WE VALUE TRAINING AS YARDSTICK FOR IMPROVED PUBLIC SERVICE, SAYS AKEREDOLU AS ODIRS TRAINS OVER 300 STAFF

  

Ondo IGR Has Improved from N700M Monthly To N3.3B In Six Years – Akeredolu 

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu  has disclosed that the State Internal Revenue Service (ODIRS) IGR has systematically increased the state’s IGR  from N700Million per month in 2017 when our administration came onboard to N3.3billion per month in 2023.

Akeredolu stated this in a message to the closing ceremony of an international training for staff of ODIRS on understanding principle of international taxation  by London Academy Business School.

The governor, who was represented by the state Head of Service (HoS), Pastor  Kayode Ogundele, said his administration placed special emphasis of public service advancement and improvement in the quality of staff and their training and promotions.

Akeredolu said that over 300 staff of ODIRS which had been a recurring one has been boosting the IGR of the state over the years.

“I wish to state here, based on the information I received and approval given so far, that over 450 staff of this agency have participated in not less than at least four standard training with one specialised training in their various area of their expert since my flag-off in 2021.

“Since the beginning of my Administration, I have placed a special emphasis of public service advancement and improvement in the quality of staff and their training and promotions.

“The key topic appears explicit enough, it seems to capture the very essence of global transactions.

“As this gathering would have afforded participants the opportunity to be well informed about the objectives of international laws, international treaties, tax evasion, avoidance, Residency rules as regards expatriates, transaction currency rules etc to do the needful whenever such transactions arise.

“The role and importance of public servant cannot be over-emphasised. A strong public service is the bedrock on which good governance, policy execution and pathways for the delivery of democratic dividends can be achieved.

“It gladdens my heart that we have improved our IGR systematically from the N700million per month in 2017, when we came on board to an average of N3.3billion per month in 2023,” he said 

Akeredolu later appreciated the team from the London Academy Business School for sharing their knowledge and experience on international taxation with the trainees.

Earlier, the  Executive Chairman of ODIRS, Mr Tolu Adegbie, appreciated the governor for the trust and believe that they could achieve and surpass the set targets and for approving regular training for the staff of the service.

Adegbie said the training and retraining of his staff had been the springing board for better and improved performance of his service in revenue generation.

“We know that training them will impact on our revenue growth, so for this year, we decided that we should do something extraordinary.

“We were asked to go to London two years ago, with all the chairmen of International Revenue Service all over the country and the Chairman of the FIRS and we attended this same course. 

“When we came back, we decided to approach Mr Governor that instead of Chairman and Director going for this training in London, why can’t we train the rest of our staff and he bought the idea and said, well, if the trainers can come to Nigeria, why not? .

“So, he approved and they came to Nigeria and they’ve been with us for the past three weeks. They’ve trained over 300 staff in understanding the principles of International Taxation.

“I am happy to inform you that the N3 billion monthly IGR we promised Mr Governor to generate on monthly basis, we’ve been able to achieve it and by December, we will hit it,”Adegbie added.

The Executive Chairman of the London Academy Business School, Dr Lawrence John Esan said the training will help the training to be proactive and know how to block loopholes in the system.

He added that with the three weeks training that lots of Money will be recovered to the government treasury .

According to him, “I congratulate the chairman of the board for laid a good foundation for the organisation by employed the right people to work here.” 

“The contribution of the staff has been so amazing”, He said .