Niger state Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello Say’s the security challenges bedeviling some parts of the State has created challenges on the developmental aspirations of the State.
The Governor stated this during a workshop on strategies for enhancing Internally Generated Revenue of Local Government Councils held in Minna, the State Capital.
The Governor stressed the need for local government Councils to look inwards and strengthen Internally Generated Revenue by expanding the tax net so as to meet the increasing demands in their Local Government Areas in particular and the State in general.
He said, “While Government is making efforts to boost its revenue, it must block leakages, cut down cost, and we will not hesitate to do away with Local Government Staff that are not adding value.”.
Governor Sani Bello further lamented how several villages in the state have been disserted due to the activities of bandits which has definitely affected the IGR in the State,
“As we speak we have not less that 50 villages deserted across 5 local governments now where do we get the resources to take care of them if 80% of our resources goes to those that do not add value to the system?
“Now we have to deal with humanitarian problems and security problems all these require resources that we do not have. So the only way we can survive is to increase our IGR.
“At the moment we have over 3,000 IDPs in Minna, apart from other local governments, he said.
Governor Sani Bello urged participants to be attentive, actively participate and make meaningful contributions that would give them more insight into strategies of enhancing IGR for socioeconomic development at the local government levels.
The Chairman of Niger State Local Government Service Commission Muhammad Ahmed Dabban and the Permanent Secretary of the Commission Nuhu Garba Ngaski in their separate remarks explained that the workshop was organised for Local Government Directors of Administration and Finance, Revenue officers as well as heads of finance of development areas in Niger State.
They both said the workshop which was primarily to ensure proper and accurate implementation of financial memorandum, has internal control system for enhancing revenue collection by the councils, enhance capacity as well as improve the quality of participants in their respective duties among others at the local government levels.
The Resource Person Malam Haruna Yahaya, also said the objectives of the workshop was to ascertain full understanding of revenue profile , develop comprehensive strategies to ensure enhanced revenue based of each local government and to promote transparency as well as accountability towards proper accounting for the revenue.
Confidence Okwuchi
