Makinde attributes Oyo IGR growth result to hardwork

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has declared that the ranking of the state as seventh in the states’ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) index by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the first two quarters of 2021 was as a result of hardwork.

He also noted that the leap in IGR was the manifestation of his administration’s pragmatic approach to governance since May 2019.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, said that the administration’s commitment to turning the state into an economic and investment hub, as well as the bold initiatives by Makinde to encourage the ease of doing business, transform the agriculture and others, were the pillars behind the state’s leap on the IGR index.

The statement further indicated that the Makinde-led administration would not relent in its determination to expand the economy of the state and improve its finances.

The statement quoted Makinde as saying that his government would continue to be bullish in its approach to expanding the state’s economy in line with his commitment for the accelerated development of Oyo State.

He said agribusiness and infrastructure development to target the economy would continue to receive priority attention.

The NBS had recently published its 2021 half-year report of Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) of Nigerian states, indicating that Lagos State topped the chart with N267.23 billion IGR, followed by FCT with N69,072,879,664.43 and Rivers State with N57,324,672,372.42.

Oyo State, with N25,191,713,455.75, was in 7th position, while Yobe State with N4, 031,033,046.55 was at the bottom of the table.

With the information made available in the report, Oyo State ranked third among states with highest IGR in the South-West, coming behind Lagos and Ogun states.

The report equally showed that the revenue area where most of South-West states got the highest revenue was Pay As You Earn (PAYE), with Lagos generating N152.7 billion while Oyo State came second with N18.6 billion, indicating the strength of the manpower in the states.

Commenting on the data, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof. Musibau Babatunde, maintained that the ranking of the state on the half-year NBS report reflected the economic realities in the state, where several business-friendly policies of Governor Makinde administration have resulted in more investments.

He said that the prompt payment of salaries and pensions, as well as the massive completed and ongoing infrastructure development projects and investments on improving security, which have brought positive improvements to the business environment, have all played huge roles in the state’s improvement on the IGR index.