Governor Abdullahi Sule has described Nasarawa state as being among the most disadvantaged in terms of federal subvention and Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR).
He disclosed this on Tuesday while hosting counselors from across the 13 local government areas of the state, under the aegis of the Forum of Counselors, who paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, Lafia that the state is also at the same time burdened with three major debts that have to be settled.
Governor Sule said, “The economy of the state is facing serious challenges with the dwindling federal revenue even as it contends with settling three major debts namely: Excess crude account debt, bailout funds and budget support, all collected between 2015-2018.”
While challenging elected council officials to start looking for ways to raise revenue to execute projects, that it does not make sense for elected officials to sit in the office and worry only about paying salaries.
According to him, “there are certain LGAs when they say they can’t pay salary, they don’t have revenue, it scares me. With all these availability of resources that you have, it’s just for you to sit down and think like human beings and see how you will be able to generate revenue.”
The governor challenged them to bring investment, employment opportunities and provide revenue for Nasarawa state.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Counselors’ Forum, Uba Ahmed Arikya, said they were at the Government House to commend the governor for being among the first to implement financial autonomy for local government areas.
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