Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) on Wednesday disclosed that it has attained 70% of its 2018 first quarter Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) target.

The Chairman, KWIRS, Dr Muritala Awodun during a press briefing in Ilorin, the state capital said the agency raked in N7.7 billion  out of it’s N11 billion target for the months of January to April, 2018.

He noted that the N7.7 billion was against N7.4 billion generated in the same period of 2017.

Awodun attributed the increase in IGR to restructuring of the agency in the last quarter of 2017 in a bid to increase effective service delivery.

He added that the agency also embarked on training and retraining of staff which was geared towards better and workable means of improving the revenue collection of the state, leading to the tremendous improvement.

Giving the breakdown, Awodun said in the month of January, the sum of N2.2 billion was generated, with February having the highest collection of N2.39 billion, while N1.8 billion and N1.29 billion was collected in March and April respectively.

Also, the KWIRS chairman disclosed that the agency had in the last four months embarked on various Community Impact Programmes in a bid to give back to the community. He listed some of the programs to include the renovation of the state marriage registry under the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, donation of vehicle to the state branch of the National Union of Road Transportation Workers (NURTW), and distribution of school bags in Primary schools in Kwara north senatorial district.

Awodun, therefore, commended the response from the tax payers in the state which he discribed as very encouraging and appealed to them to continue with the display of patriotism.

He noted that the revenue court remained the last option for the agency, pointing out that, two banks operating in Ilorin metropolis were sealed off recently and charged to court for withholding tax on bank interest, to serve as a deterrent to others.