The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, LIRS, has reaffirmed its renewed efforts in leveraging cutting-edge technology and effective advocacy to significantly enhance the state’s revenue generation.
The Executive Chairman, LIRS, Mr. Ayodele Subair, made this known while speaking in an interview on The Tax Talk, a newly launched 30-minute public enlightenment television programme on taxation, monitored on Channels Television recently.
While speaking on the programme, Subair noted that the use of technology has helped the agency in optimizing its operations while also enhancing revenue generation for the state.
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He lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for introducing the use of technology in the generation of the state revenue during his tenure as the state governor.
According to him, past governors such as Babatunde Fashola, Akinwunmi Ambode, and the current governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also made efforts in upholding the autonomy of LIRS, which has led to a notable level of effectiveness.
Subair noted, “One of the first things we did was to look at the market, the taxpayers and then we did some element of market segmentation, recognizing that there are some players in the market who work in an unstructured environment, some work in a structured environment, formal and informal.
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“We looked at the situation where we have high net worth individuals, and then we set up shop to make sure that we plan to cater for the different needs of the different segments of taxpayers. So having done that, we looked at our processes, did a lot of process reengineering, and looked at removing all the things that would make our jobs longer or more difficult. We also looked at the staffing arrangements, we looked at human resources and designed a whole set of training programs to ensure that everybody is up to the task.”
According to him, “If we did not introduce technology, no doubt, we’re going to have very, very limited success. We have our e-tax and we also have our IBILE hub software to take care of the informal sector. One of the key features of the IBILE hub software is that it allows instalment payments from members of the sector.
“We’re exploring constantly and bringing initiatives on how we can leverage technology fully on technology. We intend to set up some research units that will delve more into technology to see how it can be relevant to our operations and of course, to the benefit of taxpayers. We’re constantly looking at how we can make tax experience very easy for members of the public.”
The LIRS chairman said the use of advocacy has also played a big role in its tax administration, as the agency makes it a priority to always engage taxpayers and stakeholders.