By Kelvin Obambon
The Cross River Internal Revenue Service (CRIRS) has kicked off a high-level two-day strategy session aimed at reviewing its operational framework and leveraging a newly signed tax law to drive the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) toward a target of N10 billion monthly.
The session, which brought together key government stakeholders and revenue officers, focuses on transitioning from traditional collection methods to a more strategic, data-driven approach during first year of the new tax law’s implementation.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop in Calabar, on Thursday, the Executive Chairman of CRIRS, Prince Edwin Okon, highlighted the significant growth in the state’s fiscal performance over the last few years. He noted that the state moved from an annual IGR of approximately N20 billion in 2022 to an impressive N60 billion by the end of 2025.
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“Our plan for this year is to ensure that we improve on those numbers and make the funds available for the governor to carry out his developmental projects,” Okon stated. “I know the state has a potential of doing about N10 billion monthly once we get to where we want to be.”
He explained that the service has already begun a massive “train-the-trainer” awareness campaign, deploying 196 representatives across all wards in the state to educate citizens, market women, and religious organizations on the nuances of the new tax legislation.
In his goodwill message, Dr. Bong Duke, Vice Chairman of the State Planning Commission, described the relationship between planning and revenue as “symbiotic,” emphasizing that while the Commission designs the roadmap for the state, the CRIRS fuels the engine.
He urged revenue officers to adopt a mindset of “economic diplomacy,” arguing that investors do not fear taxes, but rather the unpredictability and lack of transparency often associated with them.
“When we speak of tax collection, we must speak of it as a partnership, not as a penalty,” Duke said. “Investors do not fear taxes; they fear multiple taxation; they fear arbitrary levies and they fear opaque processes. This workshop is an opportunity to discuss how the new tax law can be a tool for trust building.”
He further challenged the participants to view the new law as a data-gathering tool that helps the government identify which sectors are thriving and where policy intervention is needed.
The Lead Facilitator of the session, Victoria Madedor, charged the participants to move beyond “motion” and focus on “movement.” She emphasized that the session was not a mere performance review of past numbers, but a space to define the “how” of future growth.
“Strategic sessions are not for you to reel out numbers of what you have done,” Madedor noted. “If you are doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, it is called insanity. Strategy means you have a plan with specific goals and specific timeframes to achieve them.”
The two-day event is expected to produce a roadmap for the 2026 fiscal year, with a heavy emphasis on broadening the tax net, building investor confidence, and ensuring that revenue growth translates directly into sustainable state development.
