Abuja — Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Hassan Ibrahim Dankwambo disclosed that N375.035billion was withdrawn from the excess crude savings account between January to November, 2009 for augmentations of revenue shortfalls shared among the 36 States of the Federation.

It would be recalled that Just last week, the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee withdrew the sum of N121.3 Billion from the Excess Crude Account for budget augmentation for the month of October, 2009.

Dankwambo made the disclosure while making presentation at the ongoing first National Roundtable Strategy session on Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) organized by the Nigeria Governors Forum in Abuja.

Also, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mrs. Ifueko Omogui-Okauru and the Accountant General of the Federation, Hassan Dankwambo emphasized the need to activate Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) , especially the non-oil component and put in place a transparent system of tax collection.

Dankwambo regretted that recent assessments of activities in the States and LGs indicated clearly that the logistics, personnel and infrastructures on ground have not been adequately mobilized for optimal results in revenue generation in the short and medium terms.

He contended that introduction of new taxes and rates were actually not the issue but emphasis should be placed on the modus operandi of collection of existing taxes, levies and rates, in order to determine whether taxes were being optimally collected.

According to him, "There are inadequacies in tax liability assessment and determination, with attendant high tendency for leakages before payments are made, during collection and even after the collection process, before the money is finally made available to government".

He explained that tax payers would be encouraged to come forward and fulfill their obligations if physical evidences in terms of infrastructures and amenities are available to the citizens to justify the taxes being collected by the Government.

Okauuru who presented a paper on "Professionalising the tax administration system: a paradigm shift", canvassed for use of professionals as role models in tax administration, including lawyers, accountants, professors and media practitioner as they would be more versed on issues concerning tax and be able to instill confidence on the taxpaying public.

She said "we must always seek to achieve the level of professionalism that would achieve maximum results from any system. Professionalism entails that a system is structured in a manner to function optimally.

We must restructure our processes, our recruitment and performance management processes must be based on merit and we must avoid the temptation of outsourcing key functions and responsibilities in the tax administration to third parties".