Kano state government is according priority to Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as a way of ensuring steady finance of the 2017 budget and to avoid deficit spending. The budget 2017 is being partially financed to the tune of N97 billion from the Federation Account, while, the sum of N46 billion is expected from Internally Generated Revenue sources.
Details of the proposal indicate that over N130 billion out of the total budget would be expended on capital projects, while, N79 billion was for re-current expenditures.
The state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje revealed that the Kano Internal Revenue Service (KIRS) has been reorganized and now being manned by competent staff in order to make it render efficient service, adding that new strategies for persuading the people to pay tax have also been introduced.
He made this disclosure while commissioning the seven new vehicles presented to Kano State Internal Revenue Service by the Europe Commission at a ceremony which took place in Kano.
Governor explained that the state’s revenue has improved over the last one year to the extent that some of the funds are being used to finance development projects.
The governor pointed out that some projects now bear the inscription “Tax Payers Project” to indicate that the IGR is judiciously spent and to encourage taxpaying culture, warning that a Tax Payers Court was constituted to penalize defaulters.
The governor stressed that his administration has as its watchword continuity, consolidation, fine tuning and new initiative, lamenting that inherited liabilities, dwindling of economy, weak IGR and cost of governance are some obstacles bedevilling the state.
In this connection, Governor Ganduje said the salaries and allowances of the political appointees in state were reduced by 50 percent to trim down the cost of governance, challenging any appointee who is not comfortable with the arrangement to resign forthwith.
In her speech, the state Commissioner of Budget and Planning, Zubaida Damakka Abubakar said the Ganduje administration decided to opt for the reducing of non-core projects and blockage of wasteful expenditure, pointing out that with this development, the 2017 expenditure by ministries, departments and agencies were also reduced by the Budget Office in order to come up with balanced and sustainable estimates.
Earlier, the state Head of Service, Auwalu Na’iya said despite the daunting and challenge of inadequate resources, Governor Ganduje has recorded unprecedented achievements in terms of people-oriented polices and programmes.
Na’iya thanked him for reinvigorating the State Civil Service to face the present day challenges, pointing out that the different reforms introduced and implemented by the administration, such as stream ling the civil service, are yielding positive result.
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