Innovation and technology as catalyst for revenue generation: Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS), Nigeria in focus

The decline in the price of oil on the international market, resulted in astronomical drop in the monthly revenue that was available in the distributable pool to the three tiers of government in Nigeria. It was felt in Kwara State, because it was not hugely endowed in natural resources that fetched extra funds. And, in parallel to this, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed made a vow not to reduce the workforce. In spite of this commitment, the major elements of the recurrent expenditure of the government, with respect to salaries, pension and other emoluments of the serving and retired public servants did not go down. Furthermore, the promise of the government to continue to fulfill its electoral manifesto and provide the dividends of democracy, forced it to look inwards and leverage on the cordial executive-legislative relations to establish the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS). The objectives of this paper are to assess how deployment of technology revolutionized the activities of KW-IRS and resulted in increased revenue. The methodology adopted was the qualitative approach. The major findings were that if the instrument of tax administration is adhered to, there will be increase in revenue generation The study recommends that the tax administration should be continuously reviewed and backed-up with with increased advocacy.