The Akwa Ibom State Internal Revenue Service on Friday said it planned to generate over N43.8bn as IGR for the 2022 fiscal year.

The Executive Chairman of the agency, Okon Okon, who disclosed this while speaking at the 2022 strategy session in Uyo, assured that the organisation would design strategies to deliver on the target and possibly improve on it.

Okon stated that the agency’s focus for the year under review would cover areas such as data/analytics, tax intelligence, automation/digital capability, capacity building, new streams, maritime/oil and gas, and re-structuring to improve efficiency.

He said, “The state-wide IGR target this year (2022) is ₦43.8bn. As I said during the public hearing on the 2022 budget at the House of Assembly, let me reiterate that we will at this session design a strategy to ensure that we deliver on this target and invariably improve our commonwealth, development and prosperity.”

He stated that the main focus last year was on implementing version 2.0 of its corporate transformation agenda code-named Revenue and Institutional Transformation Agenda.

According to him, the agenda saw massive investment in the training of employees, engagement of revenue stakeholders and strengthening the Joint State Revenue Committee in a bid to ensure optimum collection of taxes in the state.

“In keeping with our commitment to ensuring that enough revenue is generated for the ‘Completion Agenda’ of Governor Udom Emmanuel, we collaborated with the Federal Road Safety Corps, Ministry of Transport and security agencies in the state to carry out enforcement of road taxes.

“During that week-long enforcement exercise, our team deployed technology in the verification of motor licences and that effort yielded tremendous positive results,” Okon added.