Jerry Adams is the Executive Chairman of the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS). The service, which as part of its mandate is tasked with improving the Internal Generation Revenue (IGR) in the state and doing all it can to become the most efficient and Innovative Revenue Generation Agency in Nigeria”.
Since he became the Chairman of the board, Jerry Adams has lived up to the task given to the agency by the State Government to offer prompt services to boost taxpayers’ confidence, encourage massive voluntary tax compliance and improve Internally Generated Revenue.
In this Interview with CityPeople’s Asabe Ndoma, The seasoned Tax Administrator and Chartered Accountant revealed new measures, the service has taken to improve the revenue base of the state.
The Executive Chairman, who holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, and currently runs a PHD in Public Governance and Leadership said he strives for excellence, to rebuild public trust and restore confidence in tax payer’s”. He also spoke on other measures meant to improve the work of the service including the introduction of the Withholding Tax on Rent.
Please tell us some of the reforms you have carried out since you came into office. And the challenges you encounter in trying to carry out these reforms?
The reforms in Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS) started in 2015 during Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai’s administration and the reforms are supposed to be in three areas which are: The enabling laws to give room for the reforms, the structure to follow after the reforms and human capacity building to implement all the reforms.
The first one was done perfectly well, there was a consolidation and deco-deification of the tax and non-tax revenues and the law was passed by the Kaduna State House of Assembly and we had the first consolidation and deco-deification law in 2016.
Before then it was Kaduna State Board of Internal Revenue but after the law was created it became the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service and it became autonomous which is both administrative and financial autonomy which they are to report to the government.
Because of this law, we had a lot of expanded scope and we had a lot to recover. We blocked a lot of leakages because all the revenues were codified and the body became responsible for the collection of all revenue in Kaduna State including local government revenue it also brought about the stop payment of cash so it had to be paid through bank transfer so our services improved.
Two areas we left out in these reforms were the structure. There wasn’t a proper investment in the service. There was supposed to be an investment in terms of structure, equipment and other things for the service and operations tools. While we were doing those heavy collections, we were also supposed to invest because there is a saying “You don’t neglect the geese that lays the golden egg”. That was not properly done.
In terms of human capacity, motivation was also lacking. It means that the effect of the reforms without these things being done, will get to a point it will stagnate because when you don’t have tools to drive these reforms it will collapse.
When I came into office, the first thing I did was to look after the welfare of the staff and some of the things they wasn’t getting before, I implemented it and made sure they got their regular work allowances even though we didn’t have provision for that. I squeezed out of the resources we had because if you don’t have a ready staff to carry out this work, no matter what type of reforms you bring out it would not be enforced.
Secondly, I looked at areas where we were not into and I insisted that we must implement and start collecting our levy and one of those areas is the Withholding Tax on rent.
The Withholding Tax on rent is a gold mine for most nations like Gambia and Senegal. Some of them don’t even have the kind of natural resources we have so they rely on taxes to fund their government so most of the taxes they rely on is the withholding tax on rent. So we looked at what is happening in other areas and also looked at states that had started it.
Please explain what Withholding Tax on Rent is.
Withholding Tax on Rent is any personal income or anything you get as income. Like if you give out your house for rent, it’s an income to you so you are expected to pay tax but it wasn’t implemented so landlords weren’t paying tax. Anything you get as income is taxable, if you give out your house for rent, it is taxable and you are expected to pay tax.
How will you describe the reforms so far? How well have you done and are there areas you need to improve on?
We have done very well because in 2015 we moved the revenue from 12 billion to 60 billion. We hit 50 billion during the administration of Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai and hit 60 billion during Uba Sani. So we are targeting the 100 billion mark.
Your service has been given a N120 Billion target for the year, as part of funds that will be used to finance the 2024 budget, how do you intend to achieve the task?
We are working towards achieving it and that’s why we are launching a Central Billing System and this system is going to coordinate the activities of all the revenue generating agencies and we’ll be able to see the performance easily. And every bill that is generated from every ministry, department and agency will be seen easily and if the generation is not equal to the collection then we’ll be able to question it and block leakages. One of the things we are doing is getting a technical partner that will handle this agent. Before the money agents were under inter-switch.
So what are you going to do differently now?
