Business
RSG Reshapes Revenue Board
As part of efforts to improve on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Rivers State Government says it has commenced the process of restructuring the board of Internal Revenue for more efficient performance.
The Commissioner for Finance,Dr Chamberlain Peterside, disclosed this Wednesday in Port Harcourt, during a one-day sensitization workshop for heads of Accounts in Ministries, Departments and Parastatals.
Dr Peterside who explained the reason for the constitution of a debt management unit in the ministry, said it would also take over the automated salary payrolling system, from Zenith Bank but noted that workers would continue to receive their salaries through banks.
He hinted that a committee headed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance has been constituted to work with Zenith Bank to ensure that within the next three months, accountants in the state civil service, should have control of pay roll and salaries payments.
According to the Finance Commissioner, “ we need to have an integrated system to know how much we receive and money owed, because you cannot run a good economy without having a debt management office.”
The commissioner decried the situation where the state government relies heavily on federal allocations without improving on the internally generated revenue, stressing that although the state witnessed increase in its internal revenue, the receipts failed to achieve budgetary targets.
He therefore, called for cooperation from the accounts officers in the process of modernising the management of state finances to check sharp practices.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Dr George Nwaeke, lauded the commissioner for realizing the need to engage accounts officers in the sensitization programme before the introduction of the domestic Debt Management Unit.
Dr Nwaeke challenged participants at the workshop to use the opportunity offered by the programme to prove themselves and not to betray the trust reposed in them by government.
Earlier, the state Director, Debt Management Unit (DMU), Mr Nduka Nwikposi, said that his office has the responsibility to evaluate and record financial transactions for sustainable management, and pledged to perform his duties in the interest of the state