Uduaghan Commissions Revenue House in Warri, Says Board Will Drive ‘Delta Beyond Oil’ Initiative

Francis Sadhere

Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has today commissioned the multi-billion naira six storey building of the Delta State Board of Internal Revenue (DBIR) office in Warri South Local Government Area of the state.

Governor Uduagham who was represented by the State  Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon. Kenneth Okpara, commended the chairman of DBIR, Hon. Joel-Onowakpo Thomas for what he described as a gigantic leap in revenue collection in the state, adding that since 2007 the revenue of the state has jumped up to 550 percent, with a current average monthly collection of about N4.2 billion.

He added that the state’s revenue board will be at the forefront of the drive for the ‘Delta State Beyond Oil’ initiative of the his administration, saying that his adminstration is looking into the future where the state will no longer depend on oil and allocations from the Federal government.

He said the commissioning of the headquarters of the revenue house in Warri also symbolically served as the commissioning of the other 15 revenue offices that are spread across the state.

The governor noted that apart from the infrastructures, the state government has also installed Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment in all the revenue offices across the state, saying that the technology has improved the revenue generation of the state tremendously.

Governor Uduaghan added that his administration has also embarked on various human capacity building workshops and training for staff of the revenue board in the United Kingdom, America and other countries to boost their production capacity. He said the effort of the state government has paid off so far.

Earlier in his opening address, the Chairman of DBIR, Hon. Joel-Onowakpo, thanked Governor Uduaghan for giving him the opportunity to head the revenue board, saying that the governor has done a lot for the people of Delta State because of the improvements in the board.

He said the governor has appointed only seasoned professionals to run the state’s board of internal revenue because of the love he had  for the state, stressing that the board will forever be thankful to the governor for his vision.

The DBIR Boss said the key to the success of the ‘Delta Beyond Oil’ initiative of the state governor is premised on the success of the revenue board, adding that the governor’s dream would only come true if he strengthens the revenue collection of DBIR.

He assured Deltans that the board will not overtax the citizens of the state, adding that with the level of the technological advancement in the board, it has no problem in collecting taxes from the citizens.