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Tag: Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)

  • Tragic revenue collection

    Tragic revenue collection

    •Anambra officials have to review the mechanism to minimise avoidable incidents

    Three deaths in Onitsha further highlighted the issue of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collection in Anambra State, and why the state government needs to review its methods. Two alleged IGR collection agents of the Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration were burned alive by a mob. A viral video showed the mob hitting the alleged state revenue collectors with different objects before setting them ablaze. The shocking incident happened at Old Market Road in the commercial city.

    According to an eye-witness account, six “revenue collectors” were chasing a tipper driver “over a certain amount they asked him to pay.” Some of them tried to seize the steering and take control of the vehicle, which led to a struggle. “In the process,” he said, “the tipper driver lost control and rammed into a bystander, killing him instantly. Immediately the revenue collectors saw the damage they had caused, they tried to flee the scene.” The death of the innocent bystander was avoidable.

    The witness said an angry mob “set two of the revenue officials ablaze while four others managed to escape.” He added: “It was one death too many as this had been going on in Anambra in the last two years. The person the tipper driver rammed into is a known person. We cannot continue like this anymore. These revenue touts of the state government have killed more Ndi Anambra than non-state actors who are disturbing the peace.” 

    But the mob went too far. It is condemnable that they took the law into their own hands and took the lives of the alleged state revenue collectors. 

    However, a government official was reported saying they were not government agents. So, who were they? Spokesman for the state police command Tochukwu Ikenga said they “responded swiftly” on receiving the news of the incident, adding, “We are already working with the relevant authorities to ascertain what happened.” The police must urgently investigate the incident and find out whether those who had tried to collect money from the tipper driver were actually government agents or impersonators.  

    Read Also: Court adjourns case of suspected killers of Ajayi Crowther University student

    Notably, residents of the state were reported to have complained about the activities of revenue collection agents working for the state government, particularly their aggressive methods. The Soludo administration, which allegedly failed to pay attention to public complaints about its revenue collectors, should look into the accusation and take action to ensure that they do their work without aggression.

    In March, Soludo, while speaking about his achievements two years after he became governor, said the state’s IGR was “N1.4bn to N1.5bn a month” at the beginning of his governorship but “now, we are getting to a little under N3bn.” He added: “Our target this year is to be able to exceed N4bn, and Anambra has the potential to get up to N10bn on a monthly basis.”

    The governor also stated that his administration was not collecting IGR indiscriminately. He explained that, for example, they stopped taxes and levies on petty traders, hawkers, people whose capital was less than N100,000, truck and barrow pushers and others “so that the poor can not only breathe but also walk and run.” He listed the benefits the people were enjoying based on the state’s improved IGR, including free basic education, free antenatal, delivery, and caesarean operation in all public hospitals.

    Indeed, the state government needs improved revenue to improve socio-economic conditions in the state. This requires the cooperation of the people. But improving the state’s IGR should not involve high-handedness by its revenue collectors. It is condemnable that three lives were lost in this IGR-related incident. 

    The Anambra State government must ensure that its IGR collection agents are trained to carry out their work without high-handedness.

  • Ihedioha seeks workers’ support in revenue generation

    IMO State Governor Emeka Ihedioha has enjoined civil servants to assist the government in generating revenue to meet its obligations.

    The governor, who addressed the workers during an unscheduled visit to the secretariat, noted that all activities relating to Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was shrouded in scam in the past.

    Ihedioha was accompanied by his deputy Gerald Ironna, and Secretary to the State Government Uche Onyeaguocha.

    He said: “Preliminary findings show that our source of revenue is thin. Apart from FAAC, the only source of revenue is Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), and I am certain that you have a duty to help the government generate revenue.

    “IGR in Imo was shrouded in scam. There were myriads of concessions; we have been trying to find out whether those concessions were made in public interest and if they are of any economic benefit to the state,” he said.

    The governor assured the workers that the government will pay full salaries as against the 80 per cent paid by the last administration.

