Imo targets N1b revenue, spends N3b on wages

THE Imo State government has unveiled plans to raise its monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to NI billion before the end of 2012.It said the move was prompted by its precarious financial situation caused by a N3 billion monthly wage bill.In an interview with The Guardian in Owerri, the state capital, the Commissioner for Finance, John Chike Okafor, said the wage bill for public servants was huge considering that the state receives N2.5 billion from the Federation Account.Okafor said the IGR had risen from N250 million when the present government came to office in May 2011 to N800 million.He said: 'Our target is N1 billion monthly on IGR, but we are a little below N800 million. Before we came last year, it was N250 million. Our recurrent expenditure is in excess of N3 billion monthly on wage bill and others. We don't want to rationalise our workforce'.Okafor disclosed that the state saves between N700 million and N1 billion monthly from security vote as Governor Rochas Okorocha had directed that no public official will receive security vote any more.
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