The Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, has again said that his administration did not increase taxes in the state as speculated by some people, describing it as a “misconception”.
The governor rather said that what his government did was to expand the state’s tax net by bringing in those who were not captured or who were not paying their taxes.
Mbah disclosed this while answering questions from the members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Enugu on Saturday.
He said there was a misconception that the government increased tax rates or the presence of huge tax activities going on in Enugu, pointing out the state would not hike or adjust tax rates.
“But that is a misconception because in the first place, our states will not increase or adjust the tax rates; so there is no such thing.
“We ensured that our processes are automated, unlike in the past, where we collected taxes through manual or cash.
“We had to stop all that by ensuring that payments are made through an electronic or digital platform where people pay straight to the government account as we block the leakages and expand the tax net,” Mbah said.
The governor noted that before his administration, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state was about N25 billion, adding that this year’s IGR projection was about N600 billion, which would be achieved or exceeded.
“So we have been able to grow our tax rate to over 200 fold from N25 billion to about N571 billion. That is what we are expecting this year,” he said.
Mbah explained that if there was a gap in the funding of projects, the state could get a bridge referred to as an overdraft or a short-term loan, maintaining that his administration had not done any long-term loans.
On projects, Mbah said his administration adopted an inclusive government that did not leave any part of the state out.
According to him, the projects the state government embarked upon, such as Smart Green Schools, Type two Primary Health Centres, and Farm Estate, covered all the 260 electoral wards of the state.
“So part of what we are experiencing in Enugu is actually the other way around, where we have quite a lot of people from the urban areas migrating to the rural areas.
“Our programmes, for example, in education that cut across 260 electoral wards where we have a project of over a billion naira going on at the same time.
“When we came in, we did a new master plan to expand the city. So we are currently doing a brand new city that will take about 300,000 households. And that is because we are actually planning for the future,” he explained.
