ODIRS Staff Trained On Strategies Of Int’l Taxation

In its efforts to take tax collection to a global best practice by its officials and improve the productivity of members of staff, the Ondo State Internal Revenue Services (ODIRS) has organized a three week training of its staffers.

The training as facilitated by the London Academy Business School commenced on May 6 and spanned through May 25 with its center focus on understanding the principle of international taxation.

At the official closing ceremony of the training on thursday 25th May, 2023, the Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu applauded ODIRS for its continual commitment to progress and groundbreaking achievements noting that it is the reason why his administration was never hesitant in granting its request.

Represented by the State Head of Service, Pastor KayodeOgundele, the Governor commended ODIRS for the systemic improvement in the state’s Internally Generated Revenue from the N700million per month in 2017 to  N3.3billion per month in 2023.

“It is a great pleasure to be here today at ODIRS Learning Centre again to close the Understanding the Principle of International Taxation training, an international training which has over 300 staff of Ondo State Internal Revenue Service as participants, one of its kind in Ondo State.

“Since the beginning of my Administration, I have placed a special emphasis on public service advancement and improvement in the quality of staff and their training and promotions.

“The role and importance of Public Servant cannot be over-emphasized. A strong Public Service is the bedrock on which good governance, policy execution and pathways for the delivery of democratic dividends can be achieved.

“It is in pursuant of the above that the Government of Ondo State decided to bring down the team of facilitators from London Academy Business School to Akure to train staff of ODIRS and get the same certification and value we would have gotten from the school if they had all traveled abroad to London.

“It gladdens my heart to see the good works of ODIRS especially the fact  that we have improved our IGR systematically from the N700million per month in 2017 to an average of N3.3billion per month in 2023.”

He called on all participants

to make the best use of the trainings received for their career advancement.

“I wish to state here, based on the information I received and approval given so far, that over 450 staff of this agency have participated in not less than four standard trainings with one specialised training in their various areas since 2021.

The governor appreciated the team from the London Academy Business School for sharing their knowledge and experience on international taxation with the trainees.

Earlier, the Executive Chairman of ODIRS, Mr Tolu Adegbie, had expressed appreciation to the governor for the trust, believe and regular training opportunities provided for the service.

Adegbie said the training and retraining of staff had been the springing board for better and improved performance for the service in revenue generation.

“We know that training them (staff) will impact on our revenue growth, so for this year, we decided that we should do something extraordinary.

“We were asked to go to London two years ago, with all the chairmen of International Revenue Service all over the country and the Chairman of the FIRS and we attended this same course.

“When we came back, we decided to approach Mr Governor that instead of Chairman and Director going for this training in London, why can’t we train the rest of our staff and he bought the idea and said, well, if the trainers can come to Nigeria, why not?

“Governor Akeredolu believes so much in human capital development. Mr Governor gave the approval that we bring facilitators from the London Academy Business School to give our staff the same training we received while in London so that the knowledge will not only be limited to few.

“I am happy to inform you that the N3 billion monthly IGR we promised Mr Governor to generate on monthly basis, we’ve been able to achieve it,” Adegbie said.

On the level of cooperation of the trainees, the facilitator who also doubles as the Chairman of the London Academy Business School, Dr Jones Esan commended Adegbie for his level of coordination and for recruiting best hands into the Ondo State Internal Revenue Services, ODIRS.