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No hiding place for fraudster in A’Ibom as government launches e-receipt

By Inemesit Akpan-Nsoh Uyo
18 March 2016   |   1:00 am
Akwa Ibom state governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has said that, there will be no hiding place for those that swindle or defraud government of its revenue with the introduction of e-receipt ...
Udom

Udom

Akwa Ibom state governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has said that, there will be no hiding place for those that swindle or defraud government of its revenue with the introduction of e-receipt in payment of government
monies.

He made this assertion during the official flagged off e-Receipt implementation for revenue collection in the state yesterday, held at Le Meridian Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort Uyo.

Represented by his deputy, Mr. Moses Ekpo, the governor said that, the programmee was very important to the state especially now that every kobo must be accounted for, so that, the dream of making the state an industrial driven economy would be achieved.

He stressed that, the flag-off of the program will eliminate or reduce to negligible proportions leakages in revenue accruable to government, noting that, such would make for and good development.

“Funds that sometimes get lost in the labyrinth of bureaucracy will be made available to government to provide services to the people.

Government in my opinion represents a force for good. It is a program that is long overdue. One of the issues that hamper good governance and the correspondent dispensation of democratic dividends is the lack of transparency that is associated with bureaucratic machinery”, he said.

The governor was quick to note that, the problem was not peculiar to the state alone; adding that, it has become a universal problem that even affects the developed democracies.

According to him, sharp practices are common; thereby making it sometimes impossible for government to achieve it set goals and
objectives as it comes in different shades and colours.

“This problem however, is not a uniquely Akwa Ibom situation- it’s a worldwide issue that affects even those we call mature democracies.

“It is a known fact that sharp practices are rampant and a mind-set that appears dis-invested or lacking fidelity to the central organizing policy thrust of government manifest in several shades and
colours.

“These less –than- noble tendencies are some of the issues that we see and observe within the bureaucracy. Some of these elements represent the dark side of the human nature.

For government to fulfill its cardinal responsibility of improving the human condition and effect lasting changes in our material circumstance, we must begin to see the ennobling ideals in governance, that government is not what Thomas Hobbes called the ‘Leviathan’- that big monster that intimidates and subjugates people’s aspirational
schema”, he added.

Earlier, the Managing Director of RomFlex Networks Limited, the IGR Consultant to the Akwa Ibom state government, Mr. Eyo Bassey said, the era of honeymoon was over in the state where no serious interest was
given to internally generated revenue.

According to him, with the global trend of dwindling in revenue, it was most desirous and needful now for the state to pursue it vigorously.

He called on the people not to afraid of job lost; rather he explained that, the introduction of the e-receipt would create more jobs for the people, asking Akwa Ibom people to embrace the programmee.

“Without the e-receipt, all effort of government to generate revenue will be in vain because all the money generated may be going into people’s hands. E-receipt will reduce fraud; the system will not bring
about fake receipt, rather it is based on your payment before e-receipt is issued”, he said.

The consultant noted that, the state has the capacity to take care of herself only if the know how much the state is generating internally, adding that, it is only through e-receipt that the state would make more money as leakages would blocked.

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