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Beginning in the 2025 fiscal year, the Akwa Ibom State Revenue Service will undertake a complete overhaul of its tax administration by shifting to fully digital operations. This initiative is designed to modernize the collection framework, improve efficiency, and minimize manual interventions to ensure greater transparency in revenue generation.
Speaking to journalists in Uyo, Akwa Ibom’s state capital, on Sunday, Mr. Okon Okon, the Executive Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Revenue Service, elaborated on the service’s strategic move to digitize all tax-related processes starting from the 2025 fiscal year.
This briefing served as an opportunity to discuss the details of a two-day strategic session centered around plans for the 2025 fiscal year. Mr. Okon Okon explained that the board was committed to driving a significant boost in the state’s revenue by implementing key digital initiatives.
These initiatives will encompass electronic assessments, a streamlined e-tax clearance process, online filing for tax returns, and the automation of registration and reporting procedures.
He said, “We are pleased to inform our public that we will be speeding up our digitalisation programme next year by further expanding the automation of our processes and deepening our data-driven initiatives.
“This is to significantly improve our operational efficiency and increase the state’s IGR without increasing any tax rate.
“We are confident that without increasing any tax rate, the IGR of our state would be improved via the application of technology, increased tax awareness campaign, and the expansion of the tax net to capture tax evaders.
“Therefore, our focus for the next fiscal year would be to transform our processes from a semi-manual system to full automation. We intend to achieve an end-to-end automation of all our tax processes.”
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He outlined that the main objective behind the push for digitalization was to reduce the scope for human interference, making the entire tax system more streamlined and reliable.
At the same time, he gave firm assurance to taxpayers that the service would proceed with great care, ensuring that any new initiatives would not place unnecessary strain on businesses or stifle their ability to grow and thrive.
Okon added that the board would upscale its ongoing tax sensitisation and enlightenment campaign to raise awareness of tax payment as a civic responsibility.
He said the state had been performing well in its revenue profile, adding that the internally generated revenue rose from N34.75bn in 2022 to N43.18bn in 2023, as indicated in the figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics and Joint Tax Board.
He also said the state ranked among the top 10 in IGR performance in the country in 2023, coming fourth among the nine states of the Niger Delta in the recently released ranking published by the NBS.
“Our IGR trend shows significant and steady growth, with about 170 per cent increase over the past six years, rising from N15.96bn in 2017 to N43.18bn in 2023,” Okon said
He attributed the impressive growth to “significant governance reforms by the state government, improvement in corporate governance, and operational processes by the board and the business-enabling environment created by the Governor Umo Eno administration.
