Kano IGR soars high
By Bode Olagoke
Abuja
Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said that the recent misunderstanding between him and his predecessor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, was over for good as both of them are now working for the development of the state.
Ganduje also revealed that the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has now improved as a result of reforms recently carried out by his administration.
Speaking with Blueprint in Abuja at the weekend, the governor said both Kwankwaso and himself had decided to let the past behind them for the good of the state, saying: “We are all working towards the development of the state.
“While the former governor is here in the Senate and doing his own with the legislature, we are doing our own governance in Kano. So, let me assure you that everything is calm and there is no problem”.
While stressing that Kano government was now better placed to improve on its revenue and rely less on allocation from the federations account, Ganduje said: “First, they say necessity is the mother of invention. So, because of the financial situation in the country, we had to find a way of getting out of it by force by looking inward.
“That is what has happened. We started by reducing the cost of governance by curtailing the expenditure and reducing the number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies and slashing the salaries and allowances of political office holders and through that we saved a lot of money.
“Very importantly, we had to reform the board of internal revenue so that it will be born again.
We employed new and experienced hands with good qualifications to meet new mandates. We are in a better position now to convince people to pay their taxes.
“I sent officials of the Internal Revenue Board to understudy Lagos because they have gone far in revenue collection. Due to the similarity between Kano and Lagos in term of their cosmopolitan nature and commercial activities, we felt Lagos was a better place where we can learn and I am happy to inform you that we have learnt a lot from Lagos and we are putting that into practice at the moment.