Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has inaugurated the Gombe State Revenue Recovery Tribunal for settling tax disputes and tax/revenue default and matters relating to revenue, taxes, charges, levies, fees, and fines due to the State or Local Government as contained in the law.
Speaking at the inauguration of the tribunal, Governor Yahaya said the tribunal was established based on his administration’s resolve to take the issue of revenue generation seriously so that the people would enjoy the dividends of democracy and good governance.
Yahaya said the tribunal would serve as a catalyst for the rejuvenation of revenue generation for the socio-economic development of the state.
“I am convinced that the Revenue Recovery Tribunal is a necessary body charged with the mandate to expeditiously adjudicate on revenue matters such as levies, taxes, charges, penalties, and fines due to the state local government,”.
Governor Yahaya said he is hopeful that the establishment of the tribunal would curb incidences of tax evasion, guarantee fairness, and the transparency of the tax system, enhance tax-payers confidence, provide a speedy determination of matters and curtail delays and bottlenecks in the adjudication of tax matters in conventional courts.
According to Governor Yahaya, this would greatly facilitate the ease-of-doing business and enhance the reputation of Gombe State as the commercial nerve centre of the North East.
Yahaya urged the tribunal to take the necessary steps to support the efforts of the Gombe State Internal Revenue Service in addressing the issues of corruption in revenue collection, which had led to loss of revenue in the state due to the carelessness and corrupt tendencies of revenue collectors.
Easy access
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Gombe State Revenue Recovery Tribunal, Mr. Muhammad Tukur Jungudo, said the tribunal was borne out of the need to bring a specialized court of that nature very close to the people, especially in a fast-growing commercial hub of the North-East.
“Any aggrieved person can now simply come and initiate a process before the tribunal here in Gombe State without taking the risk of going to Bauchi as it were before. A person who is aggrieved by an assessment or demand notice made upon him by the Service or aggrieved by any action or decision of the Service under the provisions of the Tax Laws administered by the Service may come to the tribunal to file an action against such action, decision, assessment, or demand notice within 30 days of such action, decision, assessment, or demand notice,” Mr. Tukur-Jungudo said.
He said the Tribunal would give all parties the opportunity to explore other dispute resolution mechanisms before gaining access to the regular court system, which was full of technicalities and undue delays in proceedings.
Mr. Tukur-Jungudo said the tribunal would be open for anyone in the public who might have issues with a tax assessment or demands by the Service.
He also said the tribunal would be guided by and would apply the High Civil Procedure Rules for the time being, until when the Chief Judge would make rules for the tribunal.
“As it is now, there are no such rules made by the Chief Judge, which means that this provision and a few other provisions of the Law, needs to be amended for some obvious reasons to address some of the lacunas in the Law.
“This process has since commenced from the office of the Hon. Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of the State,” said Mr. Tukur-Jungudo.
Tukur-Jungudo also said he was hopeful that the Speaker and members of the Gombe State House of Assembly would treat the process speedily by giving it due legislative consideration to assist the government in achieving the objective of bringing the dividend of democracy to the people.
According to Tukur-Jungudo, the tribunal has both civil and criminal jurisdictions to deal with civil monetary claims of parties and impose the payment of fines and imprisonment terms to deserving parties where necessary.
Consequently, he said the inauguration of the tribunal was to create awareness and sensitize stakeholders and the public of the coming operation of this Tribunal in Gombe State.
Emmanuel Ukoh
