The Osun State Government has sent a stern warning to companies and individuals owning the state government taxes to pay up or ready to face legal battle.
The Executive Chairman of Osun State Internal Revenue Service, OIRS, Prince Sola Adewumi FCA made the call during a press conference held at the OIRS building, Abere on Monday.
The chairman stated that
a lot of companies including quarries and mining firms operating in the state have failed to remit taxes to the state government which has accumulated into huge amount of money.
He however warned those indebted to the state to be ready to pay, noting that they will make critical assessment and legal department of OIRS is ready to take legal action in that regard.
He stressed the law empower the agency to enforce tax law on the people to recover money.
According to him, “Those who are indebted to Osun government should be ready to pay. We will make critical assessment and legal department of Osun Internal Revenue Service is ready to take legal action in that regard.
“The law empower us to enforce tax law on the people to recover our money. Anyone owing tax should be made to pay legitimately and we will not force people to for what they are not indebted to.
“For the umpteenth time, the Government of Senator Ademola Adeleke does not give me the mandate to witch-hunt anybody but explore legitimate process to recover tax from defaulters”.
Adewumi who headed the Revenue Review Committee set up by Governor Adeleke claimed that the assignment opened him to many atrocities going on the state. He said most mining firms in the state have not remmited a dime into the state government’s purse since they begin operation in the state.
The chairman who resumed office on June 26, 2023 pledged his commitment and readiness to move the Internal Generation Revenue, IGR of the state from 2 billion to 3 billion every month between now and December.
“I met N20 billion annual IGR generation on ground, but my projection between now and December, we shall be recording N3 billion per month. The economy of Osun State is hinged on Agriculture and mining.
” It’s even not appropriate to opine that Osun is a civil servant state. The truth is we will generate more funds from the informal sectors than expected.” He asserted.
Also, the Chairman said the Osun Internal Revenue Service is making use of more casual staff to collect revenue, saying they are working on how to permanent them in order to have a robust system.
He opined that it’s risky to put strangers in charge of money as they are not responsible to anyone unlike permanent staff.
