Suntai mulls weaning Taraba off federation accounts

TIRED of going cap in hand to Abuja for funds before the state could function, Taraba State government yesterday initiated a move towards increasing the state's internally- generated revenue, with a view to generating enough money for development purposes.At a one-day workshop organised by the Ministry of Finance to ponder on strategies to increase internal revenue generation, the Commissioner for Finance, Illiya Wanapia, stressed that the state must wean itself off its current dependency on revenue, which accrued from excess crude oil.The current impasse between the Federal and state governments over revenue sharing, which has made the states to reject their allocation from the Federation Accounts, according to the commissioner, also motivated Taraba to initiate its quest for financial independence.Admitting that the state board of internal revenue and other revenue-generating agencies have performed below expectation, the workshop, which was organised for members of the executive council, is aimed at challenging them to act fast.Wanapia said: 'We are supposed to look inward and get our solution by ourselves because the demand by the Niger Delta region for resource control or increase in revenue allocation and the demand on federal allocation is too high. We have to begin to identify things that can give us meaningful revenue'.Disturbed that the Niger Delta region is currently demanding for 50 per cent of the oil revenue, Wanapia said the need for Taraba to, as a matter of urgency, take a cue from the Lagos State government, which the commissioner said had benefited greatly from its internally-generated revenue, has become imperative.His words: 'Lagos State internally-generated revenue for three months is the entire budget of Taraba State for one year. Public servants have great roles to improve the revenue of our state'.Resource person at the workshop and immediate past Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, Rotimi Oyekan, said he felt sad that Taraba lacked data base in spite of the great potential of the state.
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