Olayinka Olukoya, Author at Tribune Online

The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, on Monday, said that the 2021 budget would be majorly financed by Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). The governor made this known during a virtual consultative meeting with representatives of the people of Ogun East Senatorial District, on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the 2021 budget. He, however, promised that his administration would be mindful of the need to avoid unnecessary tax burden on its people. Abiodun urged the people of the state to continue to support the present administration in the state by discharging their civic duties. "Despite the steep declines in revenues from the Federation Account, we shall rely more on our internally generated revenue from Ogun State Internal Revenue Service, (OGIRS) and other revenue sources. In this regard, we have strengthened the OGIRS, including the recent appointment of a seasoned professional as the Chairman. "Whilst being mindful of the need to avoid unnecessary tax burden on our citizens, we appeal to them to continue to support us by discharging their civic duties in our joint task of building the state of our future together, we shall continue to give utmost priority to capital project investments in Education, Health, and Infrastructure Sectors," he said. The governor also noted that his administration would continue to sustain payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities within limited resources, said that his administration would continue to carry out a downward review of overhead expenses at reasonable percentage against revenue generation prospects of Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the State. Abiodun while noting that the recent payment of the new minimum wage was in line with the agreement reached with labour, urged the labour unions in the state to be considerate in their demands at a time government was also struggling with finances. He said the government will give utmost priority to education, health, agriculture and road infrastructure, as it prepares for next year's budget. Abiodun pointed out that his administration would be proactive in the coming year by latching on this years’ experience to improve on service delivery, revenue drive and public-private partnership. The Governor decried the negative impact of the COVID-19 on the economy of the State. He informed that the current year’s budget was reviewed downward from N450bn to N280bn in consonance with the economic realities in the wake of the pandemic, adding that 20 per cent of the 2020 Revised Appropriation was, understandably, allocated to the Health Sector. "To give life to businesses, various reliefs were given to business owners as part of palliative measures to assist them to cope with the economic slide and ensure business continuity. These relief packages include a 6-month extension of the 2019 income tax returns the deadline for self-employed residents from March 31, 2020, to September 30, 2020. ALSO READ: COVID-19 stimulus packages must extend into 2021, IMF says "We also granted an 8-month extension of filing of 2019 annual PAYE returns by PAYE operators/tax agents from January 31, 2020, to September 30, as well as a complete waiver of interest and penalty for late filing for the extension period," the Governor explained. He said the hosting of the town hall meeting was a symbolic approach of inclusiveness, fairness, justice, equity and respect to the rule of law for which the Government policies are known. The chairperson, Ogun State Chapter of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs, Mrs Olude Oluwakemi, and her counterpart in the Women Support and Care Initiative, Dr (Mrs) Omolara Quadri called on the state government to give more emphasis to women empowerment in the state by building their capacity. Some of the participants which included youth and women groups, religious leaders, elder statesmen and women and labour leaders, who contributed at the meeting, called for the creation of more jobs, execution of more capital projects and empowerment of the youth and women in the coming fiscal year. NIGERIAN TRIBUNE