Fides Media Living the Faith
By Abuchi Onwumelu
350 Tax Inspectors of Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (AiRS) are currently undergoing training on Assessment, Collection, Accounting, Administration and Tax Implication of International Accounting Standards (IFRS & IPSAS).
Speaking to newsmen in Awka, the Head, Taxpayer Education and Enlightenment Team (TEET), Sylvia Tochukwu-Ngige said the training was organized by State and Local Governance Reform (SLOGOR) in collaboration with Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (AiRS).
According to her, SLOGOR was a European Union project supported by World Bank to interfere in the area of public finance management, noting that Its objective was to improve transparency, accountability and quality of public finance management in 6 States of Nigeria namely: Anambra, Cross River, Kano, Osun, Jigawa and Yobe.
She said the training was to last for 70 days and in three categories including: preliminary, intermediate and advanced cadres.
‘The first category, the preliminary cadre has concluded their training whilst the second category is currently undergoing the training,’ Ngige said.
Earlier, while inaugurating the training session at Awka, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, Dr. David Nzekwu commended Anambra State Government for the wonderful job they were doing in the State, particularly in AiRS and SLOGOR for approving the training and other procurement support to AiRS.
He said the training would help to build and enhance taxpayer data and result in persistent increase in the number of taxpayers, as well as capacity building for staff of Anambra State Internal Revenue Service.
Dr. Nzekwu stated that since the inception of SLOGOR in 2014 in Anambra State, remarkable impact has been made as revenue base of the State rose from N9b to N17b in 2017 and called for more support to reach the target set for AiRS by Anambra State government.
He called for full participation in the training and urged participants to put in what they would learn from the training to practice.
In his contribution, the Task Team Leader (TTL) for SLOGOR, Bar. Ikechukwu Nweje reminded the participants that the training was organized with taxpayers’ money and charged them to utilize the opportunity very well and get the knowledge that would help sustain Anambra State by raising additional revenue for the State.