By Onwa Ekor
Determined to educate taxpayers on their civic responsibilities, particularly in relation to the new tax reforms, Cross River government has indicated interest to partner with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
The initiative, Newsspecng gathered, would promote voluntary tax compliance while deepening public awareness across the state.
Executive Chairman of Cross River Internal Revenue Service (CRIRS), Prince Edwin Okon, disclosed this during an interactive session with the executive and members of Cross River Chapter of NIPR led by its Chairman, Dr. Augustine Mboso, Thursday, at the CRIRS Headquarters in Calabar.
According to Okon, such collaborations are key to properly inform taxpayers on the new tax regime, reduce misinformation, and improve voluntary compliance, through public sensitization and grassroots engagement.
He further added that the Service is also open to vistas of training that will strengthen communication capacity, enhance stakeholder engagement, and support the effective dissemination of tax-related information to the public.
Earlier, Mboso lauded the CRIRS Executive Chairman’s digitalization efforts which he affirmed has contributed immensely to the drastic surge in revenue generation for the State.
Mboso assured the State’s tax Boss that, as a professional training institution, the NIPR was ready to explore every possible avenue to ensure eligible taxpayers are fully educated on their civic obligations.
The NIPR Chairman also called on the Executive Chairman to extend this sensitisation process to all revenue-generating agencies.
This move, according to him, “would ensure administrative uniformity and put an end to the unwarranted harassment of taxpayers across the State by revenue collecting agents,” assuring him of NIPR’s readiness to partner the service in the area of training.
Also commenting, the immediate past State Chairman of the Institute, Mr. Benedict Okache, thanked the Executive Chairman and IRS for being a consistent partner of the NIPR for over 20 years and appealed for the robust partnership to continue in the years ahead.
On behalf of the National President of the Institute, Dr. Ike Neliaku, the Cross River State Chapter Chairman, Dr Augustine Mboso, later conferred Corporate Membership on the Service, imploring the agency to live up to the expectations of its new status when engaging with the citizenry.
