Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state has asked fellow governors of the 35 states of the Federation to devise creative means of generating more revenue internally, saying the monthly Federal Allocations as being disbursed among three tiers of government will continue to dwindle until fuel subsidies are removed.
The governor however appealed to Federal Government to release some sources of revenue generations that are covered under Exclusive Legislative List, such as mining, some taxes, including Value Added Tax, to the State Governments to administer in order for them to make more revenue and offer good governance.
Speaking in a virtual meeting in Abeokuta with the representatives and stakeholders from Ogun East Senatorial District which was held in preparation of the 2022 Ogun fiscal estimates, Governor Abiodun decried dwindling revenue from Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) and negative impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on global economies which had impacted negatively on both Federal Allocations and Internally-Generated Revenue.
Read also: PDP Reps demand revamping of refineries before fuel subsidy removal
“This is the third townhall meeting on the state budgets preparation. We are here to get the participation our people. It offers us the ability to get inputs of people into the development projects.
“Allocations from FAAC will continue to shrink until we find a way of resolving issues of subsidies, that is why every state government has to be creative. In Ogun, we are blessed with limestone, with so many natural resources, such as kaolin, bitumen, quartz, gypsum, glass sand and so on, but the state hardly gets anything from it.
“Like the issues on VAT and other revenue being collected by Federal Government, they are under Exclusive Legislative List, that is how it’s structured by 1999 Nigerian Constitution, mining is under Exclusive List but states will continue to bear the burden of environmental pollution and pressure on our roads.”
Earlier, Dapo Okubadejo, Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser, said that despite the negative effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on the economy, Ogun state was able to generate N74 billion internally-generated revenue as of September this year, which he said, was unprecedented in the history of the state, adding that the state would be able to make a N100 billion IGR target for 2021 by December.
Okubadejo, who spoke in company of Olaolu Olabimtan, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, noted that the state’s internally-generated revenue had grown steadily between January and September this year, saying with the launch of Ogun State Land Administration and Revenue Management System (OLARMS), the state could surpass N100 billion annual internally-generated revenue target, next year.
