Anambra’s IGR still disappointingly low – Soludo laments…

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State is unhappy with the level of revenue generation in the state, lamenting that the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, is still disappointingly low.

The governor, who spoke during the inauguration of the Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue in Awka, described IGR as the life-blood of all government operations, arguing that if it does not work, then nothing works.

According to him, the results of the state’s IGR since his assumption of office were not even close to 50% of what he anticipated to achieve, adding that he expected to have the revenue body double its initial revenue within its first four months, which, he added, did not happen.

He said: “The state government should be making more than three billion naira per month, which has yet to happen. The 2023 budget is expected to generate four billion naira per month, but the Anambra state government is running a deficit on IGR, which is one of the key projections”.

Soludo said the state government will be interfacing and evaluating the performance of the board every three months, warning that “If this board fails, we will disband it and create a new one”.

The Executive Directors of the Board include Mr Richard Madiebo as the Chairman, Dr. Greg Ugochukwu Ezeilo for Anambra South, Dr. Christian Madubuko for Anambra North and Mr. Benjamin Anierobi Okafor for Anambra Central, with the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mrs Chiamaka Nnake, Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Ifeatu Onejeme, Commissioner for Lands, Prof. Ofornze Amucheazi and Commissioner for Transport, Mrs. Pat Igwebuike as members.

Others are Mr. Don Adizuo, Secretary/Head of Legal Dept., Mr. Chika Oformma, Head of Assessment and Mrs. Juliet Nwakpudolu, Head of High Net Individual Assessment Department.