The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, has advised state governors to exercise fiscal restraint in order to make good their campaign promises.
A statement issued by the FIRS in Lagos, on Thursday, said that Omoigui-Okauru advised the governors not to depend on monthly federal allocations but to grow their Internally Generated Revenue.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the FIRS boss gave the advice at a strategy retreat organised by the Kwara State Government in Lagos recently. She urged the governors to take closer look at revenue resources in their domain.
She was quoted as saying, “States can grow IGR by focusing on priority sectors such as agriculture, tourism, sports and manufacturing to attract investment.
“This can also be achieved by low risk investment of government funds in high yield areas of the economy that include oil and gas, hospitality, telecommunications as well as the creative economy such as arts and entertainment. They should adopt electronic mode of payment and resist the temptation of anticipatory spending.”
According to her, states should also tie expenditure to available funds and should not spend what they do not have.
“Expenditure should be linked to revenue generation. And this should not be an end, but a means to an end,” Omoigui-Okauru said.
She suggested that states should consider taxation as alternative means of generating revenue and urged governors to live by example by paying their taxes promptly.
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FIRS urges states to exercise fiscal restraint