Interswitch Hosts Revenue Boards Chairmen Across Key Northern States

Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce company, Interswitch, has organized its Engagement Forum with State Revenue Boards – Northern Region to discuss revenue collection and growth strategies using technology.

The two-day event, which took place on September 21 and 22, 2022 at the Reiz Continental Hotel, Abuja, was themed, "Staying Ahead of the Revenue Growth Curve Using Technology", where representatives from the revenue boards of 18 northern states were present.

At the event, conversations revolved around the challenges with the Nigerian tax landscape for state governments, opportunities for revenue growth through tax digitization, and examples of regions benefitting from effective tax digitization. The participants were also engaged on the possibilities of revenue collection through automation as a means to ensure that revenue leakages are reduced.

Interswitch, a leading industry player, proffered cutting-edge technology solutions to effectively address the challenges around revenue collections during the 'industry session'. Stakeholders were introduced to solutions such as the Paydirect solution, a multi-channel revenue collection, monitoring and reporting solution which is currently in use by more than 30 states to achieve their revenue goals.

Demo sessions were also held, and Interswitch offered technology advisory services to revenue boards' representatives seeking early adoption of these proposed solutions, with a view to driving revenue growth in these states.

Speaking at the event, Regional Head, Interswitch Group, Thomas Ezeh, noted that the technology company has continued to champion the automation of revenue generation using innovative solutions such as the Treasury Single Account - TSA solution that facilitates the consolidation of revenue from states' revenue collection bodies.

Ezeh remarked, "We recognize the importance of revenue generation in states as it aids the growth and development of the residents' standards of living. Even better is the digitization of this process. To this end, we have designed advanced technological solutions aimed at reducing revenue leakages to boost revenue generation.

"With our multi-channel solution, states are able to easily integrate revenue collections from various channels into one single console, creating transparency, accountability and an all-round healthy revenue generation system."

Also addressing the audience was Kenneth Erikume, Tax Partner, PwC Nigeria, who noted the importance of the digitization of tax collection. According to him, countries across the world, including a number of African countries such as South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, and Tunisia have also joined the digitization drive; adding that Nigeria has only continued to play catch up.

Erikume commented, "Globally, there is an embrace of the digitization of tax collection, even in countries on the African continent. But what we have observed in Nigeria is the plethora of taxes which are mostly collected manually. However, with advancements in technology, there is a need to not only harmonize tax payments but to also digitize collection."

As a future-forward company, Interswitch continues to put innovation at its core, providing sustainable solutions that address peculiar needs of players across sectors to foster seamlessness and convenience. Since 2002, Interswitch has been at the forefront of the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS) revenue drive to digitize and facilitate tax collection.