IGR: No Blackmail Will Shake Me—Gov. Ahmed Boasts

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State has vowed not to be moved by blackmail, a tool being used by his distractors to misinform the public on his stand to grow Internally Generated Revenue of the state.

In a statement issued in Ilorin by his media aide, Dr Muideen Akorede, the governor stressed that IGR is the only way government can continue to meet its obligations to the people and survive the current economic downturn.

Ahmed, who met with heads and bursars of state-owned tertiary institutions in the state on Tuesday in Ilorin, noted that it is common for some people to resist change, but maintained that the best interest of the people must prevail at all times.

The governor was criticised after he directed tertiary institutions in the state to open Single Revenue Accounts with designated banks in a pilot scheme. He was accused of planning to hand the management of the institutions to its holding company, Harmony Holdings Limited.

But the governor urged the people to ignore such rumours, assuring them that only the newly-established Kwara State Internal Revenue Service is authorised by law to collect and manage all state and local government revenues.

Ahmed also explained that the planned audit of workers in the state will go beyond biometric verification and involve a thorough assessment, including the authentication of academic certificates of staff while also eliminating any lingering cases of ghost workers in the system.

He reassured that the Single Revenue Accounts will ensure transparency and budgeting as government will have a better idea of revenue coming into the coffers of the affected agencies so that it can support them where necessary. He called on the heads of tertiary institutions to embrace the Single Revenue Account as the new scheme will be a litmus test of their managerial ability.

The governor explained that with the new development, any revenue transactions outside the Single Revenue Account would be regarded as fraudulent and those found culpable punished accordingly.

According to him, there is a pressing need to identify alternative sources of revenue apart from dwindling federal allocation to the state which he said cannot fund government monthly obligations and major upcoming capital projects by his administration such as Share-Oke-Ode Rd, Ipetu-Rore Rd, Dualisation of Gamo-Micheal Imoudu Road, Ilorin, Kishi-Kaiama Rd, Pategi-Kpada Rd, and Tanke to UITH Road, Ilorin.

He listed other upcoming projects to include the construction of new hospitals, new campuses for Kwara State University (KWASU), additional 2000 secondary classrooms and the proposed Independent Power Project (IPP) to power industries across the state.

Ahmed said the only way to fund these and other people-oriented projects and programs is to grow the Internally Generated Revenue so that government can meet its obligations such as payment of salaries promptly, create new jobs and funding of major development projects.