Kaduna IGR rises to N120bn as tax compliance hits 65%

Kaduna State’s Internally Generated Revenue has nearly doubled in three years, rising from N62 billion in 2023 to a projected N120 billion, the outgoing Executive Chairman of the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS), Jerry Adams, has said.

Adams disclosed this on Thursday at the ongoing 160th meeting of the Joint Revenue Board in Kaduna, attributing the sustained increase to reforms that expanded the tax base, digitised revenue collection and improved compliance.

He said the state generated N71 billion in 2024 before recording N85 billion in 2025, with average monthly collections increasing to about N7 billion.

According to him, monthly revenue has now reached an average of N10 billion as the state moves towards an annual collection of N120 billion.

Adams said the current performance represented a more sustainable revenue model than the state had previously relied on, when significant portions of its income came from one-off recoveries and other non-recurring sources.

He recalled that Kaduna’s highest annual collection between 2019 and 2023 was N59 billion in 2022, but said the figure was boosted by back-duty recoveries, the sale of government properties and other exceptional receipts rather than a substantial expansion of the tax base.

He said KADIRS consequently shifted its strategy in 2023 from extracting more revenue from existing taxpayers to bringing more individuals and businesses into the tax system.

“We needed to grow horizontally, not just vertically; to expand the tax net itself, rather than simply tighten it around those already caught in it, and to stop relying on windfalls to flatter our numbers,” Adams said.

As part of the strategy, the agency introduced the PAYKADUNA portal and Project C.R.A.F.T. (Cross-Sector Systems for Revenue Administration and Fiscal Transparency) to centralise revenue payments and reduce leakages associated with informal and cash-based collection.

Adams said the agency also recruited additional personnel to identify previously untaxed economic activities, supplied staff with working tools, cleared delayed promotions and expanded its operational reach.

Three additional area offices were established alongside the existing 34 offices, he said, while staff were given further capacity-building opportunities to improve service delivery and tax administration.

The former KADIRS chairman also identified data-sharing partnerships with the Joint Revenue Board, Nigeria Revenue Service and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit as important to the agency’s ability to identify taxable activities that previously escaped the tax net.

He said the reforms had also translated into improved compliance, which increased from about 30 per cent when the process began to approximately 65 per cent.

Adams attributed the progress partly to increased public confidence, arguing that taxpayers were more likely to comply when they trusted the system and understood how revenue was being administered.

He, however, stressed that the improvement should be viewed as a broader governance achievement rather than the success of KADIRS alone.

Adams, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC) running mate for the 2027 Kaduna governorship election, said continued collaboration among government agencies, stakeholders and taxpayers would be crucial to sustaining the state’s revenue growth.