The claims made by Anta Igbaato, the General Manager of the Benue State Environmental Sanitation Authority (BENSESSA), that the revenue agency fails to fund waste evacuation operations despite collecting sanitation levies, have been rejected by Mr. Joseph Kwaghgba, the Executive Chairman of the Benue State Internal Revenue Service (BIRS).
During a Monday interview with journalists in his office, Kwaghgba characterised the accusation as an ignorance of the roles and duties of government agencies and emphasised that BIRS is not required by law to pay any particular ministry, department, or agency.
According to him, the revenue service is in charge of finding, evaluating, collecting, and depositing tax money into the state’s coffers, while the Ministry of Finance, via the Accountant-General’s Office, is responsible for disbursing funds to government agencies following legislative appropriation.
“Our mission is crystal clear. We are responsible for collecting, analysing, and transferring tax dollars back into the government. Changing the distribution of the funds we receive is not our responsibility, Kwaghgba stated.
His argument is that BIRS only collects money to pay for other government programs; all other government programs derive their funding from the annual appropriation process.
Anyone claiming that BIRS is not providing funding for them is being quite ridiculous. Government agencies cannot be funded by BIRS according to the law. It is not BIRS, but the Office of the Accountant-General via the Ministry of Finance that handles disbursement once revenue is collected and sent into government coffers, he said.
The head of BIRS shot down accusations that the organization takes in environmental levies without using the money to fund sanitation projects, saying that BENSESSA gets a cut of the money that BIRS uses for environmental services thanks to statutory rebates. He did, however, tell BENSESSA that it should take any complaints it has regarding funding to the right people.
A miscommunication about funding sources exists if an agency claims BIRS does not disburse funds to it. The BIRS is not responsible for those releases. A letter from the Ministry of Finance is required. Neither the timing nor the amount of any agency’s receipts are within my purview, he declared.
In addition, Kwaghgba denied rumours that BIRS had assumed control of trash removal from markets, explaining that the agency’s recent intervention at the Modern Market was an entirely voluntary measure taken in response to an environmental crisis.
After a public uproar and BENSESSA’s seeming powerlessness, we intervened to ensure the public’s safety and health. That is not the same as our legal obligation. The intervention was based on the resources that were available, he explained.
Whenever there is a compelling public interest, he continued, BIRS could provide comparable assistance to other government agencies; however, he emphasised that such interventions are discretionary and not a part of the agency’s legal obligations.
“Occasionally, we can lend a helping hand to sister agencies, but that in no way abdicates their legal obligations to BIRS,” he clarified.
The head of BENSESSA should stop blaming the revenue agency and start fixing the organization’s operational problems, according to the chairman of BIRS.
My advice to BENSESSA’s upper management is to take stock, figure out who or what is causing problems, and direct those complaints to the right people. They are accountable to the ministry that oversees them, whereas I am subordinate to the Ministry of Finance. Kwaghgba added that the appropriate authorities may work together to find answers to those problems.
Moreover, he upheld the state’s revenue administration reforms, stating that the government now receives substantially more money as a result of rigorous compliance with fiscal laws and accountability procedures.
He claims that financial standards would be violated if revenue-generating entities were allowed to collect and spend public monies outside of the legitimate appropriation procedure.
The law governs the administration of revenue. It is now against the law to take money and spend it immediately. Each and every appropriation is overseen by the State House of Assembly, the Ministry of Finance, and the budget office. “It is our duty to gather and send,” he stated.
The most recent reply is in reaction to claims made last Thursday by the general manager of BENSESSA, Hon. The individual in question, Anta Igbaato, asserted that BIRS is obligated to provide funding to facilitate garbage removal from specific places after collecting sanitation levies from markets and other designated areas.
Following Kwaghgba’s claim that the Ministry of Finance, and not BIRS, is in charge of disbursing funds to government agencies, there have been attempts to get the reaction of the Benue State Commissioner for Finance in order to clarify if the ministry has been releasing funds due to BENSESSA.