Dwindling oil revenue: Oshiomhole wants successor to deepen tax collection, administration regime

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said his successor must be able to sustain and deepen the tax collection and administration regime if he must deliver on people-oriented programmes and policies.
BDSUNDAY made the remark while delivering a lecture with the theme, “Dwindling Revenue from Crude Oil: The Challenges for State Governments,” at the maiden edition of the Correspondents Chapel of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Benin-City.
Oshiomhole, who noted that there is no other better way to generating revenue apart from oil, disclosed that not more than 160,000 persons out of over 4 million population in the state pay taxes.
The governor, who gave graphic accounts on the state of internally generated revenue before his assumption of office, posited that even the state civil servants right from the Head of Service (HoS) down to the least officers as well as the state lawmakers were not paying their taxes.
According to him, the next government after me should be able to widen and deepen the tax collection regime to be able to deliver on its services to the people of the state. Delivery on services entails the availability of funds and the government should expand the scope of revenue generations in the midst of dwindling oil prices to be able succeed.
“Government must broaden the tax net and its administration to ensure that the taxable people in the state are all captured in the tax generation process.
“If oil prices become zero, Edo as a state has to survive and the challenges are that we must put on the thinking cap to be able to navigate from the oil price doldrums”, he said.

The governor opined that the primary purpose of government was not to pay salaries and employment generation alone but to deliver on socio-economic service.
He noted that delivery of people-oriented programmes and policies will generate jobs and create enabling environment for investors to thrive.
He assured that the state government will collect taxes from the rich to service the poor.
“We will pursue taxes legitimately from those who can afford it and we will use the money judiciously to address the infrastructural needs of our people”, he stated
He further assured  that government must demonstrate a high sense of responsibility and integrity in how it appropriate funds and how the funds are being appropriated for the good of all and sundry in the state.
“For us to get our people to pay taxes our government must demonstrate a high sense of responsibility and integrity in how we appropriate funds and how we appropriate the fund for”, he added.
Earlier, chairman of the Correspondents Chapel, Simon Ebegbulem noted that the public lecture would not have come at a better time than now that the nation is facing serious economic challenges from the country’s monolithic economy.
He contended that the monolithic economy has put severe burden on state governments which had long depended on the Federal Government’s allocations before paying salaries and discharging other governmental responsibilities.

 

IDRIS UMAR MOMOH