THE Executive Chairman of Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, KADIRS, Monday, emerged REVENUE Magazine ‘Person of the Year 2021’.
REVENUE Magazine, a publication of Alford Conferences Limited conferred the Award on Abubakar based on certain criteria explained by Chairman/CEO & Publisher of Alford Conferences Limited, Fredrick Apeji, in Kaduna, capital of Kaduna State.
According to Apeji, in a statement signed by Head of Social Media, Alford Conferences Limited, Linda Idakwo, thecriterion for selecting the winner of the REVENUE Magazine Person of the Year Award was based on the fastest growing State in Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, in 2019 and 2020.
The Person of the Year Award, alongside four other awards (Leadership in IGR Award, Achievement in IGR Award, Excellence in IGR Award, and Excellence in Direct Assessment Tax Award) make up the annual Nigerian States IGR Awards.
The statement reads in part, “Executive Chairman of Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS) was today in Kaduna conferred with the Person of the Year Award by REVENUE Magazine, a publication of Alford Conferences Limited.
“Mr. Frederick Apeji, Chairman/CEO & Publisher of Alford Conferences Limited, said, “Our criterion for selecting the winner of the REVENUE Magazine Person of the Year Award was the fastest growing state in internally generated revenue (IGR) in 2019 and 2020 combined (among the top 10 consistently biggest states in IGR in the past 10 years, 2011-2020).
The award was therefore open only to the executive chairperson of the IRS of the following 10 states: Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Delta, Edo, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Kano, Kaduna and Cross River.
“Among these 10 states, Kaduna grew its IGR the fastest by 72.41% in the two years under review, while Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Rivers and Delta grew their collections by 54.43%, 26.79%, 9.63%, 3.91% and 2.21% respectively.
“The other top four states in IGR in 2019 and 2020 combined experienced a negative growth rate. In terms of growth in Naira and Kobo, Lagos State added N36.9 billion to its collection, while Kaduna, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Delta added N21.1 billion, N13.4 billion, N6.5 billion, N4.4 billion and N1.3 billion respectively.
“While we used fastest growing as the criterion to pick our awardee for 2021, we shall use most independent as the criterion for 2022. We shall use these two criteria (fastest growing and most independent) to select the Person of the Year Award in alternate years.
The statement also pointed, “And our catchment area shall remain the top 10 consistently biggest states in IGR in the 10 years prior to the award year. This award is therefore an objective (not a subjective) one.”
Meanwhile, according to the statement, “With N50.77 billion in 2020, Kaduna has emerged the biggest state in the North in IGR (apart from FCT, which recorded N92.01 billion last year).
“The state has grown its IGR every year from 2015 till 2020. Among the 36 states and FCT, the state ranked 5th in IGR last year, behind only Lagos, Rivers, FCT and Delta.”
The statement also made it known that, “While accepting the Person of the Year Award 2021, Dr. Zaid Abubakar of KADIRS said, “We are grateful for this recognition. It will definitely spur us in this agency, from the board members and management staff to even the cleaners, to greater heights. Our goal in Kaduna State is to become revenue-independent.
Within the next five years, we plan to generate between 70%-80% of our own revenues such that we are better able to withstand the shortfall in federal allocations from time to time due to uncertainty in the global oil market.”
However, the statement explained that, “In addition to being the 5th biggest in IGR in 2020, Kaduna has also emerged as the 5th most independent of federal revenues last year. But in the area of direct assessment tax as a percentage of total tax, the state comes 12th.
The award programme is promoted by REVENUE Magazine, and organized by Alford Conferences Limited.
The programme was launched in 2020, and presented at a nationwide roadshow in 18 States.
The roadshow for the 2nd edition in 2021 is currently ongoing, and is expected to be held in 28 States.
The award programme is designed to encourage and foster a healthy competition among the FCT and the 36 States of Nigeria in order to substantially increase their internally generated revenue (IGR).