Gov. Idris Wada of Kogi has set up a machinery to overhaul the state internal revenue generating mechanism to enable it to achieve a target of N1 billion monthly.
Wada announced the plan in Lokoja on Sunday while interacting with newsmen during the Eid-el-Fitr celebration.
He described the state revenue profile of N200 million monthly as too little and unacceptable.
The governor said that considering that the state had very little resources, his administration on inception, set up a committee to assess the revenue situation.
He said the government later set up a committee of permanent secretaries to go round other states, including Lagos and Kano, that were doing well in revenue generation to learn from them.
”Where we see things happening we go there and learn, come back, modify what we learnt and apply it.
“My immediate target is about a billion naira a month and we will get that very quickly,” the governor said.
He said another strategy that the government had adopted to increase the revenue was to attract internal and external investments, adding that his recent trip to China was part of it.
He said that during the trip, he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the second largest government-owned private sector company in China for investments in mining and Infrastructure..
”I am creating an atmosphere of Good Governance, transparency, accountability and equity and people see my body language, they know my antecedents and they are willing to come and establish in the state,” Wada said.
He said the business environment in Kogi was conducive , adding, ”we want to encourage local investors because before foreign investors come to your country, they want to know what local investors are doing.” (NAN)