The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) has been promoting improved revenue collection system in some states in Nigeria.
According to a statement made available to SundiataPOST by Victoria Ndoh, the project’s communication expert, DFID achieves this objective by funding the Growth and Employment in States (GEMS3) project which is funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) works in Federal, States and Local Governments to promote growth and employment.
“Their areas of intervention include Tax Administration and Harmonization, Land Administration and Investment Promotion.
“In Kogi state, GEMS3 is working closely with the state and local governments to improve tax payment options and reduce nuisance taxes to make life easier for taxpayers in all local government areas (LGAs) in the state.. To achieve this goal, new payment methods such as the Point Of Sale (POS) and Harmonised Demand Notices/Customised Tellers are being introduced in selected LGAs as pilot scheme.
The customized POS machine was launched in Okene LGA on the 28th of May and is set to be launched on the 30th of May in Dekina LGA. Key representatives of the Local Government Council, Trade unions, Market associations and other relevant stakeholders were in attendance,” the statement further said.
It noted that the “launch of the customised POS machine in the LGAs will give market traders, shop owners and LGA tax payers in Okene and Dekina an option to pay with the POS machine rather than queue up at the bank or tax office. The customized POS machine has been designed to work in areas with limited or no network and tax payers who do not own ATM cards would also be able to use this payment method.
“The POS tax payment method has been successfully implemented in LGAs in Lagos, Cross River, Kano and Kaduna states and the Kogi state government with the assistance of DFID (GEMS3) aims to extend this scheme to other LGAs in the state.
“It is anticipated that the implementation of this new payment method will bridge some of the gaps in revenue collection in Kogi state and in turn boost internally generated revenue at the local government level,” the statement said.
