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We will use Oyo IGR to offset all recurrent expenditure before 2023—Makinde

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Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday, declared that his administration would ensure that the State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is able to offset its recurrent expenditure before the end of his current tenure.

Governor Makinde, who made the declaration while giving a keynote address at the one-day Tax Stakeholders ‘Poverty to Prosperity’ Summit held at the Theophilus Ogunlesi Hall, University College Hospital, Ibadan, stated that his commitment to take the State from poverty to prosperity remained on course.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, equally quoted the Governor as telling the dignitaries at the event that the sacked local government chairmen who have been struggling to return to the councils were targeting the funds of the councils.

Makinde urged the people of the state to think of new and innovative ideas to expand the State’s IGR.

According to him, the desperation by the sacked 68 Local Government and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) chairmen to return to the offices was informed by the greet to take over the accumulated resources of the councils.
He, however, stated that the era of spending government’s money reckless had gone and the sacked illegal chairmen had gone with it, adding that though many of the sacked chairmen have shown that they were stone-hearted, one could only hope that those who fail to toe the path of peace will be judged accordingly.

Governor Makinde who also spoke at the foundation laying ceremony of the Mini-Mapo Hall at the Headquarters of Ibadan South-West Local Government said that his government would ensure prudent management of public funds.

While laying the foundation stone of the Traditional Council’s building (Mini-Mapo), which was attended by the Olubadan of Ibadan, ObaSaliu Adetunji and his High Chiefs as well as other top Government functionaries, Governor Makinde reiterated the importance of the traditional institution in ensuring peace and order in the society, noting that despite the country operating democracy, the traditional councils could not be overlooked.

The Governor added that the traditional rulers as the closest to the people, who also understand their culture and tradition, remained relevant in maintaining peace and resolving conflicts.

While delivering his keynote address at the tax summit, Governor Makinde noted that growing the State’s IGR has become imperative to the Government’s mandate to move Oyo State from poverty to prosperity.

According to him, strategies have been put in place by his Government to boost the IGR of the State and that the strategies have started yielding fruits.

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He stated that Oyo State was able to raise the IGR from  about N2 billion to N2.7 billion in November 2019.

He said: “We are here today to talk about the Oyo State IGR Roadmap that will facilitate economic prosperity. The issue of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is very important as it is tied to how much development the state will experience, all things being equal.

“Without adequate revenue, there will be no resources to fund the budget; the state will have to resort to borrowing for recurrent expenditure or owing for overheads, which is never ideal.

“Trends also show Oyo State’s IGR fluctuates; in 2014 it was N16.30bn, but dropped to N15.66bn in 2015, later increasing to N18.88bn in 2016. For 2017, the IGR figures grew to N22.45bn. While in 2018 it grew to N24.67bn. This put our IGR per capita in 2018 at below N3,000 per person. We can definitely do better.

“The current trend across states in Nigeria is to see IGR as being synonymous with revenue generated from taxes, partly because other sources of revenue, especially natural resources are on the exclusive list.

“Revenue generated from these natural resources goes to the Federation Account and is then shared between the Federal Government and states. A lot has been said about how this has served as a hindrance to development, and how it has made states unwilling to invest in the management of these resources. But that is only half of the story.

“The other half is that it is possible to raise the IGR of the state without raising taxes. And this is the promise that we made to the people of Oyo State while we were on the campaign trail. We are determined to continue keeping that promise.

“Indeed, as clearly stated in our Roadmap for Accelerated Development in Oyo State 2019-2023, our plans to increase the revenue generated in Oyo State without an increase in taxes, stand on four legs: A thorough review of the current IGR process and management in the state; expanding the tax net; looking for new sources of revenue and being aggressive and innovative in the mode of revenue collection by having the State Board of the Internal Revenue Service working in collaboration with seasoned professionals.

“So far, and I am sure we will have this expounded by various speakers today, Oyo State has embarked on a comprehensive review of the IGR process and management. We have been able to plug some holes in the system and this is yielding results. We have also employed new managers of the revenue collection process. Their mandate is to come up with innovative and aggressive ways of getting the untaxed to contribute to the development of the state.”