We are handing over to new technical partners we have signed with. And apart from the Withholding Tax on Rent, which is a gold mine that was launched two months ago, we hope it will boost the revenue collection.
We have also introduced the CCC on businesses which we haven’t done before, we only did individual tax clearance while the FIRS does the limited liability companies but for business names, nobody does so it is the responsibility of the state to collect everything from them.
In the transport sector, we have sent a memo to His Excellency for him to pass an executive order banning motorcycles but it has never been enforced, you can see them all out and in thousands. What we are suggesting is that instead of banning them we are suggesting that His Excellency unban them and we profile all of them using motorcycles for commercial purposes. We will give them reflective jackets with their number plate. Anyone found to be carrying out this activity without being profiled will be arrested and must pay a token. Right now, levies are being collected and nobody knows where it goes. People stop them on the road and collect money.
If the motorcycle riders are on the road, they must wear that reflective jacket that carries their number and must be profiled. It means if anyone with this jacket commits a crime, we will be able to track the person because their address and other personal details are recorded and this will also help in reducing crime. Instead of banning them to prevent them from committing crimes, we will profile them, extortion will stop and the levy they are expected to pay will come back to the government as IGR, that is another area we are looking at.
How would you describe your tax collection drive so far?
I’ll describe it as good because before now, we had other sources of IGR we built into our IGR which one of them is sales of government properties. We sold nearly everything in billions during the Mallam Nasir El-Rufai administration so they were added as IGR. We also had a back duty audit, when a lot of things we didn’t collect so we did a lot of back duty audit and collected in billions and now almost all our liabilities have been exhausted.
The Former Administration did so much in revenue drive and taxes I was here for close to four years, and most of the revenue generated comes from back duty audits, sales of government properties and exchange gains. These three things are no longer there.
While we were getting all that money we were not investing in the agency that was in charge of the collection and definitely, there will be issues and we are now facing the issues.
Most of our vehicles are twenty years old and our revenue offices don’t have vehicles, so how can we enforce it?
How far have you gone in trying to put things in order?
Yes, we are working closely with His Excellency and He has promised He is going to do something about that. Another thing I did when I came into office is to inaugurate the Kaduna State Joint Revenue Committee. That committee had not been inaugurated and ceased to function in the last five years. It is supposed to be sitting quarterly and looking at the areas we are not doing well and coming up with new strategies. The committee was inaugurated two months ago we are working and going to do a quarterly revenue performance review and again for the first time in four years we did a strategic retreat in January to look at the performance of last year and our work plan for 2024.
The retreat is for staff?
Yes, it’s for staff. It has stopped for a long time and we brought it back.
Have you had positive feedback?
Of Course
What is the purpose of this joint revenue?
It is stated in our law that there is going to be a Kaduna State Joint Revenue Committee chaired by the executive chairman and the committee will include the economic adviser to the governor and all the revenue chairmen of the committee in the 23 local government areas including ministries, departments and agencies. There has to be a member whose rank most not be below the rank of director.
The purpose is to sit down and look at strategies and performance, to raise issues and to proffer solutions to issues that has to do with revenue generation for the state and local government.
Please give us a brief about yourself.
My name is Comrade Jerry Adams, I am a tax collector. I have a lot to do with unionism, the emancipation of my people and youth and community mobilization not only for the state but for the entire North. I was the co–founder of the Arewa Youth Forum (AYF) and also the secretary general.
I am from Kaura Local Government, I was born in Ilorin Kwara State, and I schooled in Ilorin, Lagos and Zaria. I have a B.Sc… in sociology from Ahmadu Bello University. I have a postgraduate degree in Management from Nigeria Defence Academy. I have a Master’s in Business Administration from Kaduna State University and I also have a Masters in Government Studies and Policy Analysis. I have a post-graduate Degree in Accounting from Jos. I’m currently running a PhD in Leadership and Governance at the University of Abuja.
I am a member of the Chartered Institute of Accounting and a Certified Chartered Accountant. I am also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Economics and a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).
What sport do you enjoy playing?
I have five gold medals in basketball. I played basketball and won my first medal at the National level, under fifteen Championship where Kaduna State won gold years ago. I played in secondary school games, for the College of Advance Studies, Zaria and ABU I was an athlete too. I ran, I also have a Medal in Badminton. I am a sports person.
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