As a result of dwindling Internally-generated revenue (IGR), especially by state governments in the country, the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN) plans to address the issue and come up with solutions at the next E-Government summit.
Reports have indicated that 15 states in the federation are going bankrupt due to declining IGR coupled with the apparent lack of transparency and accountability in the traditional way revenue collection.
Regha Onajite, Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, E-PPAN said that deployment of innovative and smart ICT solutions and adoption of best-practice strategies will rescue states from their current financial doldrums.
The association announced that this year’s E-Government summit which was earlier scheduled for July 12th and 13th will now hold from September 27th and 28th, 2016 will tackle these issues.
According to Onajite, “the summit was moved to guarantee active participation of more stakeholders from both the private and public sectors in the summit.
“With the theme: ‘Attaining Increased IGR; Efficiency and Accountability in Government through Smart Innovation,’ it will draw home the current issue facing state governments and the vast opportunity in leveraging e-payment and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an alternative measure in generating and increasing IGR in an accountable and efficient manner,” she said.
Onajite explained that the timeliness of the summit gives all stakeholders the opportunity to key into the summit, which will showcase an array of smart solutions to boost IGR in the state government, “instead of solely depending on the Federal Government for statutory allocation, which has been greatly affected by the dwindling oil revenue.”
This year’s e-government summit is being organised, in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the National Information Technology Development Agency(NITDA) and put together by a Local Organising Committee made up of representatives from CBN, Galaxy Backbone, FSS2020, NITDA, National Pension Commission (PENCOM), FSS 2020 and E-PPAN.
According to her, “the summit, therefore, gives every state government an unparallel opportunity to amass knowledge, expertise, and solutions that will keep them afloat in the face of impending bankruptcy.”
