Abia State Government has given a marching order to all revenue-generating establishments in the state, to work towards surpassing the N3 billion monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) benchmark.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, stated this at a seminar on Harmonisation of Revenue Collection organised by the Abia State Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Umuahia.
- Military gunships ‘kill’ over 1,000 cows in Nasarawa
- Asari Dokubo: What Fani-Kayode said when Nnamdi Kanu sent him to me
He charged staff of the BIR and the heads of the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to be more proactive and think outside the box to enable them achieve success.
Ikpeazu who was represented by his Deputy, Ude Oko Chukwu, said there was an urgent need to boost IGR as the monthly federal allocation is no longer enough to pay workers’ salaries and execute projects.
“We can give this state more than N5 billion a month. It is realisable; we have the market, the economy and the manpower. There are people who use Abia facilities but don’t pay taxes. We should go after such people,” he said.
The acting Chairman, BIR, Mr Celestine Agbara, and the coordinator Abia Economic Advancement Team, Sir Mac Atasie, said they organised the seminar to highlight and synergise with revenue-generating MDAs on how to increase the revenue base.
