LG Councils in Edo Moves To Exploit IGR To Boost Revenue For Development

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

In order to avoid the pitfall of unpaid salaries, Edo state government has mandated various Heads of Service in the 18 Local Government Areas that owe months of unpaid salary arrears to their workers to exploit fresh strategies to boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The Head of Service of Uhunmwode Local Government Area and a former Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Comrade Kaduna Eboigbodin, disclosed this yesterday during an interview with journalists at Ehor, headquarters of the council.
He however, said with the latest directive and plan by members of the State Assembly to harmonize revenue of councils in the state, the various local governments can adequately meet up with the welfare of workers and other responsibilities at that level of government.

He stated that, “In Ehor, workers are owed about 13 months, but we are confident that government has assured us that it would pay all outstanding salaries with a warning to councils to look inward, so we are strategizing. We are currently looking into areas we believe we can generate more revenue and also have enough to pay workers’ salaries, with the political class we need at least about N36 million monthly.

According to him, “For us, it is a daunting task but we believe that it is not impossible like they say “necessity is the mother of all invention”. So, we are looking at a lot of issues on the table to meet up the challenges. And of course, you are aware that there is a bill already before the state house of assembly where they want to bring out a harmonize revenue law where revenue collection will have a human face”.

Eboigbodin noted that despite the paucity of funds within the council, the administrative team under him has embarked on key developmental with clear cut strategic planning and policies and programmes that have produced positive results in the area of road rehabilitation as well aa health, adding that the council under his watch had enjoyed relative peace and security.