    Read Also: Jonathan, Ihedioha, others, pay tribute to Atiku’s father-in-law

    “My government is willing and ready to pay your full salaries, but you have to match productivity with output. I know our indebtedness is huge, and I have been notified that there will be huge deductions from July. I am ready to adjust salaries, but you have to tell me how we can save for it. We decided to undertake this visit to have a firsthand appraisal of the state of facilities in this complex.

    “As civil servants, you need to be paid. I believe that a worker deserves his wages, but the money has to be generated. There is need for justification for the money we pay you.

    “I have come first, to access the facilities here and see whether they are conducive for you to give us return on investment. Secondly and more importantly, on your part, we have a contract with you as your employer.”

    The Head of Service, Ama Eluwa, promised Ihedioha that the workers will partner the government in its quest to resuscitate the civil service for better productivity.

  • Fayemi to Fayose: Devote June allocation for payment of salaries

    Ekiti State Governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has advised Governor Ayo Fayose to utilise the N5.5 billion June allegation from the Federation Account to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements.

    Fayemi also advised the governor to use the N34.5 billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) cash that had accrued to the state since October 2014 allegedly kept in a secret account with a bank for the benefit of the people.

    In a statement on Sunday by Director of Media and Publicity, Fayemi Media Office, Mr. Wole Olujobi, the governor-elect urged Fayose tomake accountability and human face critical factors in the policies ofhis administration.

    He urged Fayose to be open and transparent to the workers on the June allocation rather than summoning meetings with labour leaders to deceive  them on the state of finance.

    According to Fayemi, the usual practice by the governor to collect federal allocations and call stakeholders meetings to deceive Ekiti people on the sharing formula between the state and local governments
    is no longer acceptable.

    The statement read: “Information available to us suggests that Fayose at the weekend called all the Directors in the state service to a meeting in the new Governor’s Lodge, pleading with them not to release
    sensitive information to the opposition, including non-disclosure of the state’s finances.

    “But we want to say that the state has received N5.52b fresh June federal allocation and we demand that the money be spent to pay salary, and should not be subjected to the circus of lies and deceits
    that often accompanied the sharing of the allocations in the past whereby local governments were given their shares in the morning and in the night they would be coerced to return the money to the governor’s office while local governments workers remained unpaid fornine months.

    “Fresh reports on the status of the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) have indicated that between October 16, 2014 to date, the state has a revenue profile of N34,560,000,000 kept in secret
    accounts in one old generation bank account and another new generation bank account, yet there is nothing to suggest that the money was spent for the benefit of Ekiti people.

    “This revenue profile in the two banks is outside the traffic and environmental offences fines and charges reportedly kept in accounts unknown to the state’s accounting and financial system at an old
    generation bank at Ijigbo area of the state capital.”

    While noting that the cloudy manner of doing government’s business had rendered the state’s economy comatose,  Olujobi explained that evidence had also shown that massive fraud existed in Water
    Corporation and Sports Council where government’s cash and vehicles had disappeared without trace.

    “At the State Water Corporation where opaque financial management has left the system in ruins, Ondo State had paid its counterpart fund of N40m for the upgrading of Egbe Dam, but Ekiti State Government has
    refused to honour its obligation to the project, even as the money paid by Ondo State cannot be traced to any government’s account.

    “At Ero Dam, despite releasing N1b on paper out of N1.4b budgeted for the dam’s expansion, there is no sign of work going on there as we speak while in the same Water Corporation, two multi-million naira
    serviceable trucks were taken to Afao-Ekiti country home of the governor several months ago under pretext that they were being taken there for repairs and up till now, the trucks are still not in the service of the Water Corporation.

    “This followed the same pattern whereby the state lost five unserviceable vehicles at the State Sports Council to new ownerswithout any public bidding and auctioning to take possession of the vehicles.

    “For instance, reports indicated that three Toyota Hiace buses, one 504 Peugeot and one Nissan 120Y had disappeared from the premises of the corporation on the alleged order of the governor.

