Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, his signed the proposed bill to harmonize revenue collection by the various local government areas in Edo state into law.
Governor Obaseki expressed delight in the quick passage of the bill thanking the State House of Assembly for their commitment to the reforms of his administration.
“I want to thank the speaker and the honorable members in the Edo State House of Assembly for once again demonstrating their commitment to the reforms that this government has committed to pursue. Mr. Speaker, less than a month ago, we submitted a draft bill to harmonize the rate and levies collection by local government councils in Edo State. The action was in pursuance to my new year’s day broadcast where we prohibited none state actors from collecting government revenue.”
“We thought before re-introducing collection of taxes in the local government councils, we needed to have the enabling law to back such collections. We needed to have harmony and uniformity in this taxes and levies.
“We are very grateful today that in less than one month after submitting the draft, it has been passed and signed into law. What you have assisted us in doing is that you have created a new paradigm and given a new lease of life for our local government in Edo State. We want to assure you that this law will be given full effect”.
“Now that the bill has been signed into law, the machinery will be put in full gear which will include working with the judiciary and security agencies to ensure success of the law”.
Obaseki said his administration has put in place a technology which is not cash base which will make the system efficiency in the collections of this revenue.
He said his administration will ensure that all taxes and revenue paid by Edo people are captured and deposited in the treasury of the Edo State Government.
To ensure transparency, Obaseki said he has instructed that a separate schedule be presented where each local government will announce the taxes collected in each month and how it will be applied. He said this is necessary for the citizens to see how transparent this administration is in collection and usage of the revenue collected from the people.
