VAM News Update
THE Ondo State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa has said the Rotimi Akeredolu-led administration in the state had performed tremendously well in the area of infrastructure and other sectors.
Akinterinwa stated that the administration had boosted the Internally-Generated Revenue of the state, from the initial N500 million monthly of the previous administration to N3 billion monthly, which implies that the current administration generates N36 billion annually.
The commissioner stated this in a chat with journalists in Akure, the state capital, on Tuesday.
He said Akeredolu was very determined to jerk up the IGR and his determination had been yielding positive results in that regard.
He said, “One of the things the governor (Akeredolu) had determined to do before starting the administration is finding a means to increase the IGR of the state, it was a clear mission.
“Since we came into office in 2017, it has been quite challenging, but to the glory of God, some of what we called challenges are history now. When we came into office in 2017 the internally generated revenue of the state was revolving around N500 million to N600 million in a month, but under the leadership of Akeredolu Oluwarotimi, the Governor has moved it from N500 million IGR, we are now realising N3 billion in a month. After Lagos State, no state has had that growth in a number of years.
This increase in IGR has helped the administration in so many ways to assist the government in achieving some of the things that were credited to this government, especially in terms of the welfare of the people and infrastructure development.”
He further explained that there were challenges facing the state, particularly, in the area of salaries of civil service before the current administration came on board but with the help of improved IGR, most of the problems have been subdued.
“When we also came in, one of the biggest challenges ever is that the civil servant were owed seven months’ salary, then the economy was in crisis because of non-regular payment of salary when we came in that time, we met no IGR, contractors were being owed, but today, with the leadership of a man with a clear vision, we moved from that situation. Today, we had cleared the salary debt except for a month, by the time this government ends its tenure, it would have paid salaries for eight years and seven months.
“When we came in we did restructuring in all areas, we bring stakeholders together and investors together, we took bond that was not maintained well by the previous administration, we serviced it. By the time we approached the capital market, there was no other state that could approach it except Lagos State, because the requirements were strict, but we achieved it. All the infrastructure you see today is because the governor of the state gave us good leadership, and an enabling environment was created for us in other for us to put up our best.
“We are able to achieve great increment in our IGR because we brought in an independent person, he was given autonomy and an enabling environment.
That’s what we have with the Ondo State Internal Revenue Service. We recruited experts and also organised more staff training. We blocked leakages, and lots of things are now done properly,” Akinterinwa explained.