The Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS is an important agency of government and in its quarterly report, declared on Thursday that it has generated a total sum of N6.279 billion as revenue in three months , precisely; January to March, 2019. Global Excellence gathered that Professor Muritala Awodun who is the Executive Chairman of the agency told journalists in Ilorin that the KWIRS generated N2.16 billion in January, N1.76 billion in February and N2.38 billion in March 2019.
The KWIRS boss, though clarified that the generated fund still fell short of the set target N60 billion revenue yearly at N5 billion per month, he, however, noted that the KWIRS has been developed to the level that it would not make less than N2 billion every month. Recalling the growth history of the agency, Professor Awodun said the agency that started with N17.2 billion annual revenue generation in 2016, and N19.6 in 2017, generated a total sum of N23.1 billion last year. The emergence of the agency in 2016 has , according to him, prevented cases of abandoned projects in the state with monthly contribution of N500million into the state infrastructure fund (IF-K) for the completion and initiation of new projects.
Professor Awodun, who said that the state government has in some instances augmented the monthly federal allocation with the funds generated by the revenue agency to pay salary to the state workers, added that the measure was made possible through ingenious financial engineering of the agency. Speaking on delay in the completion of the ongoing under-pass project in Geri Alimi , Ilorin, Professor Awodun said the delay was resultant from the complications that were not initially factored into the project, including the 2019 electioneering activities. Some heavy underground water pipes were, according to him, discovered at the construction site, the contractor had to thus, depend on other experts for technicalities before resuming work. He also debunked the insinuations of the alleged invitation extended to the staff of the revenue agency by the Economic and Financial Crimes and other related offences Commission (EFCC) on financial investigations. No staff of the agency was, according to him, invited or arrested by the anti-graft agency.
