The Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service (EKIRS) has urged journalists to expose misconduct among its staff and help identify high-net-worth individuals who should pay higher taxes.
The Executive Chairman, Mr Olaniran Olatona, made the appeal on Wednesday while addressing the October Congress of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ekiti State Council, at the Press Centre in Ado-Ekiti.
Olatona said journalists had a vital role to play in promoting accountability, transparency and fairness in tax administration through constructive engagement and objective reporting.
He urged them to draw the Service’s attention to wealthy individuals and businesses with the capacity to pay higher taxes, noting that better compliance among high-income earners would ease the burden on low-income earners and emerging businesses.
He attributed the sustained growth in the state’s internally generated revenue to the use of data intelligence to identify taxable individuals and businesses and widen the tax net.
Olatona also reaffirmed the legality of taxes collected by the Service, assuring taxpayers that its operations would remain within the law.
He, however, expressed concern over the negative perception of the Service among some taxpayers, attributing it partly to poor understanding of the respective responsibilities of federal, state and local revenue authorities.
He appealed to journalists to help bridge the knowledge gap by educating the public on taxation, adding that EKIRS would provide the media with relevant information and training to promote accurate reporting of tax matters.
He further urged journalists to investigate complaints by taxpayers, particularly business owners, that EKIRS had sealed their premises, insisting that the Service had moved away from such enforcement practices.
On multiple taxation, he said the Service had continued to harmonise its collection processes, explaining that taxpayers could now receive a single invoice or receipt covering different tax obligations.
In his remarks, a former NUJ Chairman in Ekiti and immediate past Technical Adviser on Media to the Governor, Akogun Tai Oguntayo, called for regular training of journalists on tax-related issues to improve the accuracy and quality of their reports.
Oguntayo commended the state NUJ Chairman, Mr Kayode Babatuyi, and his executive team for providing a platform for constructive engagement between journalists and the revenue authority.
Earlier, Babatuyi announced that Olatona would be inducted into the Ekiti NUJ Hall of Fame on Nov. 20, 2026, during the Union’s Press Week.
He said the recognition acknowledged the EKIRS chairman’s contributions to the development of Ekiti and the Union, describing the initiative as a novel one by the council.
