Ambode’s government now makes N34bn IGR monthly, targets N50bn in 2019
- The Lagos state government says its N50 billion revenue target by 2019 is still on course
- The government says is receives N327m from 13% oil derivation
- It says it earned N30 billion as monthly IGR in 2017 and N24 billion in 2016
The Lagos state government on Monday, May 21, said that it has so far achieved an average monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N34 billion in 2018 compared to monthly averages of the last three years.
Akinyemi Ashade, the finance commissioner, who disclosed this, attributed the gradual improvement to the impact of the ongoing reforms and growth in the state’s economy.
“Notably, we are recording gradual improvement in our average monthly IGR in 2018 compared to the levels achieved in previous years due to the impact of ongoing reforms and growth in the state’s economy.
"Based on our first quarter results, Lagos state has so far achieved an average monthly IGR of N34billion in 2018 compared to monthly averages of N22bn, N24bn and N30bn in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively," he said.
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Ashade expressed optimism that the IGR would continue to rise even further as the state continues to implement the various reforms, driven by wider technology adoption and innovation, adding that the target to grow the state’s IGR to N50bn by next year was well on course.
“The target we set for ourselves is N50 billion but we all know the kind of push backs we have experienced including people going to court and all that. Our commitment is not for now, its for the future of Lagos.
"We know it’s a marathon, we would win some and we would lose some, but we are very committed towards ensuring that we meet the target, but if we don’t meet it this year, definitely there would be another year, but we believe we would succeed in that target we set for ourselves,” Ashade said.
On federal transfers, he said since Lagos joined the league of oil producing state, the government had received a total of N327 million revenue, comprising N197 million and N130 million received in 2017 and first quarter of 2018 respectively.
“Furthermore, we are in ongoing discussions with the federal government towards obtaining a refund for expenditure totalling N51 billion that was incurred by the state government on behalf of the federal government for infrastructure projects developments in the state. We are optimistic of successful discussions that will result in the approval and payment of the amount owed to the state government by the federal government,” he said.
Giving an update on the state’s debt profile, Ashade said the government’s debt stock, comprising 48 percent local debt and 52% foreign debt currently stood at N874.38 billion at the end of 2017 while the debt service charge to total revenue ratio which stood at 17.61 percent was still within the World Bank threshold of 30%.
The commissioner said the state government has continued to maintain a positive credit rating, however, adding that a downgrade of Nigeria’s sovereign rating would lead to a corresponding action on Lagos’ international drawing rights.
“As Nigeria continues to improve on its credit rating, we would be able to achieve better rating as we currently have because no amount of revenue generation, no amount of employment growth of Lagos state can make us surpass to surpass the sovereign rating,” he said.
He, however, said that the state government has taken some strategic steps to help Nigeria improve on its ratings including adhering to fiscal discipline, improved revenue generation, reforms in infrastructure development, transport and embedded power.
Giving an update on the revised Land Use Charge (LUC), Ashade said the state government had continued to engage critical stakeholders in line with its tradition of inclusive governance, adding that a wide range of response have been received.
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He said the extensive discussions led to several concessions on Land Use charge for property owners across board, adding that a revised bill to further amend the LUC law to incorporate the additional concessions was presently before the House of Assembly and would be passed soon.
Legit.ng earlier reported how it was revealed that while many states of the federation reeled in self-pity over the biting effect of Nigeria's economic recession, Lagos state made more money from internally generated revenue in 2016.
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Source: Legit.ng