    “This is besides illegal auctioning of several government’s vehicles at ridiculous prices to cronies, who later assembled the same vehicles at a motor showroom in Ibadan for resale to the public.”

    Frowning at the report of alleged increase in the monthly running grants to the office of the Wife of the Governor from N20m to N35m as reportedly approved on March 10, 2018, Fayemi said that for the
    little time remaining for Fayose’s administration, he must make transparency and compassion his watchwords by applying the state’s funds diligently, particularly in the payment of salaries and entitlements of workers and pensioners.

    The reaction of Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, was still being awaited as of press time.

  • Plateau generated N3.09bn IGR in Q1

    The Plateau Government on Tuesday declared N3.09 billion Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR ) in the first quarter of 2018.

    Mr Dashe Arlat, the Chairman, Plateau State Internal Revenue Service ( PSIRS ), made this known in an interview with the newsmen in Jos.

    Arlat said that revenue collected during the period was the highest ever in the history of the service.

    “Looking back at what ( N2.5 billion ) we generated during the same period under review in 2017, we have an increase of about N600 million this year, ’’ he said.

    Arlat described the collection as very huge and encouraging and attributed the development to the renewed vigour of Ministries Departments and Agencies ( MDAs ) and staff of PSIRS in the New Year.

    According to him, the MDAs and PSRIS have been holding series of workshops and stakeholders meetings toward better and workable means of improving the revenue collection of the state.

    He said that the feat was achieved due to tremendous improvements in collection of the Pay As You Earn ( PAYE ) and levies and charges by the MDAs and the PSIRS.

    The chairman gave the monthly analysis showing January as having the highest collection of N1.27 billion, February N828.65 million and March N997.22 million.

    “At the beginning of the year, we set a target of nothing less than a N1 billion as our monthly Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR ) toward strengthening and improving government’s provision of basic social amenities to the citizens of the state.

    “As it is now, with what we have so far generated, we have gotten there and we hope to improve on it as we move on in the year,’’ Arlat said.

    He said that the staff of the ministry of tourism had been going out to ensure that all hotels, events centres, drinking spots and viewing centres, among others, were duly captured and registered for payment of taxes and levies.

    Read Also: 2,945 Corp members sworn in Plateau

    Arlat said that all other MDAs would soon follow suit, especially the ministry of lands and physical planning.

    He said that the ministry was expected to start collection of ground rents, having almost concluded the numbering of houses within the Jos-Bukuru metropolis.

    The PSIRS boss commended members of staff for their dedication to duty and for working under some difficult conditions.

    He said that the response from the tax payers in the state had been very encouraging and appealed to them to continue with that display of patriotism.

    Arlat said that once tax payers fulfilled their civic responsibilities to the government, the government would equally reciprocate by providing the needed social amenities to the citizens as dividends of democracy.

    NAN

  • Bauchi: Gov Abubakar signs 2018 budget into law

    Gov. Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State on Wednesday signed into law, the 2018 appropriation bill of N167.89 billion.

    Abubakar said that 60 per cent of the budget was allocated to capital expenditure while 40 per cent was for recurrent expenditure.

    He said that the education sector was given the lion share of 19.22 per cent while 15.23 per cent was allocated to the health sector.

    The governor said that so far, he was not impressed with the performance of the health sector and promised to monitor activities of the sector to enable the government make a difference in the implementation of the 2018 budget.

    According to him, the completion of  ongoing projects and diversification of sources of Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR ) of the state will be given attention.

    He said that geologists from Czeck Republic would soon be in the state to commence mining and other activities in area of solid minerals.

    He said the state government would encourage mechanized farming as part of efforts to discourage subsistence farming

    “We want to turn agriculture into a venture to ensure food security for the state, as against the subsistence agriculture we are practicing,” the governor said.

    He said that the state government would also embark on construction of 1,000 kilometers of rural roads through the support of the World Bank, saying that the state had commenced the payment of its counterpart fund.”

