As part of measures to ease payments of taxes by citizens, Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service, EKIRS, has launched another platform knowns as *5229# .This new platform tagged “Irorun de” can operate on any mobile phone even without internet service.Unveiling the platform, Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Habibat Omolara Adubiaro said the initiative was a well thought out one by government towards making life better for the people.He commended the Chairman of EKIRS and his team for their efforts towards improving IGR of the State.The Governor said:“I must commend the Chairman of EKIRS for the great work he and his team are doing. It is to his credit that the monthly Internal Generated Revenue profile of the State has improved from about N600m to over N1.3b. I therefore want to commend him and his team for his achievements so far.“We are proud to introduce ‘irorun de’, a cutting-edge system that will revolutionize the way we pay taxes. It is believed that this innovation will significantly boost our IGR and make collection easy, cheaper and convenient.”Earlier in his welcome address, Ekiti State Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Performance Management, Niyi Adebayo said the event signifies another milestone in the government of the State.He charged residents of the State to take advantage of the the platform.Introducing the features and capabilities of the product, CEO of LSSBI Advisory, Oladipo Ishola explained that using the USSD *5229# will unlock improved revenue collection.According to him, “what this does is that you don’t have to travel long distances as regards your tax remittance.“Alternatively, tax payers can also visit the booths of accredited mobile money agents, like Airtel’s Smartalk and MTN’s Momo to have the payments made.“You have the minimum of 19 different banks you can use. This USSD code is available anywhere in Nigeria and it is only unique to Ekiti State. One of the most beautiful thing is that you can see your tax history using the USSD code.”
