National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, on Wednesday in Abuja advised governors elected on the platform of the party to seek alternative sources of income to improve their internally generated revenue, IGR.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day summit on IGR organised by the PDP Governors Forum, at BON hotel, Prince Secondus declared that with the growing population in the country it has become absolutely for state governors to think outside the box and explore other sources of revenue instead of depending on allocations from the federation account.
Prince Secondus, who was represented by the PDP National Financial Secretary, Abdullahi Maibasira, however, gave a word of caution that expanding the internally generated revenue of the states does not automatically translate to development.
According to him, the generated revenues must be prudently utilized in critical sectors in the state for the benefit of the people.
“Expanding internally generated revenue does not translate to development but rather prudent management of available resources.”
“Make revenue base work. Check where you have competitive and comparative advantage to improve your revenues.”
Prince Secondus further called on the governors to tackle issues of multiple taxation; non-transparent tax codes and make taxation process more transparent and credible.
He charged them to improve on the ease of doing business, check structure of governance and eliminate duplication and waste.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Director General of the PDP Governors Forum, Earl Osaro Onaiwu, declared that it is very difficult to improve the internally generated revenue in violent-prone states and commended PDP state governors for making security a top priority.
While using Zamfara and Bauchi states that were hitherto among the least secured states in the country, Early Onaiwu said the PDP governors tackled security challenges in the states as soon as they took over from the former All Progressives Congress, APC governors.
“Any state that is not peaceful like Kogi state you cannot improve the IGR. See Bauchi and Zamfara states where the IGR is improving because the governors have tackled the security challenges in the states.
“Whenever PDP takes over a state the first target or priority is peace and security.”
He added that the summit was packaged by the PDP Governors Forum because “we can no longer depend on crude oil” to meet the yearnings of Nigerians.
The two-day summit will feature key resource persons and finance experts with tested knowledge and transfer experience drawn from the IGR/Finance Sector.
They will deliver thought–provoking papers and case studies to address as well as proffer enduring and sustainable solutions; aside crafting fresh ideas for the development, generation and effective application of digital formats to improve internally-generated revenue (IGR) strategies and platforms in the states and local government areas in a recessed economy.
Some of the resource persons are Dr Obadiah Mailafia, Prof Aruwa Salihu, Dr Williams Makinde, Mr. Akinyele Oladeji, Dr Nnaemeka Obiaraeri and Dr Zubairu Abdullahi.
Others include Dr Joseph Anyor, Dr Emmanuel Michael, Chief Adolphus Ekpe, Mr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki, Dr Kachi Ononuju and Nancy Iloh of African Independent Television.
