Kano state governor Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje Wednesday raised alarm over the poor financial status of the state, lamenting that he is spending almost all the money that come from Federal Allocation on the payment of salaries.
Ganduje who spoke to the state Correspondent Chapel in an interactive session at the Government House said that out of the N4.2 billion received from the Federal Allocation, N3.6 billon is expended on payment of salary for civil servants in the state.
According to him, the implication is that the state is left with little or nothing to cater for developmental projects, therefore, no option than to reform the Board of Internally Generated Revenue for proper efficiency in the state revenue drive.
In his words, “whatever I say and whatever we want to do, the problem is funding. I will like to inform you that what we are receiving from Federal Government at the moment is less than half of what we used to receive last year. The problem started right from the beginning of the year, Kano state used to get N8 Billion, N9 Billion, N10 Billion per months, now it is just N4 Billion, in fact, this month, we received just N4.2 billion and our salaries are up to N3.6 billion.
“So, see the little difference. The only option is IGR—Internally Generated Revenue which many people do not like to hear but which any economist will like to hear because it is an issue of expenditure and income. No income, no expenditure, low income, low expenditure but we have come a long way, Kano is a mega city. A mega city is not only a city where you have a great number of people, a mega city is a city where things are working, where there is water, where there is electricity, where infrastructures are functioning, where the road networks are okay, where the transport systems is okay, where the security is okay and what make Kano a mega city are functioning.
“We want to have a true integrated rural development where accessibility is easy, where water is provided, where rural electrification is provided and where agricultural facilities are also provided. To this effect we are very very serious with IGR. We have advised that we must reform the institution. We know there are some people who are talking nonsense that we want to send away those who are collecting revenues; they are civil servants, they are this, we are employing people for this and that, but I tell you that the institution must be reformed because we must get what we are suppose to get. We must make sure that all what we get is judiciously appropriated.
“To that effect, I want to tell them that the Governor has the powers to dissolve, sack a Board of Internally Generated Revenue in Kano state. We have consulted some international organizations like DFID, SPARK and others with some professionals and we are coming up with total restructuring. Now, we are going to have an executive chairman who is independent; we are having a Director of Assessment, we are having a Director of Collection, we are having a Director of Planning, Research and Statistic, we are having a Director of Personal Income Tax, a Director of Roads and Other Taxes, a Director of ICT. We are going to have a Director of Auditing Accounts, anything you put in, I will get alert—that is the new system, anything you remove, I will get alert.
“We will have Director of MTR—Main Tax Revenue. Also, we are employing consultants who specialize in one area or another and their remuneration is tied down to their collection. No money is coming out from Kano state government. Whatever they collect, we will work out a proportion to be given to them.”
He further stated that on the issue of PAYE, “most of private organizations are not remitted what they collected from PAYE, which they deducted from employees and big companies don’t do that, banks don’t do that, even institutions, educational institutions, even universities, private hospitals, there are lots of monies tied down that were not been collected by government We have competent consultants, with track records, with evidence from other states like Lagos which we will verified it was true to manage our revenue for us.”
