The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that the positive trend in the State’s real estate and manufacturing sectors triggered by the series of reforms initiated by his administration would bolster the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the State.
Obaseki said this at the forum organized by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce forum titled: ‘Meet the Governors’ Series; Investment and Opportunities.
According to the Governor, “The ratio of Federal Allocations compared to the State’s IGR handed over by past administrations showed that Edo State was over-dependent on Federal allocations which constituted about 80 percent of total revenue.”
Obaseki who spoke during the panel session of the summit, said: “As we grow the transport sector, manufacturing, the agriculture and real estate sectors, we see the opportunity to get more taxes.”
Speaking on the need to prioritize taxes to shore up Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), especially at a time oil revenues are dwindling in the face of a growing population, the Governor said: “The military did not have legitimacy and could not go out there to pursue people to pay taxes because I cannot pay you if I am not represented, so for a long time, that culture of generating taxes to run the state disappeared.”
He explained: “It’s the people who have money that should pay taxes, the money is going to come from real estate, from property tax, from tenements and from activities that are related to transportation and agriculture.”
He assured: “Our goal is to, like Lagos State, make sure that by the time I am leaving office, I want to have a 60:40 ratio, or more like 65% internally generated revenue and 35% of federal allocation and debts.”
He added: “Just like Lagos, there is a whole real estate boom in Edo, we have a very active Diaspora community that is sending money home and what we’ve done is to try and just clean up land acquisition process, get a lot of guys who have been grabbing land illegally off the streets and we have seen real exciting opportunities in real estate development and I tell you, our returns are better.
“I know how much you buy land in Lekki, I know how much it costs you to develop, I will do that for a fraction in terms of development and my rents are beginning to be really good.”
On activities in the mining sector, Obaseki said: “Dangote is in Edo, BUA is in Edo, there is a lot of limestone, there is a lot of mining going on and we have a whole colony of Chinese who are coming in, manufacturing everything from steel to ceramic tiles, we have the largest flat sheet glass company in Nigeria in Edo, we have the largest MDF manufacturing company and these are Chinese, so we would love to have Nigerians come in there and look at these opportunities. Because at the end of the day it is about energy and we have energy in Edo.”
He however stressed the need for members of the political class to come to the table and rethink Nigeria in a manner that maximizes the benefits that the various components or federating units bring to the table.
“We have not done politics well enough. We are unfortunate as a country to have kept the military for that long because the issues that led to the military intervention in the 1963, like rethinking our country, the DNA of our country, how do we organize this country, that led to a bit of squabbles amongst the political class as at that time, were never really resolved.
“We had a civil war, oil boom and the military found it convenient to stay for the better part of two generations, so now oil is dwindling, disappearing and our population has grown beyond what oil can take care of, and we are now beginning to ask ourselves those fundamental questions; should we be organized the way we are?
“It is only politics that can bring us together at the table so that we will begin to deal with these issues. If we don’t deal with them there is no way ahead. I used to think that you need to deal with the economy first before politics, but no, you have got to sit and discuss the politics first. We need to answer such questions as why are we organized the way we are, why should you get more than I do?
“We need to come to an agreement; the DNA of Nigeria does not represent or reflect the structure we have today. I am an Edo man, we existed as an entity, an empire before the creation of Nigeria, now if I have to live within the context of Nigeria, how should we live?
“You are an Oyo man, a Kanuri man, a Tiv man, we must sit across the table and have those conversations and have a system, structured to optimize the benefits we all will bring to the table. That is politics and that is what we have not done well enough,” Obaseki said.
He took the audience through the series of reforms in the education and security sectors, and the strengthening of key institutions of government to deliver programs and policies of the state.
Earlier, the President and chairman of Council, Bisi Adeyemi, described the event as an opportunity for governors to provide first hand information on investment opportunities across the states in Nigeria.
