13th July, 2015
Kwara state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed has commended President Muhammadu Buhari on the recent bailout of all tiers of government, to enable them offset outstanding salaries of workers.
The governor said this on Sunday in Ilorin through a statement signed by his chief Press Secretary (CPS), Abdulwahab Oba.
He said this bailout would give the states the opportunity to work out new modalities of improving their revenue base and shore up their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Ahmed said the state government would soon depend less on the Federation account Allocations as it intended to improve on its IGR in order to meet its obligations to the people.
He commended the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to slash their salaries by 50 per cent.
Ahmed described this as proactive reactions to the sensibilities of Nigerians and prevailing economic challenges in the country.
He added that the measures were testimonies that the All Progressives Congress’ change mantra would usher in and entrench new values of responsive governance, financial prudence and economic revitalization in the country.
Ahmed, however, said his administration would address the effects of the continuous shortfalls in federation accounts allocation to the state– through the improved IGR.
He said this would be handled by the recently established Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, by identifying and blocking loopholes in the tax collection mechanism of the state.
The Governor assured the people of the state that the new measures were not impositions of new tax regimes or burden on them.
He said the new measures were to correct shortcomings in tax collections, in order to boost the state’s revenue base so as to meet its obligations to the people.