Dapo Okubadejo, commissioner for finance and chief economic adviser in Ogun state has declared that the current technological drive being undertaken to generate more revenue to the State government’s coffers through Land Use and Amenities Charge is yielding fruitful results as such a revenue source can cover up to 50% of N119 billion target from Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR).
Okubadejo is hopeful on increased revenue in the 2021 fiscal year based on positive effects of technology such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) which is being deployed to cover more of developed and undeveloped structures situated in Ogun state for which land-based charge called Land Use and Amenities, is payable yearly.
BusinessDay reports that Ogun state had only 14,000 of such structures covered on its database with annual receipts of N600 million, but with the deployment of Global Positioning System (GPS), government has now covered over 700,000 structures, that represents 98% possible revenue increase from N600 million to N59 billion in the new year.
Speaking on the proposed 2021 Ogun state N339 billion budget size in Abeokuta with BusinessDay, the commissioner for finance and chief economic adviser, said that the expectations in the year 2021 fiscal year should be based on judicious utilisation of very scarce resources, properly-structured empowerment of economic players in the state and series of dedicated investments in physical and social infrastructure in the year 2021.
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He said, “It is extremely important that as we plan for Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR), we have to deploy technology and we have started seeing the impacts of technology; technology, is not only to drive efficiency in revenue generation, but also to block financial leakages and be able to plan effectively.
“Just middle of the year, we introduced technological system for administration of Land Use and Amenities Charge, we have just about 14,000 houses in our database and with our new technology, we have identified that Ogun state has over 700,000 identifiable structures through the GPS technology for which we have manned.
“Just imagine, in the past, we generated just about N600 – N700 million on Land Use and Amenities Charge, but just for three weeks that we have started this, even with the adoptions based on Excellency’s approval of 50% discount on payment in September; 25% discount on payment in October; and 10% discount on payment in November, even on just 14,000 houses, we have realised about N600 million.
“So, you can imagine in the year 2021, when we begin to account for over 700,000 and with the elimination of agents and fake invoices and receipts because what we have done at billing is that we have implemented a QR Code, so you can check the authenticity of the invoice yourself and as you beam your phone on those bills with the QR Code technology, it takes you straight to the payment getaway.
“So, there is no middleman in between that is how we have been able to save quite a lot and we are hoping that we are going to achieve a lot from there next year.”
