Minna – The Niger State Assembly has passed a resolution calling for a total overhaul of the state Board of Internal Revenue, for its poor Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N2.427 billion from January to June.
The Assembly passed the resolution on Wednesday in Minna, following the report of the Finance Committee on the presentations by the Commissioner for Finance and Budget and Planning on the state’s finances between January and June.
Presenting the report, the Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Abdullahi Mamagi, decried the poor IGR, in spite of efforts at improving on the state’s revenue base.
“In fact, there was no significant improvement compared to what obtained in the past; because out of the expected revenue of N4.5 billion for the period under review, only N2.4 billion was collected.
“This amount is further depleted by 10 per cent to local government areas in the state and another 10 per cent to the Board of Internal Revenue as incentive.”
Mamagi noted that the engagement of consultants to improve the state revenue had proved unrewarding, as the situation assumed a worsening dimension.
“The engagement of consultants which is supposed to improve the revenue is worsening the situation.”
The committee frowned at the arrangement whereby a consultant engaged in a specific area was paid a percentage of the total collection, describing it as fraudulent.
“It was observed that 60 per cent of our IGR comes from ‘Pay As You Earn’, which doesn’t require the services of a consultant but the consultants were getting a percentage from the consolidated receipts,” he added.
He maintained that the staffing of the board needed to be overhauled across all cadres in order to engage people who could drive the revenue targets of the state beyond expectations.
The committee called for the amendment of the law establishing the board to create a special salary scale for staff, to motivate them, as against the current practice of taking 10 per cent of the consolidated receipts on a monthly basis.
Meanwhile, the Assembly has given approval for the governor to access a N280.5-million loan for the purchase of 30 buses to enhance the operations of the Niger State Transport Authority (NSTA).
Following a motion moved by Alhaji Shuaibu Iya, the lawmakers resolved to summon the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, for alleged fraudulent allocation of plots of land in Suleja.
The Speaker of the House, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa, thereafter, asked the Clerk of the House to communicate to the executive the resolutions of the Assembly.