Ekiti strategises to increase IGR

KEY officials of the Ekiti State Government have mapped out strategies to ensure aggressive revenue generation drive to shore up the income base of the state.This is one of the resolutions reached at the conclusion of a three-day retreat for members of the state's executive councils and the state's House of Assembly, which ended on Sunday at the Royal ParkHotel, Iloko 'Ijesa, Osun State.In a communiqu issued at the end of the Ekiti Executive-Legislative parley, it was also resolved that the state would commence an aggressive plan for a sustainable Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)to cushion the state from further 'fiscal shocks.'The retreat was attended by members of the National Assembly from Ekiti State, members of the State House of Assembly, commissioners, special advisers, heads of bureaus/agencies and permanent secretaries who also pledged to improve service delivery of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state.The parley examined and discussed a wide range of issues relating to the revenue and expenditure components of the budget with a view to ensuring a common understanding of the emerging fiscal realities and the need to reach consensus on amendments to the budget to be in consonance with the core vision of the government.In order to ensure full participation of the state in the on-going constitution review process, it was also resolved that the state should consider the following activities in order to articulate its views and put in sync with the southwest region.The state also adopted the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in line with the advocacy of the governor's forum and is committed to developing a two- year rolling plan that will inform the 2013 and 2014budgets.As a starting point, the MTEF should cover the Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Health, Urban & Physical Planning, Lands, Tourism and Infrastructure.Other resolutions at the three-day retreat included the establishment of a Special Projects Unit in the Governor's office and collaboration between the Ministries of Budget and Planning, incollaboration with the Office of Transformation, Strategy and Delivery (OTSD) to provide framework for a performance- based budget-monitoring framework for the state.
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