Bid auction for Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) concessions in Anambra State has been thrown open by the state governor, Prof. Charles Soludo.

The governor witnessed the bid process organised for qualified and interested people, conducted at Professor Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre, Awka.

According to the governor, this is a new dawn in the state and an era of transparency.

He said: “We are applying the principle of unparalleled and incomparable transparency. You must understand where we are and why the old system has to change.

“We are closing existing revenue windows and running a transparent revenue door for people to give government what is due to it so that if you win or lose a bid, you will understand why.”

Soludo assured that those who were recently awarded revenue concessions would be duly refunded.

“We want to have a system in Anambra where you do not need to know anybody to have a concession. If you win a public bid, you take it.

“We are interested in maximum revenue this public bid shall drive for the state. We recruited 5,000 teachers, doctors and must pay them. We toured all the bad roads in Awka and Nnewi yesterday and need funds to build all of them.

“Construction has commenced on all roads I flagged off. We shall still flag off more roads. Literally, every council in the state will experience massive construction.

“Most of the revenue generated in the past ended up in private pockets. Some pensioners have not been paid their gratuities since 2018, in accumulated debts running into billions of Naira. We shall pay these pensioners and offset these debts. Everyone that retired during my administration is being paid as well.”

Open bidding for loading and offloading of heavy-duty trucks, sand beach, environmental remediation, borrow pit, among other concessions, were conducted.