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS) on Tuesday, 20th April, 2021 received in audience the principal officers of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) as part of its working visit for the 6th Annual International Academic Conference on Account and Finance held in Ilorin, Kwara State capital.
The Conference hosted in collaboration with the University of Ilorin has its focus on Tax planning and policy as one of the key areas needed for business growth.
In her welcome address, the Executive Chairman, KW-IRS, Shade Omoniyi appreciated the presence of the visiting team, commended that the institute has no doubt contributed immensely to the development of the nation’s financial sector given its over 52,000 membership spread across Nigeria.
In her response, the 56th President of the Institute, Dame Onome Joy Adewuyi expressed her delight over KW-IRS Executive Chairman’s exemplary leadership qualities which has led her to becoming the Managing Director/Chief Executive of FBN Mortgages Limited, Group Head, Public sector of the First Bank covering Lagos state and Federal Agencies in the state.
She further noted that her wealth of knowledge in the financial sector is no doubt parts of the reasons she became the favorite of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for the post of Executive Chairman of the Service.
In her words of assurance on the Executive Chairman, Adewuyi said “We have confidence that you are bringing to bear your industry experience into improving the revenue base of Kwara State and this is reflecting in the state’s steady increase in the internally generated revenue in recent times moving from a ranking of 16th position in 2018 to the 5th position in 2019”
The continuous engagement of stakeholders, non-financial supportive policies and effective communication strategies for taxpayers especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), increased investment in digital technology to capture digital enterprises are some of the issues discussed during the familiarization visit.
She lauded the Executive Chairman for the various opportunities given to the ICAN members in the Service while appealing for a more robust support by enrolling members for more training programs.
“ICAN is willing to collaborate with KW-IRS through its Taxation and Fiscal Policy Faculty to build capacity of its members in the area of tax administration”, she said.
Reacting to some of the issues raised by the ICAN president with cognizance to areas of technology, the Executive Chairman, Shade Omoniyi explained that the Service started the implementation of its technology solution to tax administration in January, 2020 but was halted by the outbreak of the global pandemic, though the Service has been able to beat its target in the first quarter of 2021 giving the credit to the adoption of technology introduced to the collection process.
Shade Omoniyi further reiterated continuous support of the Service to every member of staff for the achievement of the overall goal of the Service.
She assured that KW-IRS had always taken into consideration professional qualification even during recruitment exercises and it is not relenting its effort in continuous training and retraining of the staff both at all levels.
The courtesy call had in attendance top Management staff of KW-IRS, ICAN Management members and ICAN members who doubles as staff of KW-IRS.
Signed
Corporate Affairs Department, KW-IRS
20th April, 2021.