Delta IGR hits N5.7b monthly

The Internally Generated Revenue of Delta State, on monthly basis, has hit N5.7 billion.
The prospect that the figure may hit the targeted N8 billion in the next two months to meet the monthly wage bill of the state was rife, going by the strategic reforms orchestrated by the state’s Board of Internal Revenue.
All tax evaders have been smoked out of their hideouts, even as waivers considered frivolous, granted by past administrations, have been put on hold.
Prior to the recorded feat, N1.2 billion was being remitted as the monthly income as the state’s internal revenue.
The impressive figure, said the Chairman of the board, Joel Onowakpo-Thomas, in Asaba, the state capital, was as a result of the recent reforms within the board, informed by the ‘Delta Beyond Oil’ project of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, which according to him, “leaped the IGR.”
Onowakpo-Thomas said the recent increase in the state’s revenue was an indication that the ‘Delta Beyond Oil’ mantra as been internalized in the state, raising optimism that “very soon, the monthly IGR will be able to off-set the state’s monthly wage bill.”
Onowakpo-Thomas, who spoke during the ceremony of a retreat of the board, tagged: “Delta Beyond Oil, Implications and the Role of Delta State Board of Internal Revenue”, acknowledged the existing lacuna between the organ of government charged with the responsibility of actualizing and coordinating the investment potentials and the revenue derivable investments of the state.
He said: “If the ‘Delta Beyond Oil’ policy of this administration must work, we need the cooperation of Deltans because the corporate investor will not take over government functions of providing good roads, good and free medical facilities, as well as free and quality educational facilities.
“We need to have an organ of government that will articulate and coordinate investment potentials and the revenue derivable success investments of the state as well as bridge the gap.”