Chairman of the Niger state Board of Internal Revenue Service, Mohammed Madami Etsu has disclosed that his quest to revamp the system and increase the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has earned him negative reactions and allegations of financial misappropriation.
The Revenue Boss while decrying the level of corruption perpetrated by some staff of the Board told Journalists in Minna that his books are clean and the records are opened for anyone to check.
It should be noted that, some members staff of the State Internal Revenue Board accused him of financial misappropriation and unprofessional conduct.
In his words: “two staff of the Revenue Board, Danjuma Jaye Ibeto and Garba Abdullahi are the people who orchestrated the writing and signing of the petition without the knowledge and consent of the lawyer”.
Etsu explained that when he resumed as Chairman, he met over 30 consultants who were engaged and who were shortchanging the government adding that sacking all the consultants increased the allegations against him especially when he brought in qualified hands to handle the revenue of the state.
According to him “those making the allegations do not understand how the revenue and tax systems works. It is those staff of the Revenue Board who do not want the renovations that are corrupt.
“The level of corruption I met when I resumed as Chairman was enormous. When you fight corruption, corruption fights you back. My ability to clean up the system is what is bringing these allegations and negative reactions.
“My books are clean and the records are there for anybody to come and check. The revenue system in Niger state does not want change and I am trying to clean up the system. Corruption is huge in the Board, there are a lot of good policies that I want to bring in but the staff are grumbling, they do not want these changes.
“Some of the staff of Niger state Revenue Board are against change. They try to sabotage those who are brought into the Board who are not staff of the revenue Board and they try their best not to allow them to succeed.
“They do all they can to stop you from achieving your goal. They involve in gang-up. Some of these staff do not develop themselves in any way. They prefer doing things in a primitive way and then fight anyone who wants to bring new innovations”.
Etsu further disclosed that those who are crying, it is because where they are transferred from is where they do their corrupt practices.
He added that “corruption is deeply rooted in the revenue service. If you are looking for corruption in Niger state, go to the Board of Internal revenue. Majority of the staff are not to be trusted.”
“I am not the first Chairman who they are petitioning against, previous Chairmen have faced what I am going through now. The system needs modernization and needs more hands to handle it effectively. Niger state can become like Lagos and Kaduna states if only the corrupt practices going on in the revenue service are brought to an end.”
