Our target is funding recurrent expenditure with IGR – Oyebanji

…inaugurates Ikole area tax office

Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State has reiterated the commitment of his administration to strengthening the revenue generation capacity of the State to enable it fund the recurrent expenditure through internally generated revenue without inflicting pains on the citizens.

Governor Oyebanji, who stated this in Ikole Ekiti at the weekend while inaugurating new Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service Area Tax Office in Ikole -Ekiti, said his government is committed to building a self-sustaining economy where the State can fund its recurrent expenditure without over-reliance on federal allocation.

The inauguration of the new tax office, according to him, is a step towards achieving the goal of making the state less dependent on federal allocation.

The governor described the opening of the new tax office as a strategic initiative to decentralise revenue collection and ensure efficiency in tax administration.

Emphasizing the importance of IGR as a sustainable source of funding government operations, particularly in the face of dwindling federal allocation, Governor Oyebanji explained that he had been able to fulfill almost all his campaign promises because of the remarkable increase in the state IGR.

Read also: Lagos State targets N1.97trn IGR to finance 2025 budget

While commending the State Internal Revenue Service for its effort in increasing the State’s revenue base, the governor urged the agency to intensify its sensitisation campaigns to educate residents that payment of tax is their civic duty.

He added that the funds generated will be used to provide critical infrastructure and improve the standard of living in the state.

“Our target by the grace of God is that we should be able to fund out recurrent from IGR, that’s the target. We should be able to pay workers’ salaries from IGR, if we are able to fund our recurrent with IGR whatever comes from FAAC we can use for development, that’s the target and it is doable and am happy that the little you are paying, you call all see what we are doing with it in the state”

“when I was coming, I was asking myself that of all the campaign promises we made to our people which one have I done and I was happy within myself answering the question myself because I discovered we have done a lot to the glory of God. We have been able to activate those promises” either in education, agric, health, infrastructure, governance, and human capital development”, governor said.

Earlier, Olutona Olaniran, Chairman of the State Internal Revenue Service, commended the governor for his dedication to utilising public funds effectively, which had fostered trust and compliance among tax payers.

He noted that the various ongoing developmental projects across the State had made it easier to convince residents to pay their taxes, as they could visibly see the impact of their contributions.