Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu, Tuesday, presided over the monthly revenue review meeting, with the cheering report that the 18 Local Government Councils generated One hundred and twenty million, seven hundred thousand naira (#120.7m) for June as against the paltry #3m generated in May.
This astronomical increase is coming on the heels of the alarm raised by the Deputy Governor at the last monthly revenue meeting, where he threatened to drag the council officials before the EFCC.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Shaibu stated: “If everything is on the table, the local governments are capable of raking in at least, #500m monthly”.
According to him, Oredo alone has the capacity of generating over #100m monthly if all the leakages are blocked, compared to the embarrassing #3m declared by the 18 Councils in May.
“However, we are not there yet because the local government councils are supposed to fix the ‘trunk C’ roads (inner roads) in their locality. Sad enough, it remains a burden on us in the state.”
As part of measures targeted at stemming fraud and leakages in the revenue collection system, the Deputy Governor has directed that a task force be constituted to monitor sales of tickets across the councils.
The Taskforce to be headed by one of the seasoned and trusted revenue directors in the local government councils, is expected to be inaugurated next week by the Deputy Governor.
The Taskforce will have representatives from each local government council, across the three senatorial districts of the State.
The three recognized transport unions, NURTW, RTEAN and ANNEWAT will be represented on the Taskforce and representatives from the technical service providers.
The Chief Security Officer, CSO, Government House, Benin City is expected to provide security cover for the Taskforce.