Damaturu – In its effort to boost Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Yobe state government will establish revenue courts and review taxes, fees, duties and levies, Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam, has announced.
The governor made the announcement on Tuesday in Damaturu at a stakeholders meeting.
He said that the decline in national revenue had negatively impacted on the economy of the state with attendant consequences on development.
He said that the government had suspended payment of gratuity and reduced overhead expenditure by 50 per cent.
He added that the government had also suspended non-essential recurrent expenditure and reduced essential ones to meet other pressing matters.
Gaidam pointed out that with the drop in allocation, five out of the 17 local government councils in the state were compelled to borrow to make up for the short fall in their statutory allocations.
“The five local governments borrowed over N141 million in order to meet their requirements for October salary and other mandatory standing payments,” he said.
He said that the government would conduct bio-metric verification of staff to capture genuine employees of local governments as a measure to sanitize the councils.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
The governor directed the heads of local councils to sanitise their affairs and remove ghost workers to achieve credible, realistic and affordable salary bill.
He said that the finances of the five local councils would no longer be augmented and advised the leadership to look inward to boost their IGR.
Gaidam said that as part of efforts to diversify income generation, the government would establish 500 hectares of irrigation pilot scheme in Nguru, Bolaram, Mugaram and Jumbam with the collaboration of private partners. (NAN)