Dickson Tasks Committee On IGR

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa on Tuesday charged the
newly inaugurated Internal Revenue Committee to assist the state in exploring
legitimate avenues of increasing the internally-generated revenue (IGR).

Dickson gave the charge when he inaugurated a nine-man
revenue committee in Yenagoa.

He urged the committee to review the activities of the State
Internal Revenue Board from inception and accommodate new sources of boosting
the IGR.

Dickson said his administration remained committed in
addressing the low level revenue profile of the state.

The governor said that the state would be financially
independent, if it met its recurrent obligations from internally-generated
sources.

“The state should be managed in such a way that our
independence and ability to sustain our operations should not be dependent on
variables that are beyond our control.

“Our aspiration of going forward, particularly with our
robust programme is to see that we generate enough income to be able to meet
our recurrent expenditure,” he said.

According to him, the committee’s terms of reference are to
identify the various sources of IGR available in the state and ascertain the
IGR collected and payment made by the revenue board to government since
inception.

The committee would also examine the internal corporate
governance issues of the board and make other recommendations that would assist
government in repositioning the state internal revenue Board.

tary, while Mr Ifiemi Ikpaikpai, the Special Adviser on
Budget, Mr Tom Owugha, Mr Anthony Audi and Chief Nyanayo Tubor-Miela, were
members.

The members included: Mr Felix Kalama, Mr Femebra Zimughan,
Mrs Daisy Goldie and Mr Alate Maxwell.

The committee is expected to conclude its assignment within
one month.