Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos has held its first Town Hall meeting on how to boost its internally generated revenue (IGR).
Its Chairman Hon Monsurudeen Oloyede Bello said one way to meet the expectations of the people in infrastructural development is to increase the council’s revenue.
He said while the demand for infrastructure was high in the area, the revenue to provide them was low, adding that the belief that statutory allocations could help the council to meet all its financial obligations was wrong.
Bello: ‘’We intend to make Ejigbo LCDA self-sufficient so that we can generate at least 75 per cent of our revenue from IGR. This we intend to achieve through your support and cooperation and by implementing a customised data base with cutting-edge technology methods.’’
He listed the challenges to revenue collection to include residents’ lack of cooperation, harassment of revenue officials, and lack of information on licence fees and permits.
He announced the award of the contract for the rehabilitation of two roads –Raufu Tijani-Kolawole Sebili Street and Moshalasi-Alhaji Obe, the Primary Health Centre at Bucknor, construction of 10+1 blocks of classrooms at Ilamoshe.
Earlier, the council’s Head of Administration Mrs Iyabo Ogunyemi urged the people to support the council by paying their taxes regularly.
She said the objective of the meeting was in tandem with the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration on revenue generation and Bello’s aim to run an inclusive administration, adding that constructive suggestions were welcome.
Larmode Giwa of the Community Development Council (CDC praised Bello for holding the meeting. He urged the council chair to work with the CDC for the success of tax collection, adding that the group is in a better position to explain the council’s policies to the people. He advised revenue collectors to be prudent and also not be harsh to residents as some were doing in the past, saying any one who collects money must be humble in his approach.