The Executive Chairman, Bayelsa Board of Internal Revenue (BIR), Dr Nimibofa Ayawei, has attributed the rise in Bayelsa’s monthly internally generated revenue above N1 billion mark to deployment of electronic collection system.

Ayawei, who spoke while receiving a 14-seater Toyota bus from the management of Access Bank, said the government of Bayelsa had abolished the cash-based tax payment system and subsequently blocked revenue leakages which boosted the state’s revenue.

He said that the progressive rise in monthly revenue from about N300 million monthly before the reforms in 2017 to the N1 billion mark was a fallout of the automation of the revenue collection process.

“We are reaping the rewards of the recent re-engineering of the revenue collection process and deployment of electronic payment platforms that captures the funds accruing to the state. “We have since abolished the cash payments and this has been responsible for the increased revenue.

“We leveraged on the expertise of our lead bankers, Access Bank, which today is donating a bus to boost our operations.

“We feel encouraged by the gesture and express gratitude to the bank; we know that other financial institutions will follow shortly,” Ayawei said.

The monthly internal revenue of the state in October 2017 hit a peak of N1.3 billion.

Mr Kakiri Flint, the Relationship Manager, Public Sector in Access Bank, Yenagoa, said the gesture was part of the bank’s social obligations to boost the revenue drive of Bayelsa Government.

He said that the bank had deployed its expertise and provided technical support to the blockage of leakages in the revenue collection system.

“We have a history of relationship that dates back to 2006 and we have made progress.

“We played a role in the use of biometrics in the payroll which also led to the substantial reduction in the state’s wage bill from over N6 billion to the current figure of about N3.8 billion.

“The donation of the bus today is meant to ease the work of the Bayelsa Board of Internal Revenue as well as part of our corporate social responsibility,” Flint said.

•Photo shows Mr Kakiri Flint, Relationship Manager, Public Sector in Access Bank, Yenagoa, speaking shortly after presenting a 14-seater Toyota bus to Dr Nimibofa Ayawei, Executive Chairman, Bayelsa Board Of Internal Revenue, on Wednesday.

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