BY TAYE OBATERU & GRATEFUL DAKAT

Jos-The Plateau State Government has initiated steps to shore up its internally-generated revenue to a monthly billion naira mark with the setting up of a special task force to actualize the dream.

Governor Jonah Jang, who said this while inaugurating the task force, weekend, added that this was in line with the three-pillar policy of the administration.

He said the state could no longer rely almost entirely of resources from the federation account.

Jang said: “The reality confronting us today is that of sourcing for resources against competing challenges of service delivery and meeting our people’s yearnings and aspirations. This is therefore a wake-up call for all of us in the state if we must raise the value of our being.

“Even as a component part of the Nigerian Federation that also receives Statutory Allocation from the center, we cannot continue to depend on this source alone without exploring other avenues for internal revenue generation”, he declared.

Jang lamented that the state’s average monthly internally generated revenue stood at just over N300 million 85 per cent of which comes from Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax and 15 per cent from other sources, describing it as unacceptable.

He tasked the special task force headed by a former member of the Federal Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission, Chief John Mankilik to among others, re-organize the revenue mobilization machinery of the state with a view to optimizing revenue generation and take necessary measures to ensure achieving a target of at least one billion naira internally generated revenue by the end of January next year and higher levels thereafter.

Responding, the chairman of the task force thanked the governor for finding them worthy of “this difficult but necessary responsibility that must be carried out by somebody.”

“We shall do our best to meet or even surpass this target; we only appeal for cooperation of all concerned as we endeavor to leave a legacy for the coming generations to benefit from”, he pledged.