‘Poor revenue allocation hindering Oyo’s devt'
Poor revenue allocation from the Federation Account and inadequate internally-generated revenue are retarding the growth of Oyo State, President of Oluyole Club, Lagos, Prof. Bashir Akande, has said.
Akande said this at a press conference in Lagos on Saturday ahead of the club’s annual lecture and bursary awards to 10 students scheduled to hold on January 12, at Kakanfo Inn, Ibadan.
He said the state needed to be expanded for more investments in functional technical education, rural infrastructure and capital development.
Akande said, “Oyo State has been marginalised by the military regimes in state creation matters in the past. Unfortunately we have been unable to articulate our pains logically to receive support. Oyo is not an oil-producing state but agrarian.
“In fact, based on the current revenue-sharing formula in Nigeria, it will take Oyo State about eight years to earn the revenue allocation from the Federation Account to Rivers State or Bayelsa state in one year alone aside from the fact that our population is more than theirs.
“Internally generated revenue stands at about N1.2bn per month. This is a critical part of Oyo State’s problem. We do not have many industries (as the ones inherited from Western Region are long dead) to make immediate quantum change in IGR.”
He said the National Assembly’s refusal to grant the creation of the proposed Ibadan State had also contributed to the setback of the state.
He added, “The call for the creation of Ibadan State is therefore in order, equitable and long overdue.”
January 7, 2013 by Sodiq Oyeleke
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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