The Oyo State Government has said that its effort to strengthen the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the State was not to create hardship for the citizens but rather to meet up with its responsibilities of delivering the dividends of democracy to the citizens.
The State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye Arulogun, stated this while receiving members of the League of Veteran Journalists (LVJ), Oyo State Chapter, in his office on Wednesday.
He explained “Government has been restructuring our Board of Internal Revenue with the help of experts in that field. Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s administration has no intention to make life difficult for the citizens but rather to ameliorate their sufferings.
“This administration needs to strengthen its revenue base so as to meet up with its responsibilities to the people, while laws that are not aiding our IGR drive are also being redressed.
“We feel the pain of our people, we know they are expecting us to deliver on our electoral promises. We know what they are going through because of the economic recession of the country.
“We cannot add to their pains with our own plans and that is why we are embarking on renewed IGR drive to block the loopholes affecting our internal income”, he pointed out.
Mr. Arulogun therefore called on members of the League to assist the Ministry in the dissemination of information about the responsibilities of citizens towards the government saying that tax payment was imperative to the development of the state economy.
He also disclosed Government’s readiness to collaborate with the League of Veteran Journalists towards achieving more intensive and sufficient information dissemination and enlightenment.
He noted that the Senator Abiola Ajimobi led Government holds information dissemination germane and is willing to pool resources together with the members of the League who he described as “accomplished professionals in their various fields of endeavor”.
Arulogun noted that Government was ready to tap into the expertise of the league’s members, in order to stem the misrepresentations and misguided information which was an ill of the present society.
He opined that this would be achieved by active participation of its members and by virtue of their status in the society, adding that, the government, through the Ministry, would improve on its relationship with the LVJ to engage its members.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of LVJ, Oyo State, Wale Adele pledged the League’s readiness to support the Senator Abiola Ajimobi led Government.
He also noted that Arulogun serving as the Honorable Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism was a round peg in a round hole, stressing that, the antecedents of the Commissioner assures him of a profitable collaboration between the League and the State government which would in turn move the state forward.
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