E-government application to lead to 300 % growth in IGR
by Jonah Iboma
States and local governments in Nigeria would soon have access to tools that would substantially lead to at least a 300 per cent increase in Internal Revenue Generation.
Managing Director of National e-Government strategies Limited, Dr. Felix Obada, in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, said this follows a partnership signed between his organisation and an Australia-based electronic-payment service provider, O&G Electronic Fund Transfer at Point of Sale Pty.
He said the alliance entered into on Monday would allow for the provision of eRevenue solution to the state and local governments in the country.
eRevenue, one of the projects of the eGovernment initiative, provides governments at all level with a single payment reporting source of all internationally generated revenue collection via various channels whilst at the same time ensuring that all fund are collected, cleared and remitted to the operating account of the government at their lead banks instantly.
Obada noted that Lagos State, which has deployed a similar solution, though with shortcomings in many areas, has already seen an over 700 per cent increase in revenue generation. He said this showed how critical the application is towards helping in facilitating revenue generation.
NeGSt is a public-private partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Organized Private Sector. It was inaugurated on March 2004 and mandated by President Olusegun Obasanjo to implement the national eGovernment initiative across the Federal, state and local government areas of the country.
On the other hand, O&G Eftpos is a technology partner to InterSwitch Limited, the leading transaction switching company that has already connected its network to all the major banks in the country, for the process of facilitating electronic payment in Nigeria.
At the signing ceremony the Chief Executive Officer of O&G Eftpos, Mr. Benjamin Adebajo, said the company’s eRevenue application is user-friendly, accurate, and auditable and as such will solve many issues that the government faces in the process of collection of Internally generated revenue.
He said the eRevenue application would eliminate the entire shortcomings associated with the collection of IGR in the country by governments at all level. According to him, with the subsisting system, most IGR don’t get to the right account because of human interface.
He explained that monitoring procedure is not available in the current systems and as such governments find it difficult to track their revenue profile at the banks, even when they are collected. “With this application, governments would be able to monitor how and when the money comes to the banks through various collection channels.”
Adebajo said his company has not come to Nigeria to use the government for experiment to test the viability of its application. “We have developed a number of eGovernment applications that are presently working in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. We decided to come to Nigeria in reaction to the President’s call for all Nigerians in diaspora to come and invest in the country.”
On the implementation of the application, Mark Allen, Executive Director at O&G Eftpos said the deployment of the solution would be completed within three months after which a government must have shown commitment.
The Managing Director of NeGSt, Dr. Felix Obada stated that NeGSt is committed to providing best-in-class platform to ensure solid support from the governments on the rapid implementation of the revenue collection solutions.
States and local governments in Nigeria would soon have access to tools that would substantially lead to at least a 300 per cent increase in Internal Revenue Generation.
Managing Director of National e-Government strategies Limited, Dr. Felix Obada, in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, said this follows a partnership signed between his organisation and an Australia-based electronic-payment service provider, O&G Electronic Fund Transfer at Point of Sale Pty.
He said the alliance entered into on Monday would allow for the provision of eRevenue solution to the state and local governments in the country.
eRevenue, one of the projects of the eGovernment initiative, provides governments at all level with a single payment reporting source of all internationally generated revenue collection via various channels whilst at the same time ensuring that all fund are collected, cleared and remitted to the operating account of the government at their lead banks instantly.
Obada noted that Lagos State, which has deployed a similar solution, though with shortcomings in many areas, has already seen an over 700 per cent increase in revenue generation. He said this showed how critical the application is towards helping in facilitating revenue generation.
NeGSt is a public-private partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Organized Private Sector. It was inaugurated on March 2004 and mandated by President Olusegun Obasanjo to implement the national eGovernment initiative across the Federal, state and local government areas of the country.
On the other hand, O&G Eftpos is a technology partner to InterSwitch Limited, the leading transaction switching company that has already connected its network to all the major banks in the country, for the process of facilitating electronic payment in Nigeria.
At the signing ceremony the Chief Executive Officer of O&G Eftpos, Mr. Benjamin Adebajo, said the company’s eRevenue application is user-friendly, accurate, and auditable and as such will solve many issues that the government faces in the process of collection of Internally generated revenue.
He said the eRevenue application would eliminate the entire shortcomings associated with the collection of IGR in the country by governments at all level. According to him, with the subsisting system, most IGR don’t get to the right account because of human interface.
He explained that monitoring procedure is not available in the current systems and as such governments find it difficult to track their revenue profile at the banks, even when they are collected. “With this application, governments would be able to monitor how and when the money comes to the banks through various collection channels.”
Adebajo said his company has not come to Nigeria to use the government for experiment to test the viability of its application. “We have developed a number of eGovernment applications that are presently working in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. We decided to come to Nigeria in reaction to the President’s call for all Nigerians in diaspora to come and invest in the country.”
On the implementation of the application, Mark Allen, Executive Director at O&G Eftpos said the deployment of the solution would be completed within three months after which a government must have shown commitment.
The Managing Director of NeGSt, Dr. Felix Obada stated that NeGSt is committed to providing best-in-class platform to ensure solid support from the governments on the rapid implementation of the revenue collection solutions.
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