The Niger Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Lawal Maikano, says the Gov. Umaru Bago-led administration is taking steps to block revenue leakages and replough the money into capital project financing.
He disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on assumption of office as the on Tuesday in Minna.
Maikano said that the new administration had identified alot of revenue leakages, adding that the governor is doing everything possible to end such.
“The desire of the governor is to ensure that basic amenities are available for the people and we can only do that by ensuring judicious use of our scarce resources.
“We can also do that by ensuring doing away with those things that are not necessary and only those that are necessary we will do.
“We have identified a lot of waste and the governor is doing everything possible to cut off such waste, once that is done we will have enough funds for capital projects which will impact on the lives of the people,” he said.
He noted that his ministry would work closely with Ministry of Planning Commission to ensure that budgetary allocations are strictly adhered to inline with the desires and needs of the masses.
On improving the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state, the commissioner said loopholes and leakages in revenue collection would be blocked to improve IGR from N16 billion currently generated per annum to N100 billion.
He added that this would be done by ensuring harmonisation of revenue collection process as well as ensuring that all revenue collected are accounted for before spending.
He promised to make the Ministry of Finance a model through capacity building in order to have a highly motivated workforce. (NAN)
