In a bid to shore up revenue and ensure that citizens meet up with the Civic duties, the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue digitizes revenue collections and tax payment. A situation that has got most markets like Santana Market, New Benin , Oliha, Ekiosa and Oba market got wondering on the work-ability of the model . But, the ancient way of revenue collection is given way to digital narrative.



The ancient city of Benin has been going about the revenue collection in an ancient way, this model would re-position the state finances and ensure that modernization is embedded in the tax collection systems. Mr. Igbinidu Inneh ACTI, who is the Executive Chairman, Edo State Board of Internal Revenue and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Edo State Internal Revenue Service, noticed the lapses in revenue collection and allegedly under remittances by the appointed agents. He and his team took some to develop and deploy an online payment model with offline capabilities which has deployed in critical areas of New Benin market.

The menance of touts has been on the high side in the city of Benin, with these set of people mostly deploy to collect revenue for the authorities , with the new digital system in place, the menace would be curtailed and citizens can have a respite and have a believe that their money is going to the right channel. This is one major impediment to this new digital tax payment method has addressed.

On the downside, the issue of broadband and accessibility rears it head again like the anaconda that has refused to die. With less than thirty percent of broadband penetration, with the internet ridiculous slow (hovering around 2.5G – 3G) the online – real-time capabilities of the hardware has been limited . As digital payment requires internet, and as it stands today, our survey has shown that internet is pretty slow and frustrating , this has made most residents of the city to head to Hank to do basic transactions like transfer which can be done in the comfort of their homes and offices.

The need to address this has been opined. Others have said that the government should deploy hot spots in these critical revenue centers and market , it would serve two purpose, the first is that it would shore up the existing internet in these markets and business centers. Secondly, it would be a right step in creating a smart city, which the ancient city of Benin desperately needs now.

“We are very happy that the menace of revenue collection agents would be minimized with this , it is a welcomed development. We believe that with online payment taking center stage, Edo state government has seen the need to follow suit in deploying digital tools in revenue collection and we are in total support of this “, said Osato, a businessman at the New Benin Market .


https://etimes.com.ng/benin-city-rejigs-revenue-collection-with-digital-tools/