Lagos State kits up with e-tax

By OFFIONG ENE

The electronic tax (e-tax) system is yielding results in Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, though it has its own aches, says Mr. Obafemi Hamzat, Lagos State Commissioner  for Science and Technology.

Tax revenue has grown by over 300% and awareness for tax percent has grown by almost the same rate in a state notorious for having several defaulters. Tax evasion is a serious crime  in Nigeria but it is common practice in a country where citizens believe they do not get the benefit of meeting such statutory obligations.

The e-tax payment system effectively went into operation over four years ago as part of the measures by the state government to cut down on leakages, increase government revenue, reduce the incidents of theft and keep effective track performances of connected banks collecting revenue on behalf of the government.

Success rate is not absolute but the results have beaten all forecasts and proven that technology could help to put efficiency and speed in government’s operation, Mr. Hamzat told IT Edge, the print sister publication of www.itedgenews.com

Erratic power supply and system glitches are a challenge to the e-tax system and not every employed adult in the state is a tax payer. But things are a lot better than before, Mr. Hamzat told IT Edge. As in other places such as Australia and Europe where e-tax is already in practice, there are still loopholes to be plugged.

Hamzat foresees a future when the e-tax card would be an official source of identification and be the first tier of identity for anyone who should have access to social support in the  state.

Lagos State, under its immediate past governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, invested heavily in technology including the setting up of the Oracle database centre and building of a wide area network to connect activities of all ministries in the state.

The e-tax was conceived to ride on the backbone of the state technology infrastructures as are other initiatives such as the health recording system planned to go full scheme later this year under which data on health patients in the state would be pooled together. The Health Management Regulation System is a digitalized system that will keep both doctors and patients constantly updated on the health care services available in all Lagos hospitals.

The state’s judiciary has widely benefited from the technology infrastructure deployed in the last six years as it has regarded as the most electronically driven in Nigeria

According to Nseobong Akpan, a legal practitioner in Lagos, technology deployment has been in form of “Court Automated Information System (CAIS), which is a secure, password- protected closed information network for authorized Court personnel (intranet), Electronic Access Gateway for Lawyers (EAGLE) a secure, password-protected information network that provides limited access to certain sections of the case-related information for registered legal practitioners and other external users (extranet)and Public Information Portal, Lagos State Judiciary Web Site www.lagosjudiciary.gov.ng that provides open, non-restricted access to certain information made public by the Judiciary.

More…..

Back To Top