Kwara EoDB Council pays working visits to KW-IRS, KW-GIS

• Commends feats, reforms at both institutions

The Kwara State Ease of Doing Business Council (EoDB) on Friday paid working visits to both the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS) and the Kwara State Geographic Information Service (KW-GIS), noting both institutions are at the center of the actualization of its mandate which is to eliminate binding constraints to businesses in the state, while improving the state’s EoDB ratings.

The EoDB Council was inaugurated last year by His Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the Executive Governor of Kwara State, with Mrs Susan Modupe Oluwole, Head of Service as the Chairman.

Members of the Council on the working visits which was led by Mallam Abdullahi Abdulmajeed, the State Reform Champion/Focal Person who is also the GMD/CEO of Harmony Holdings include, Hajiah Fatimah Arinola Lawal, Commissioner for Business, Innovation and Technology; Barr. Salman Jawondo, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice; Mallam Rafiu Ajakaye, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor; Mr AbdulMutalib Tade Shittu, Executive Chairman, KW-GIS; Mr Ayodimeji Olalekan Fatai, the President of KWACCIMA representing the organised private sector.

Receiving them at the KW-IRS corporate headquarters in Ilorin, Mrs Shade Omoniyi, Executive Chairman who is also a member of the Council said it was a delight to host the delegation at the Revenue House.

The KW-IRS boss highlighted critical reforms the Service has undergone under the current administration to ensure an efficient tax administration regime.

“The platform we met on the ground crashed, but we were able to retrieve some data. There was no centralised data. We have tackled that as we now have a cleaned up data of about 100,000 residents while we are working on getting more,” she said.

Omoniyi also explained the giant strides her administration has recorded in the area of harmonising tax collection which has solved the problem of multiple taxation to a reasonable extent. She noted that the KW-IRS works in concert with revenue generating MDAs and local government councils to harmonize tax collection.

“We also introduced the self-service portal and online payment platform where people can access all tax-related activities without necessarily coming to our office. Through these digitized operations, we have been able to reduce leakages to the barest minimum and enhance efficiency,” she added.

One of the major accomplishments of the agency which was commended by the Council is its current capacity to process Tax Clearance Certificates in just 24 hours, in addition to making the process available real time online.

Council posited that all complaints about multiple taxation should be looked into critically to ensure that residents of Kwara and the business community are not unfairly treated while doing business in the state.

The visit was also witnessed by top management team of KW-IRS.

Thereafter, the team proceeded to the newly created Kwara State Geographic Information Service (KW-GIS) where the Chairman, Mr Shittu hosted members of the Council. He said KW-GIS was the baby of Governor AbdulRazaq to digitize land records and ease workflows in getting products and services such as the CofOs, RofOs, building permits, land registration and so on.

“The reform here at KW-GIS is to make sure that we digitize all our land parcels, land records, and also have easier workflows in terms of getting different products and services from RofOs, CofOs, building permits, registration of lands and so on in a very easy and timely manner.

“Bringing the agencies together under KW-GIS has extensively eased the workflow. Before, you had to go to Survey differently, Lands differently, Physical Planning separately. But now, they are all together. We have streamlined the process where most of the work now happen backend. We are currently undergoing a change in our operational infrastructure and mode of engagement with the public as we embrace the most modern technology to enhance our service delivery.”

The Council applauded the rapid pace of the operationalization of the agency, while commending the enthusiasm with which the team was implementing the noble reforms of His Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in that sector.

The major highlights of the visit indicate that the major critical success factors of the Ease of Doing Business reforms in Kwara State such as reducing the number of days required to process CofOs, building permits, survey reports and other major land related prerequisites for business development are being achieved.

It is worthy to report that the visit confirmed with delight that the number of days required to process CofO which used to take an average of 245 days before the coming of this administration has been reduced to a maximum of 98 days now and will be further reduced to less than one month for residential and commercial plots and 14 days for investment lands as soon as the full deployment of the agency’s technology is achieved.

The Council lauded the agency, stating that the Ease of Doing Business reforms targets in Kwara State are impressively becoming a reality as KW-GIS becomes a full-blown service agency.

Top management staff of KW-GIS were also available at the visit.