Imo State has grossed past the N1 billion mark in its internally generated revenue (IGR) by end of September 2014, BusinessDay reliably gathered from Chike John Okafor, the immediate past commissioner of finance in the state, who has just resigned his appointment to pursue a political career at the House of Representatives by 2015.
The amount indicates an increase of more than 233 per cent from about N300 million recorded by the state by end of May 2011, when the Governor Rochas Okorocha administration assumed office in state.
Okafor, a former senior bank manager at Zenith Bank plc Owerri, before being snapped up in June 2011, from the financial world by Governor Rochas Okorocha, said, the IGR jump was as a result of government’s moves to block most of the revenue leakages in the system.
The Umuoke, Obowo local government area-born crown prince and investment banker, said the State’s IGR profile grew from N221m in March 2011 to N300m by June, and N400m in October of same year, before hiking through 2012 to notch N750m by close of 2013 fiscal year.
He said in 2014, the state’s IGR drive has changed tremendously, as the state government’s method of revenue collection has engendered confidence in the tax payers, who he said, now feel no hurt in paying their taxes promptly, “due to what they saw in the number of projects being built by the Owelle Rochas Okorocha’s rescue mission government.”
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“Imolites now have confidence in the Governor Okorocha’s All Progressives Congress (APC) state government’s prudent use of public funds to build projects that touch the lives of the masses,” stated Okafor; adding that the revenue from internal sources would keep on improving, as long as the rescue government would be on the saddle in the state.
Explaining the public current view of perceived increased sources of the funds for Imo, which may have informed the upsurge in projects development, the Imo State University (IMSU) Economics graduate said, the rising IGR, coupled with prudent financial management of the Okorocha have combined to accentuate things.
He said: “Imo only picks around N4.7bn from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FACC), whereas states like Akwa Ibom collects around N32bn, Rivers 25bn, Bayelsa N18bn. Ours is just the way we manage our funds with respect to projects execution.”
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