Everyone knows that money is the fuel that runs all
organizations, including the state machinery.
Now and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government
of Sierra Leone like all other governments in the world would not continue to
perform their numerous functions as well as crucially deliver needed goods and
services to their citizens without being able to generate enough revenue.
This is where Dr. Samuel Jibao and the National Revenue
Authority (NRA) which is well poised to continue providing the government with
much needed cash to function well come in.
Dr. Jibao who has a very impressive academic and
work experience CV including a PhD in Economics and is an ICTD researcher who
specializes in Public Economics with special focus on taxation who does not
believe in failure was appointed as NRA Commissioner General by President Bio
on June 5th 2018 to transform the administrative and managerial structure
of NRA in order to induce improved performance of the country’s money making
machine.
A man who believes in teamwork to achieve
organizational goals and objectives, with the support of a dynamic hard working
Board Chairman, Dr Jibao can, two years down the line, proudly state that his management
continues to relentlessly strive for technological, administrative, managerial
and organizational innovations that not only enable NRA to meet its annual
revenue target of Le9 trillion but to supersede it.
To improve on performance and revenue collection, NRA
under Dr. Jibao’s leadership has undertaken comprehensive tax reforms that
encouraged large tax payers to comply, as well as revenue mobilization reforms
and innovations that in 2018 resulted admirably in revenue to GDP collected by
NRA to grow from 12 percent to 214 percent leading to the IMF and government
budgetary target been exceeded.
Even the COVID-19 pandemic has not significantly
impacted on NRA’s revenue collection due to farsighted measures that were put
in place by management to dampen the effects of the pandemic on revenue
collection. So in June, NRA broke its own revenue collection record by raking
in two days (June 15 and 16) Le103, 000,000,000 (US$10 million).
When he took over, 70 percent of senior management
positions were vacant, including that of Deputy Commissioner General. Those
positions have not only been filled but also more than 100 revenue officers have
been recruited to improve revenue collection.
Under Dr. Jibao, NRA has successfully migrated from
ASYCUDA++ to ASYCUDA WORLD which makes it possible for importers from the comfort
of their offices to do all their tax business with NRA.
Introduction of the Integrated Tax Administration System
and the Electronics Cash Register have made tampering with revenue virtually impossible.
All these achievements are due to the tremendous
boost in staff morale and performance that Dr. Jibao and team have brought to
play in the NRA.
