“Scroll to the bottom of this article to see ViewPointNigeria’s fact-check and comparison of the numbers presented by Dashe Arlat (Acting Chairman of the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service), with that of the past administration”

Plateau State Government yesterday said it generated N2.06 billion as revenue in the first quarter of this year.
Acting Chairman, Plateau State Internal Revenue Service, PSIRS, Dashe Arlat, made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen in Jos the state capital.

Arlat described the revenue collected within the period as “very encouraging’’ in comparison with the N1.84 billion realized in the corresponding period last year, 2015.

“From the amount so realized this first quarter of the year, it is glaring that we are improving our revenue generation having surpassed that of last year with the whooping sum of N219, 506, 232.86

“In fact, by what we just realized, it’s a clear indication that we shall definitely meet our target of N13 billion for this year; this is because we have not yet include our arrears of tax liabilities of about N5 billion,’’ he said.

Analyzing the collection for the period under review, the chairman disclosed that the amount realized were as follow: N350, 720, 319. 98, as PAYE; N982, 889, 890.67, Pay direct, and N711, 783, 427.50 (Remita).

The chairman explained “from what we have generated so far, it is a proof that we are doing better in spite of the economic down turn in the country. ’’

“We have heard from some quarters that we are on the lower side in our collections, but this feat will silence our detractors and equally encourage my staff to do more, ’’ he stated.

Arlat attributed the boost in the revenue collection to the Single Treasury Account (STA) which the state keyed into at the beginning of the year as directed by the Federal Government.

He said the PSIRS has high expectation from the MDAs, which he said are supposed to generate more than the service considering the vast opportunities opened to them.

According to him, “we are trying to harmonized our collections and synergy including the Local Governments, whose revenue collections have not been captured in the data of the period under review. ’’

The chairman said they were looking at Non Tax Revenue especially from services being rendered by government such as water supply as well as registration of business premises, hotels, schools, land documentation and building plans to the boost the revenue.

Fact-checks and Analysis by ViewPointNigeria

With so many numbers being brandished in this report, ViewPointNigeria sought to verify, fact-check and benchmark the numbers against previous collections by the past administration.

Our findings show that the collections for 2016 (i..e, 2.06 billion for Jan – March) as presented by Arlat and his team at PSIRS is good given the current global financial pressure – however in the context of past collections by the Jang administration, this is well within the range of what was collected so hardly an impressive feat. Especially given the fact that the new Treasury Single Account enforced by the Buhari government (and adopted by Lalong) has enhanced transparency of collection and blocked channels of leakages.

With that said, if we factor in the fact that oil is at its lowest in 8 years (i.e., at approx $45 per barrel) and that the Nigerian economy is in a pretty desperate state with subventions, consumer spending and taxable revenues at an all-time low, then such sums are indeed impressive. However, the key question remains, how do these numbers compare with past sums released by the PSIRS? – see below

Q1 2013 figures were at a low of N1.98 billion. Note – oil was at approx $100 per barrel at this point.

For Q1 2014, an increase to N2.1 billion was reported. Note – in June of this year (2014), the oil price drop started and by December, oil was at less than $40 per barrel.

In Q1 2016, approximately. N2.06 billion was reported and oil was at an average of $40 per barrel.

For reference to how the numbers above are generated, see the articles below:

2013 internal revenue generation: http://www.viewpointnigeria.com/plateau-generates-internal-revenue-up-to-n3-96-billion/

2014 internal revenue generation: http://www.viewpointnigeria.com/plateau-generates-n4-2-billion-revenue-in-six-months/

http://www.viewpointnigeria.com/milestone-achieved-as-plateau-generates-highest-amount-of-internal-revenue-in-decades/

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PLSG generates N2.06bn internally generated revenue in Q1 2016