Govs, Experts to Parley over Non-Oil Revenue

Thirty six state governors, technocrats, academics and industrialists will tomorrow discuss how Nigeria could grow non-oil revenue to fund states and local government councils on a sustainable basis.
Cross River State Governor Mr. Liyel Imoke, his Lagos State counterpart, Mr. Raji Bataunde Fashola, and Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomohle, will give their perspectives on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from their states and the nexus between revenue generation, good governance and democracy.
Tagged, “Surviving the Downturn, Refocusing on Internally Generated Revenue,” the 1st National Round-Table Strategy Session on Internally Generated Revenue, will also have state commissioners of finance, Accountants General from states, chairmen of States Boards of Internal Revenue, banks, financial Institutions, local government chairmen, treasurers, secretaries, tax practitioners and professionals in attendance.
The forum is being organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
While Oshiomole will speak on “Rebuilding Tax Payers’ Confidence: The Confluence between Good Leadership and Internally Generated Revenue,” Imoke will address the issue of “Innovate or Perish: Building Internally Gene-rated Revenue through Economic Growth and Development-Lessons from Cross Rivers State.”

Lagos state Governor Fashola on the other hand will speak on Re-engineering State Tax Administration Strategies, Systems and Processes: Lessons from the Lagos State.
Director General of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Mr. A. B. Okauru said the conference was borne out of the NGF’s belief that states and local lovernment councils should begin to look beyond oil revenue to fund development on a sustainable basis. Said Okauru: “The recent global financial crisis and the attendant fluctuations in oil revenues due to
price volatility are a source of concern to fiscal stability at all levels of government in Nigeria. The current high dependence by States on the share of oil receipts in the Federation Account meant that many things could go wrong if increased oil revenue is not sustained for a long time.”
“State and local governments must embrace strategies that would increase the share of Internally Generated Revenue if they must withstand the shocks of the future. The current national average of about 12 per cent Internally Generated Revenue for both state and local governments is just unsustainable and could potentially undermine their ability to meet development targets. We should begin to look beyond oil,” Okauru said.
Also, Professor Taofeeq M. Abdulrazaq, of Saffron Partners will speak on Reviewing the 7 ‘S’ framework of States and Local Governments Internal Revenue Generation Mechanism, while Mr. Gerald Ilukwe, Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, will shed light on The Role of Information and Communication Technology in Improving and Simplifying Internal Revenue Generation Capacity of States and Local Government councils.
Tuesday’s presentation will be wrapped up with a presentation by the Chairman Ifueko Omoigui Okauru (Mrs.), Chairman, Joint Tax Board and Executive Chairman, of the Federal Inland Revenue Service who is expected to speak on “Professionalizing the Tax Administration System: A Paradigm Shift.
Serving and former ministers, governors and respected economists as well as industrialists are expected to discuss the presentations.
The three-day conference would be wrapped up on Wednesday with a round-table discussion on Practical experience sharing and cross-fertilization of Ideas, critical Issues and deliverables and implementation road map.