Gov Otti Must Discontinue With The Current Revenue Collection Method To Boost IGR- Aba Traders

By Suleiman Anyalewechi, Aba

Abia State has the potentials of generating enough revenue to sustain itself and compete comfortably with Lagos State in terms of Internally Generated Revenue receipts with a good and transparent revenue collection regime in place.

Similarly, Abia can generate as much as between N15 Billion and N20 Billion monthly if Leakages within the revenue collection system are blocked.

This was the position of Chief Chuka Okorie the chairman of Patent Medicine Dealers Association, Ariaria International Market Aba, in an exclusive interview with NewsCritic online on Thursday June 1, 2023 at Aba.

According to him, with the institutionalization of the right framework, the state may not have to wait for monthly handouts from the federation account to carry out its statutory obligations to the people. He, however, regretted that despite these obvious potentials, Abia has been struggling to meet its financial needs.

Chief Okorie blamed the sad situation on the corruption ridden current revenue collection system, which instead of boosting the financial profile of the state at large, has rather been enriching few individuals within the corridors of power.

“The truth of the matter is that Abia has no business complaining of lack of funds for developmental purposes. The state is privileged to be hosting about three of the largest markets in the country in Aba alone. This is in addition to others across the state, with about 150,000 shops in Ariaria, over 100,000 and 80,000 shops at Ngwa Road and Cemetery Markets respectively, all in Aba.

“Add this to collectible levies from the transportation sector and other business entities, Aba alone can fetch the state over N8 Billion monthly revenue. So, when you put the figure together with revenues from other parts of the state, then you can imagine what you will have as monthly internally generated revenue. But the big problem remains that since Gov Orji Uzor Kalu era, what all successive regimes have been doing is to collect pittances from some political cronies at the beginning of each fiscal year, who will then proceed to collect billions of naira as revenue contractors. Under the harmonized revenue law of Abia, every shop at all the markets pay the sum of N18,000 annually. Add this up with the number of shops at the various markets, you will agree with me that the state has no reasons whatsoever to complain of lack of funds,” Chief Okorie stated.

He further noted that what is needed now is the required political will and determination to break away from the present revenue collection system, which he considers too loose, patronizing and corrupt. 

“There is no other magic that is being performed in Lagos in terms of internally generated revenue. The differences in terms of volumes of businesses between Lagos and Aba are not all that pronounced. The only remarkable difference is that Lagos has since mustered the political will to properly harness its revenue generating potentials, Abia can follow the same path,” Chief Okorie noted.

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