Having recorded an average of N6 billion monthly internally generated revenue in most of the months in the 2014 budget, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State says that the state targets an average of N10 billion in yet-to-prepare 2015 state budget.
Speaking at the 2015 Budget town hall meeting held in Abeokuta, recently, Amosun noted that the about-to-prepare 2015 state budget would focus more on industrial and financial planning that tend to jack up revenue to state’s coffers and create more avenues for investors and entrepreneurs to thrive in the face of the dwindling allocation from Federation account.
While revealing that funds from the Federation account have been dwindling since 2011, which has accounted for the inability of the state to shoulder certain expenses, he disclosed that the state wage bill and allowances had risen to about N8 billion monthly, just as he said “it is only Ogun and Lagos states that now generate revenue exceeding the allocation from the Federation account.”
He said: “What we are doing today is to take stock and see how far we have gone and those things we need to do better by further listening to our people.
“Ogun will get to a time when it will be auto-driven, system driven so that Governors will not have difficulty in making things happen, they will not have difficulty in paying salaries and doing all of those and I am happy we are taking our pride position in the comity off nations.
“We are now industrial capital of Nigeria but what we intend doing is to make Ogun State economic capital of Nigeria, we want to challenge Lagos.
“The Finance Minister has confirmed that there are challenges in revenue accrued from oil revenue due to oil theft and as we are speaking, they are yet to pay us, the only way we can be able to pay salaries is to think outside the box and see how we can improve our IGR.
“We are increasing the IGR without unnecessarily inconveniencing our people, the target is N10 billion by next year because there is no way our wages will exceed N10 billion, with this we will not rely on Federal Government again, but we still have huge challenges to pay our salaries.”
Earlier, Oluwande Muoyo, commissioner for budget and planning, noted that the town hall meeting was to afford all stakeholders and groups the opportunity to make their inputs into the 2015 budget,
Muoyo said the latest ranking by the 2014 World Bank report on Doing Business in Nigeria, which listed Ogun as one of the five most improved states in Nigeria, was a significant progress compared to the organisation’s report of 2008 and 2010, that ranked the state as one of the lowest performer in the country.
She acknowledged the achievement recorded in the last three and a half years under the five-cardinal programmes, adding that these had given a new lease of life to the people.
RAZAQ AYINLA
