Akwa Ibom State government says it recorded N20.4 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the first half of this year. Okon Okon, chairman of the Internal Revenue Service, made this known in Uyo, the state capital.
Read More : ‘Akwa Ibom remains safe, friendly for investors’
He said his office had recorded N16 billion in 2017, when it came on board, while N24.2 billion was generated in 2018, and credited this to passion/commitment and cooperation of taxpayers to the development of the state.
He did not however give any breakdown of which sector generated the highest revenue.
“I am delighted to state that, the strategies developed so far have yielded appreciable improvement in IGR of the state. The Service has recorded steady growth year-on-year with a record of N16 billion when we came on board in 2017, N24.2 billion in 2018 and N20.4 billion as at half-year of 2019,” he said.
He said as part of its policy thrust, the board had deployed effective dynamics through “Revenue and Institutional Transformation Agenda (REVITA), “to expand tax base in the informal sector of the state in an effective and manner.”
Meanwhile, the state assembly committee on appropriation and finance has lauded Governor Udom Emmanuel for the prompt payment of salaries to civil servants in the state.
Uduak Odudo, chairman of the committee, stated this at the commencement of 2019 budget evaluation conducted by the committee.
He said Akwa Ibom was blessed to have a seasoned and experienced technocrat in the person of the governor, whom he described as being committed to the welfare of the people.
He equally praised the Accountant General for timely publication of Akwa Ibom State Government Accounts and appealed to him to ensure that the 2018 accounts were also published on time.
Speaking, the Accountant General told the Committee that out of the N50.72 billion approved expenditure for 2019, his office had been able to secure the release of N290 million, representing 0.6 percent of the total amount.
The Accountant General said to ensure effective and efficient management of the state financial resources, the office had budgeted the sum of N51.3 billion for 2020 financial year, noting that the said amount would aid in the delivery of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s mandate of industrialisation.
