The Bayelsa Government on Friday awarded a contract valued at N3.6 billion for electronic surveillance in the state.
Gov. Seriake Dickson made the announcement at his monthly revenue briefing in Yenagoa.
He said the project would involve the installation of cameras at some designated locations in the state for security purposes.
Dickson said that the contract was part of the “Safe City, Safe State’ project of the government to ensure safety for investors, residents and tourists.
The governor appealed to residents of the state to cooperate with the contractors, who would be installing electronic surveillance devices to assist the state in crime control.
Dickson said the state had increased its internally generated revenue (IGR) profile and would further enhance it by ensuring tax compliance in the informal sector.
He said the state realised N1.3 billion in May, compared to the N50 million it generated monthly 14 months ago.
He attributed the increase to the recently introduced Personal Income Tax Act which commenced in February.
“As a result of the compliance of the civil servants in the formal sector, we are able to improve this much on our IGR but we are not resting on our oars, we are going to extend our tax dragnet to the informal sector.
“It is regrettable that despite the presence of oil operations in this state, we are denied of revenue accruable to us as taxes because the oil companies do not have any form of presence here.
“We are looking at ways of reversing this negative trend,” Dickson said.
The highpoint of the meeting was the presentation the mobolisation fee of N1.7 billion to the Chinese Firm, Wali, for immediate commencement of work on the project. (NAN)