BENIN CITY – Edo government, on Thursday in Benin, said it had commenced the training of 200 youths in the state as tax managers and officers to ensure accountability and transparency in the system.
Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo stated this shortly after declaring up a five-day training for the new tax managers and officers.
He said that the new officials would help the state in data and information collection to ensure adequate economic planning.
According to him, “We are resetting the economic landscape of Edo. We have about 1,000 of them to help us collect data across the state.
“They are helping us to collect information and data for us to use in economic planning. These people are beyond mere revenue collectors or revenue agents.
“They have enough and a lot of information and technology to help the government know what is going on, what to be done, the pressures on people, communities and the societies.
“This is important so that as we can bring more people into the tax net. We have a keen sense of what we need to do for them; that is what this project is all about.
“The project is unique and I am not sure there is any other state in Nigeria doing what we are doing here today. It is about citizens’ participation,” he said.
Obaseki added that his administration would streamline the entire tax processes in the state to ensure that everybody paid something once, and not twice.
According to him, nobody can call himself/herself a citizen without paying something to ensure that the state moves on and continues to function.
Speaking, one of the project coordinators, Mr Francis Evbuomwan, described the development as a new dawn for tax generation and collection in the state.
Evbuomwan noted that part of the training was to show participants how transparent the taxation processes could be.
