MEDIATRACNET
The deployment of technology to speed up the digitalization of internal tax collection processes is key to improving revenue generation, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said.
The Director, Department of Career and Skill Development, FIRS, Angel Fadahunsi, stated this on Friday in Abuja at a capacity building workshop aimed at highlighting the importance of digital technology in improving tax collection.
The theme of the workshop organized by FIRS in collaboration with the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT) was “Expanding the Frontiers of Revenue Generation Through Digitalization: the FIRS Experience.”
Fadahunsi said there was an urgent need to speed up digitalization in revenue generation in the country, by mastering the key skills and technologies, namely archival systems, robotic process automation, effective virtual communication, strategic planning, and data management, to make it happen.
She said recently the FIRS inaugurated a tax administration software called TaxProMax, developed 100 percent by its staff, saying the staff must have exposure, skill and experience to handle the project.
“This is why we at the FIRS career and skill department, have focused our energies on building these technological skills in our staff over the years and will indeed focus more on this in future,” she said.
The career and skills director said the speed of change in financial technology was swift, with the majority of business transactions in both the public and private sectors moving online, creating new fields for learning.
Fadahunsi, who was represented by an Assistant Director, Career and Skill Development, FIRS, Bolanle Akinbo, said that several agencies had information that could be used to improve tax collection efforts.
Akinbo said that people needed to be trained to acquire the critical skills that would improve revenue generation.
Also speaking, National Chairman, SWIT, Biola Adimula, appreciated the FIRS for its consistent partnership, assuring that advocacy activities at SWIT would go a long way to sensitize the Nigerian populace on better positive actions to issues of taxation.
Adimula explained that the event was put together to strengthen bonding within the SWIT leadership, build its capacity in preparation of an action plan, enhance and most importantly plan its activities on how to improve revenue generation.
President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITIN), Adesina Adedayo, said the impact of technology was evident in driving revenue generation in developed countries where there was high tax compliance.
Adedayo, who was represented by Samuel Ageluyi, Deputy VIce President, CITIN, stressed that changes involving the use of technology were not always embraced except there was sustained public engagement and enlightenment. (NAN)
