Sodiq Adekunle, Osogbo
Osun State House of Assembly has directed relevant government agencies to ensure close monitoring of revenue collectors to prevent leakages of funds.
The Speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam spoke while declaring open, the defence of the 2016 budget estimate before the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, saying this was necessary to improve the Internal Generated Revenue and use same for the implementation of the budget.
He said this was necessary to increase the IGR for effective implementation of 2016 budget rather than relying on federal allocation that has dwindled.
Noting that oil revenues was no longer available, he said the state needed to look inward, stressing that "If every one of us play our roles, we can stand tall to say anywhere that we have enough to meet our obligations.
"The reality has come for all of us to see and we are all living witnesses to the economic situation in this country that the oil money is no longer forthcoming. We must all come to term with the reality and work towards improving our revenue. People must know that they have to pay taxes, while the revenue collectors must be up and doing.
"Because of the present economic challenges, many have even forgotten that the government had been paying 13th month salary when things were rosy. If we can generate enough revenue, the issue of delayed salaries and others will no longer be there."
He said mechanism should be put in place to reward job performance, especially in the area of revenue generation.
Salaam also said that the Assembly would be strict in its oversight functions in the new year, saying, it would no longer be business as usual.
According to him, the Assembly would beam its searchlight more on the state-owned tertiary institution and monitor their performance in the revenue generation.
He then charged the committees of the house to scrutinise the budget properly and remove any item that would not be able to go down well with the present economic reality.
The Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Honourable Kamil Oyedele, warned that anywhere the leakages of government resources are detected would not be taken lightly.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola had presented a budget of N150.7 billion before the Assembly on December 14, 2015.
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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