Missing Millions in Delta State Board of Internal Revenue: Stopping 'Snakes' and 'Monkeys' From Swallowing Money in Delta

Missing Millions, Acceptable Corruption and  the Need to Dissolve Delta State Board of Internal Revenue 

FocalPoint Reports

Editorial

Delta State is not immune to the profound problem of corruption that bedevils Nigeria, the transparency of some officials entrusted with fundraising responsibility for the state viz a viz Delta State could be likened to that of tortoise entrusted with food allocated for the animal kingdom and the story of stolen money from a vault by a 'snake' which swallowed it.

This has been observed following the aggressively generate of revenue from the poor in the state. It's like survival by the elimination of the weak.

In a state where corruption is a strong norm, the leadership will end up a terrible failure. It is shameful to see government officials who possess a leech attitude towards public funds smile over acceptable corruption that affords them the platform of misbehaviour and recklessness.

With Millions missing in DBIR, this is not a story of Accused 'Snake And Gang Of Monkeys' swallowing million but a government official and their administrative recklessness.

The suspicions and accusations of well-meaning citizens have been proven correct by the exposure of some disturbing activities going on in the Government revenue generation board.

One of such exposures is that of the Delta State Board of Internal Revenue (DBIR) Chairman, Monday Onyeme been caught in a scandal of missing funds running into N107, 740, 000 (N107. 7 million).

 It was gathered from Track News that the money has gone unaccounted for by the board chairman since 2019, following an audit carried out by the office of the state auditor general.

This transpired in a state that has recently taken ferocious actions to increase revenue generation, using all forms of oppression and unschooled touts as taskforce agents to intimidate whoever turns out to be their victim.

It is truly terrifying that Delta State while adopting aggressive revenue accrual approaches in the name of 'lacking adequate funds', fatten the pockets of some selected few officials with the monies extorted from struggling citizens.

Could it be that the Government is aware of such practices and have chosen to protect these leeches? Could it be that without external forces being at work, men like Onyeme would continue to fearlessly dine in the table of corruption and embezzlement? Could it be that in one way or another, the Government has accepted corruption as one of its attributes unless prodded by external bodies with the aid of the mass media?

How else can this scenario be explained? Millions of naira are being diverted into private pockets in a continuous and expertly executed manner that had been ongoing since 2019. This is enough reason to doubt the credibility and transparency of the state Government and its revenue generation officials. 

However, despite the controversies and questions flying hither thither, the Government is applauded for bringing Onyeme's questionable reports to the public and is encouraged to work at this lead. 

Rather than increasing the taxes and levies on the people and ending up cutting the financial head of the masses, the Government should turn its revenue seeking gaze inwards and hunt out any other abusing their office and littering their reports with missing funds.

Investigations should also be carried out If there is any board that should not have even a whiff of corruption, it should be the board of internal revenue. However recent revelations have exposed questionable activities in the board. If the head should have issues with integrity, that should tell us a lot about the State government and its acceptance of corruption. 

An effective step to curtail the further continuance of any form of corruption in the board would be a complete dissolution of the whole board and a rigorous investigation of every personnel therein. This would provide insight into the integrity of the officials on the board and fish out anyone with questionable actions.

Thereafter, a new set of officials should be appointed after they have also been thoroughly investigated and screened to ensure that the board is free of leeches.

Such meticulous actions will serve to keep the new officials and all other governments officials on their toes as they are aware that any form of thievery will be met with drastic consequences. This, put in play, would bring about a smooth, just and virtuous government.