Oyo State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for October rose to about N2.7billion, the Chairman, Oyo State Internal Revenue Service (OYIRS), Aremo John Adeleke, revealed yesterday.
From the average of about N1.2billion monthly inherited from the last administration, Adeleke said the sudden rise followed the positive and relentless efforts of the Governor Seyi Makinde administration to block leakages and ensure a continuous rise of the IGR to help the state depend less on federal allocation.
Adeleke, who spoke during a visit of a group under the aegis of “Friends of Seyi Makinde”, at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, said the government is also deploying creative means to expand the state’s tax net to capture the formal and informal sectors without additional burden on the people.
He said: “Many people are voluntarily contributing revenue and paying their taxes to the state’s coffers because of their trust in the Governor Makinde-led administration.
“We are bringing about a revolution in revenue generation activities of Oyo State. Oyo today has moved beyond the miasma of revenue of between N1.2billion and N1.3billion per month in IGR.
“I am happy to inform you that last month, our IGR was N2.7billion and we intend to keep on in this trajectory. We are going to follow the trajectory of steady growth until within our first year; we are able to double Oyo State revenue from where we met it. This is our goal.
“We can see a groundswell of support for the current administration in the sense that a lot of people, in terms of business premises contribution or environmental contribution or signage are prepared to contribute their quota.
“We know people that have voluntarily invited the government to their areas, communities saying they can do a bit more for the government. (The Nation)