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“The commencement of the new strategies put in place to increase IGR produced the positive result recorded in December 2019, as we raised the IGR to 2.7 billion Naira from about 2 billion Naira in November.

“Also, we are putting in place a land administration solution that will ensure wider and more effective enumeration of all business and household properties, ensure ease of obtaining land titles and other documents and faster approval of building plans. The land use charge has been fine-tuned and will be responsibly applied.

“Furthermore, we have taken a second look at our vehicle registration and renewal system and by the end of this month, the public can expect a wider, better and faster platform which will be available in all our 34 tax stations. We will continually apply fair and harmonised billings to other rates and levies.

“It is generally agreed in economic circles that the citizens are more inclined to respond positively and even volunteer to pay their taxes when they see how these payments are being put in use. I am happy to report that the taxes paid by the good people of Oyo State are currently being ploughed back into the development of the state. You may be aware of the work being done by the Oyo State Road Maintenance Agency (OYSROMA); we are rehabilitating roads in Ibadan and will move outside Ibadan to other cities before the end of this quarter.

“The work being done in the education sector is also taxpayers’ money in action. Schools are being built and renovated; we are concentrating on our final year secondary school students. We want them to return better results in their WAEC exams this year. We are also able to increase the education budget by 700 per cent compared to last year’s budget.

“Because we believe that health is wealth, we are taking steps to ensure that the people of Oyo State remain healthy. Soon, we will roll out a health intervention programme across all Local Government Areas in the state. The renovation and equipping of hospitals and Primary Health Care Centres in the state remain on course.
“In a few months, we are looking to start running a mass transit system in the state. The modalities are being set up and we will communicate the process with you.

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“Of course, what this means is that we will have to find a way of increasing our IGR especially by looking inwards and exploring areas of competitive advantage. We have to, as a matter of urgency, attract investments into Oyo State.
“Attracting direct investments will take a collective effort. Our administration will continue to invest in security and take other measures to ensure that we create an enabling environment for the growth of investments. On your part, you should be ready to extend the traditional hospitality to strangers, making them feel welcome in our midst.

“We also plead that you file your annual returns early in the year and within the stipulated time.
“As we explore the theme of this Stakeholder’s summit, I enjoin us all to keep our minds open to new ideas and think creatively and innovatively about how to expand our tax net. If, as research has shown, an increase in IGR is a strong determinant of economic development, then those of us in this room should understand how important this mandate is.”

 

In his speech, the Oyo State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinola Ojo, maintained that the summit presented “an opportunity for all stakeholders to interact, obtain first-hand information on the benefits of paying taxes and perhaps most importantly, understand the plans and appreciate the strides by the Government regarding generating the revenue with which it intends to provide requisite services and infrastructure for the benefit of every citizen of Oyo State as well as enhance development in the State.”

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Bitcoin Hits $50,000 For First Time Since 2021

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A picture taken on February 6, 2018 shows a visual representation of the digital crypto-currency Bitcoin, at the “Bitcoin Change” shop in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Bitcoin surpassed the $50,000 mark on Tuesday, marking its highest value in over two years.

Investor optimism surged as anticipation grew regarding broader trading approval in the US, with hopes riding high on potential green lights for cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Despite an initial dip following Washington’s approval signal last month, Bitcoin has rebounded impressively, boasting a 25 percent rally since January 22.

As of the latest data from Bloomberg, the cryptocurrency peaked at $50,328, underscoring the resilience and upward momentum in the crypto market, leaving observers optimistic about its future trajectory.

“Enthusiast buyers bring in more enthusiast buyers pushing prices further up,” Fadi Aboualfa, of Copper Technologies, said.

“The cryptocurrency has momentum on the back of several green weeks and has a large chance of going up further when markets see weekly movements upwards of 10 percent (as we saw last week).”

By 0330 GMT Tuesday, bitcoin had dropped slightly, to $49,950.

