By Abiodun Lawal
Abeokuta – The Ogun Ministry of Commerce and Industry said it has generated N554 million as revenue to the coffers of the state government from January to October.
Mr Jonathan Onajobi, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, made the figure known while defending the ministry’s 2019 budget proposal before the Ogun House Committee on Finance and Appropriation in Abeokuta on Wednesday.
Onajobi said that the revenue was generated from road haulage, registration of business premises and inspection fees.
He said that the ministry had proposed N405 million as recurrent expenditure, while N600 million had been earmarked for capital and N1.005 billion as total expenditure for 2019.
The permanent secretary explained that the ministry would reevaluate internally generated revenue stream to improve revenue generation.
“The ministry proposed to develop a detailed geological survey to map new mineral deposit in the state and produce bankable reports to entice investors.
“We will embark on infrastructure development of the industrial park in the state and source Public Private Partnership (PPP) development,” he said.
Onajobi added that the ministry had earmarked the sum of N283.4million for special projects and assignment and N199.8million for construction of parks in 2019 fiscal year.
In his submission, Mr Victor Fasanya, the House Committee Chairman, said that the ministry remains one of the agencies of government that generates more revenue for the government.
Fasanya urged the ministry to put in more efforts in its revenue generation drive.
He said that the amount generated during the period under review was low compared to the expected revenue for the period which was N3.3 billion