The dwindling revenues from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to Akwa Ibom and the 31 local government councils are frightening and pose a major drawback to the performance indices of the various tiers of government.
To succeed and stay afloat out of the financial quagmire, the government has to devise new strategies and leverage on its enunciated policies and programmes through innovative but holistic ways to raising adequate funds to implement both Capital and Recurrent projects.
At the beginning of every fiscal year, the state and local governments have been embarking on what they called ‘aggressive’ revenue drive to rake in more liquidity to shore up and implement their development projects and programmes in the financial year.
Read also
- Shortfalls In Revenue Collection: Fowler Fingers Recession, Fall In Oil Prices
- A’Ibom Tops In 2017 FAAC Collections – NEITI
- Akwa Ibom Got N3.1trn In 10 Years – Official
Unfortunately, these concerted, but lofty efforts at yielding supplementary cash appear far-fetched, owing to the dubious activities of some corrupt officials in the system, couple with the overbearing antics of touts and other miscreants fronting for some faceless ‘families,’ ‘churches’ and security men.
And the result could be seen in the stifling and diversion of the legitimate revenues, which huge chunk eventually ends in the pockets of private individuals without accurate account of the revenue collections and recorded payments into the coffers of government.
As a matter of fact, touts have hijacked the collection of taxes, rates, tax clearance certificates, Business premises tax, motor/Keke licences and other sundry charges.
And because about 85 percent of these levies are being cornered into private pockets, at the detriment of government, and the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries, the government takes the blame for some ill-executed projects that would have impinged positively on the lives of the people.
It is not unusual to see how the touts suffocate the major routes in Akwa Ibom particularly the Uyo Metropolis, adorned with different uniforms at different undesignated routes and unsuspecting places to fleece ‘erring’ motorists and tricycle operators and allow them to “go and sin no more.”
Armed with fake Identity cards and tickets, some touts rent and operate offices and move from shops to shops to extort cash ranging from N10,000 to N20,000 from petty vendors to big business owners, who are oblivious of the fact that they are mere impostors.
Other hang and hover around the premises of Internal Revenue Service at Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, Uyo, to perpetrate the illegal deals under the covers of legitimate government officials, who front them for their cuts.
Though Udom Emmanuel administration has plugged some loopholes, the government has to do more to completely tame the menace by putting effective mechanisms in place to block the leakages, which regrettably have made the state to lose millions of Naira to the inglorious activities of unscrupulous persons constituting themselves as touts and syndicates in the state and in the system.
Let the state and local governments explore more revenue sources as well arrest and prosecute touts who swindle petty traders and the gullible business owners of their hard-earned money.