While Bitcoin has made an impressive recovery, currently standing above $50,000, it still lags significantly behind its peak value of nearly $69,000 in 2020. This rally signals a bounce-back for the cryptocurrency, which faced turbulent times marked by high-profile scandals and collapses within the crypto industry.

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Last year, FTX, the world’s second-largest crypto exchange, suffered a dramatic downfall, with its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, now confronting potential consequences. Prosecutors have characterised the situation as “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history,” and Bankman-Fried faces the looming threat of up to 110 years in prison.

In November, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao resigned as CEO of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, following both his and the company’s admission of guilt in extensive money laundering violations.

Bitcoin’s upward trajectory is further fueled by optimism surrounding potential interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve this year, as inflation appears to be easing. The cryptocurrency’s value is also influenced by an anticipated supply crunch next year, attributed to the recurring event known as “halving.”

Bitcoin, earned through intricate problem-solving by powerful computers in a process called “mining,” experiences a reduction in reward every four years. With the next “halving” scheduled for April, the limited supply dynamic continues to be a driving force behind Bitcoin’s value surge.

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Microsoft Joins Apple In $3 Trillion Club

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Microsoft joined Apple on Wednesday as a three trillion dollar company, as its big bet on artificial intelligence continued to impress Wall Street.

Now second to Apple as the world’s biggest company by market capitalization, Microsoft’s shares were up 1.31 percent at $404.

 

Apple remains narrowly in first place at $3.02 trillion after reaching the $3 trillion market capitalization mark for the first time in January 2022.

 

But it has fallen below the milestone, even briefly losing the pole position as biggest company on the markets when Microsoft briefly overtook the iPhone maker earlier this month.

 

Microsoft more than any other tech giant is riding the wave of excitement over AI.

The Redmond, Washington-based group has a major partnership with OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, that is reportedly worth $13 billion.

Since the arrival of ChatGPT, Microsoft has launched several products enabling companies and individuals to use the capabilities of generative AI, notably via its Bing search engine and Copilot virtual assistant.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in early November 2022, Microsoft shares have gained some 67 percent, with Apple’s up by about 40 percent.

Microsoft publishes its results on January 30.

 

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Nigeria: Shell Announces Sale of Onshore Oil Assets

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In an aerial view, gas prices nearing $6.00 a gallon are displayed at a Shell gas station on February 23, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

Shell has announced a deal to offload its Nigerian onshore subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), to Renaissance.

The acquiring entity, Renaissance, stands as a consortium comprising four local exploration and production companies in Nigeria, alongside an international energy group.

Shell,  in a Tuesday statement on its website, said, “Completion of the transaction is subject to approvals by the Federal Government of Nigeria and other conditions.

“Transaction will preserve SPDC’s operating capabilities for the benefit of a joint venture. The transaction has been designed to preserve the full range of SPDC’s operating capabilities following the change of ownership. This includes the technical expertise, management systems, and processes that SPDC implements on behalf of all the companies in the SPDC Joint Venture (SPDC JV)”.

But, it said, “SPDC’s staff will continue to be employed by the company as it transitions to new ownership”.

Shell emphasised  that amidst the competitive landscape, the company remains committed to supporting the management of SPDC JV facilities. These facilities play a crucial role in supplying a significant portion of feed gas to Nigeria LNG (NLNG), highlighting Shell’s dedication to assisting the nation in maximizing value from its NLNG endeavors.

“This agreement marks an important milestone for Shell in Nigeria, aligning with our previously announced intent to exit onshore oil production in the Niger Delta, simplifying our portfolio and focusing future disciplined investment in Nigeria on our Deepwater and Integrated Gas positions,” Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director Zoë Yujnovich said.

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“It is a significant moment for SPDC, whose people have built it into a high-quality business over many years. Now, after decades as a pioneer in Nigeria’s energy sector, SPDC will move to its next chapter under the ownership of an experienced, ambitious Nigerian-led consortium.

“Shell sees a bright future in Nigeria with a positive investment outlook for its energy sector. We will continue to support the country’s growing energy needs and export ambitions in areas aligned with our strategy.”

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