    NAN

  • Ogun targets N10bn IGR monthly

    The Ogun government says it plans to increase its monthly Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR ) from seven billion naira  to N10 billion.

    Gov. Ibikunle Amosun  stated this in Abeokuta on Tuesday  at a press conference held ahead of the fourth  edition of its annual Investment Forum scheduled to hold between March  20 and March   21.

    Amosun said that the state’s  monthly IGR,  which was N750 million when he assumed office in 2011,  had since increased to seven billion naira.

    He attributed the increase to the success of the rebuilding mission embarked upon by his administration.

    The governor, who described the state as the industrial capital of Nigeria, said  his administration has  set N10 billion as the new target for its monthly IGR.

    He also said his administration had opened up the state  for business after creating conducive environment which had continued to attract new businesses.

    The governor recalled that Ogun,  which was in 2011 rated as 26th in terms of ease of doing business among Nigerian  states in  a World Bank Report, disclosed that  the state had moved up to the  second position  by 2014.

    Amosun also said  that no fewer than  304 new firms had since began business in the state.

    He said 148 of these firms had each invested between $200 million and $2 billion in the state while the remaining 146 firms had each invested up to $50 million.

    According to him, the state has now entered into a phase of consolidating its gains and accelerating  growth by focusing on key sectors of education, agriculture and technology.

    He said the Investors’ Forum would be attended by both local and foreign investors, adding that the programme would enable the state to showcase the vast investment opportunities in the state.

    NAN

  • Edo committed to attaining self-sustenance with IGR – Shaibu

    Edo committed to attaining self-sustenance with IGR – Shaibu

    …Says Obaseki prioritises wellbeing of Edo people

     

    Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu, has said that the Godwin Obaseki led-administration remains committed to implementing economic policies that will create wealth for Edo people and self-sustenance through aggressive Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) drive.

    Shaibu made this submission during an interview with journalists in Benin City, Edo State capital.

    The deputy governor said, “The Godwin Obaseki led-administration prioritises economic policies that will spur growth, wealth creation and prosperity for Edo people.

    “These policies are targeted at reducing the rate of poverty and unemployment. The long-term economic plan of the state governor is to create wealth and prosperity for Edo people.”

    He said the state’s economic model is targeted at driving economic growth and sustainability, noting, “With our policies, we intend to achieve self-sustainability for the state where proceeds from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) will be used to drive economic growth and prosperity for Edo people without depending on the allocation from the Federation Account to drive social growth and development.”

    Shaibu maintained that “When we have fully achieved this, proceeds from the Federation Account will be considered an addition, just like grants from donor agencies.”

    He assured that the state government is committed to opening up the economic space in the state and creating avenues for more people to participate in economic activities.

    “The state government’s economic blueprint is also directed at opening the economy to encourage the participation of more people to contribute to economic growth.

    “We intend to capture more Edo people in the quest for development, so as not to burden few people with taxes. This measure will improve revenue generation. When the economy is open, more people will be captured in the tax net and the tax burden will be spread. We are interested in reducing the tax burden on few persons,” he said.

    Read Also: Edo SUBEB launches Edo-BEST programme, trains 300 teachers in pilot scheme

  • Many Lagosians now pay taxes voluntarily — Ambode

    Many Lagosians now pay taxes voluntarily — Ambode

    Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State says more residents of the state are now voluntarily paying their taxes and levies to the government, with a positive effect on state revenues.

    Ambode told media executives in Lagos on Thursday that this was partly because the state government was spending money to create tax awareness.

    Aside this, he said that people in the state were also seeing their taxes working for them.

    “Many of them now walk to the Tax Offices on their own, to voluntarily pay their taxes because they have been able to see for themselves what we have been able to do with revenues generated from taxes and levies,’’ the governor said.

    He said that Lagos State had survived mainly on internally-generated revenue ( IGR ).

    “It represents two-thirds of our total revenue.

    “We are trying to make the people of Lagos State to become aware that if they pay more taxes, the state government would be able to do much more for them,’’ Ambode said.

