Gombe State Governor, Yahaya
The Gombe State Internal Revenue Service has generated over N20.7bn in revenue in the first six months of 2026, as the agency targets about N39bn by the end of the year.
The Executive Chairman of the Gombe State Internal Revenue Service, Aisha Adamu, disclosed this on Thursday while briefing journalists on the activities and achievements of the agency between January and June 2026.
Adamu said the revenue service had continued to record year-on-year growth in internally generated revenue, attributing the development to improved tax administration, staff training, collaboration with relevant stakeholders and increased compliance by taxpayers.
She said the service’s annual revenue target for 2026 stood at about N39bn, adding that more than N20.7bn had been generated as of the time of the briefing. “Our target is around N39bn for the year. So as of today, we’ve done over, I think, N20.7bn,” Adamu said.
She described revenue generation as one of the major achievements of the service, saying the agency had performed better than the previous year. “When we talk about the Internal Revenue Service, our major achievement has to do with our mandate, which is collecting revenue for the state.
“We have continued to grow our revenue year on year from the year we started here. So that is one of our major achievements. We are doing better than the previous year, 2025,” she stated.
The chairman said the agency had also invested in human capital development by exposing its personnel to training and best practices within and outside the country.
“Secondly, we’ve been able to train our staff and expose them to best practices around the country, or the world, rather, because they’ve been attending several trainings, both virtually and physically, as well as visiting other nations,” she said.
Adamu said the agency had strengthened collaboration with several institutions, including the Gombe State Government, security agencies and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, to improve intelligence gathering and revenue collection.
She said, “While doing that, we’ve been able to also collaborate with some of the stakeholders, such as the GRB, the security forces and the NFIU, where we gather intelligence to do tax collection.”
The chairman also disclosed that the agency had recovered more than four stolen vehicles during attempts to register them in Gombe State. According to her, the recovered vehicles included motorcycles and motor vehicles stolen from other parts of the country.
“Another of our major achievements will be in the area of recovery of stolen vehicles, where we’ve been able to recover over four vehicles so far, including those stolen from places like Port Harcourt and Kaduna,” Adamu said.
She explained that the recoveries were made when the stolen vehicles were brought to the state for registration. She added that the recovered vehicles were handed over to the police, with some subsequently returned to their rightful owners.
“For both motorcycles and motor vehicles, yes,” she said when asked whether the recoveries covered both categories.
Adamu urged residents and business owners who evade taxes to comply with their obligations, describing taxation as a social contract between citizens and government.
She said the government required revenue to provide infrastructure and other essential services, stressing that taxpayers should therefore contribute their share. “I would like to call on them because paying taxes is a social contract,” she said.
“Government has done its own part by providing good roads, security, lights and other infrastructure, and those things are not free of charge. Someone has to finance them.
“And the government can only finance it with things such as the IGR. So it is mandatory, and they should be responsible enough to pay the taxes due from them.”
The chairman also commended taxpayers who had remained compliant with their obligations, assuring them that the revenue generated was being properly accounted for and deployed effectively. “To the taxpayers that are compliant, we want to say a very big thank you,” Adamu said.
“What is very key is for you to have the trust and certainty that your taxes are being accounted for and being utilised effectively.”
She urged taxpayers to judge the impact of their contributions by the development recorded across the state. “With the development we’re seeing across the state, I think you can attest to that fact,” she added.
The IRS boss, however, acknowledged that the agency continued to face challenges in the course of revenue collection. She identified human intervention as one of the major challenges affecting tax administration, particularly situations involving disgruntled individuals.
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