Kwara Tax Club Quiz Competition: Catching Them Young for Future Civic Duty

By KUNLE AROGUNDADE.

In so many critical areas, the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq led Kwara State Government, in the last four years, has redefined purposeful governance and has continued to make Kwarans, especially the youths, the central focus of its policies.

One key area in which this has come into focus is the attention which the government has given to the Tax Club Quiz Competition for Secondary Schools in Kwara State.

Organized by the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, KW-IRS, in collaboration with the Kwara State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, the annual tax educative event is aimed at “nurturing school children to have a clear understanding of the role of tax in the development of an economy and growing to become tax-compliant citizens.”

The annual tax competiton, which is opened to all Secondary Schools in the state has continued to grow phenomenally since the advent of the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq Administration. While 142 Schools participated in 2021, the number of participating schools shot to a record 219 in 2022, while this year, the number hit the 231 mark.

Yet the catch is not just in the growing number of participating Schools, but in the fact that the competition has continued to be better organised and has become a major annual educational programme that Kwarans look forward to, and which other States are beginning to take interest in.

The Tax Quiz Competition has helped to bring out youths’ hidden academic potentials and talents and has also helped to showcase Secondary Schools with exceptional performances in the training of their students.

This perhaps informed the rationale behind the organisers’ decision to compensate the winning Schools, the students that excel in the competition and their teachers that made that feat possible.

The Overall Best School in the Competition wins the grand prize of N2.5 Million, the first runner up goes home with N1.5 Million while the second runner up has a cash prize of N1 Million.

That is not all. The Coordinating Teachers of the winning schools also win cash prizes, while students that participate in winning the prizes for their schools are given cash prizes to support their educational pursuits once they communicate notices of admission into higher institutions of learning to the Agency.

In 2021, the overall winning Secondary School was Stepping Stone Secondary School, Ilorin. Ishaq Taofeeqat and Bello Pharidah represented their School in the Competition. Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Model College, Ilorin was the first runner up with Alagada Kelvin Emmanuel and Arise Temilola Blossom represented the school. The third prize went to Government Secondary School, Ilesha Baruba, with Osanga Augustine Joel and Johnson Daniel representing the School.

For 2022, Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Model College, Ilorin, represented by Elizabeth Uchechukwu Ajah and Johnpaul Oyindamola Arokoyo emerged the overall winner. The second prize went to Mustapha Standard College, Offa, represented by Miracle Tochi and Abdul Basit Mohammed. Kwara State College of Education Model College, Oro, represented by Emmanuel Ajekigbe and Mary Olaoye was the second runner up.

In 2023, the competition for the coveted prizes has been fierce and tough with 231 Secondary schools slugging it out. As at now, the preliminary stages of the competition have been concluded. The competition held across the three Senatorial Districts of the State and it was concluded on Monday 26th June, 2023. Each District has now produced six schools, implying that eighteen schools have emerged as overall semi-finalists.

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Semi-Final and Final Stages are slated for 2nd November, 2023.

While declaring open the 2022 Tax Quiz Competition Grand Finale, KW-IRS Executive Chairman, Shade Omoniyi stated that the purpose of the Tax Quiz Competition is to nurture a generation of tax-compliant citizens and create robust taxation awareness in the growing population and at various stages.

No doubt, the aim of the competition as highlighted by the Executive Chairman is being realised year on year since the advent of the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq Administration.

The numbers confirm the assertion without any iota of doubts. In 2021, the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, hit the N26.9 billion mark, in 2022, the figure rose to an unprecedented N35.4 billion record, closing the year with over 100 percent of the set revenue budget. Keen observers of activities at Revenue House are optimistic that 2023 will even be better.

Truly with right policies and focused leadership, targets are met and surpassed. The Tax Quiz Competition remains a game changer that the Revenue House think thank must continue to make better and bigger.