    The governor said that the state government had a monthly wage bill of about N9 billion.

    Read also: Ambode presents N1.046trn budget for 2018

    He recalled that the state government paid out about N700 million as compensation to property owners at Oshodi, and N500 million to those at Abule-Egba.

    “Compensation to property owners around the planned flyover at Pen Cinema, Agege may gulp up to N1 billion.

    “It is not that these property owners have the appropriate documents, but we have just been trying to be humane,’’ the governor said.

    On Lake Rice, which is being sold at N12, 000 per bag, Ambode said that the product was being subsidised, “because it is consumed by all’’.

    “We are only trying to create a paradigm shift,’’ he said.

    NAN

  • NCC seeks govs’ assistance on broadband penetration

    NCC seeks govs’ assistance on broadband penetration

    The Nigerian Communications Commission ( NCC ) has called on state governors to assist it in achieving the 30 per cent broadband penetration target by 2018.

    The Director of Public Affairs, NCC, Mr Tony Ojobo, made the call during an interview with newsmen in Lagos, on the sideline of the 2017 Dinner and Awards of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations ( NIPR ).

    Ojobo was awarded the “PR Personality of the year 2017” by NIPR.

    He said that the governors and their various agencies should assist by ensuring easy approval for Right of Way ( RoW ) for the deployment of infrastructure.

    According to him, the industry has challenges of deployment of base stations in the states because of the issue of the Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR ).

    “A lot of approvals are delayed, in terms of siting base stations in the states this year. We have had base stations shut down, we also have had issues with the Rights of Way.

    “There had been reluctance with the various agencies under various levels of government to give approval as quickly as possible for the deployment of infrastructure.

    “The Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has made a presentation at the Governors Forum on how these challenges are actually contributing to the poor quality of service, and that there is need for us to have pervasive rollout of base stations.

    “Pervasive base stations deployment can narrow the areas that don’t have coverage, so that the issue of access and broadband penetration target can be realised.

    “Unless we do that, we will keep having challenges in being able to meet with the government policy of 30 per cent by 2018,” he said.

    Read also: NCC gives out N17m to winners of tennis championship

    Ojobo said that by 2018, it was expected that the country would have 30 per cent broadband penetration, but some of the challenges were slowing down the process.

    “But we believe that in 2018, some of these challenges will be tackled, especially as governors are beginning to appreciate the importance of these infrastructure in their states.

    “We believe that these challenges will begin to fizzle out,” he said.

    On his award as the PR Personality of the year, Ojobo said it was a call to do more on his responsibilities.

    He said that NCC would continue to put what it was doing on the public space and improve on it.

    “We will make sure that we say it as it is all the time and also ensure that we take back the feedback we get from the people we serve, that is our stakeholders, to our management.

    “This is so that areas that need improvement will be improved upon, so that consumers and the generous stakeholders will be better for it.

    “I want to thank God for this award. It is humbling when you are recognised by your professional group for contributions to the professional practice of public relations in Nigeria.

    “I dedicate this award to God and to the Nigerian Communications Commission that has given me the platform to express, in terms of the ways I carry out my responsibilities,” he said.

    Ojobo said that NCC was regulating an industry that was very difficult, an industry that was serving about 153 million active subscribers.

    He said that the subscribers were utilising the services on a 24/7 basis, hence, there were always issues to talk about.

    According to him, the challenge has been how to talk to the people who are facing challenges because of the services they are receiving.

    “We can’t tell them there are no challenges, we can’t assume we have not seen that they have problems.

    “But what we have continued to do is to identify with the challenges they are going through in this industry.

    “We have also tried to communicate that the industry is a work in progress, we have not gotten to the place we should be.

    “The most challenging part of this job is when we are having issues in the industry and how to address those issues and still speak the truth to the people,” he said.

    Ojobo said that the commission had used all its platforms, both the social media platforms and the mainstream media in trying to communicate, to make the people know what it was doing.

    NAN