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Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, yesterday said he felt the pains of workers, residents in the state and other Nigerians given the current economic condition.
He said his administration’s efforts in strengthening the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is, therefore, not aimed at inflicting hardship on residents but to be able to meet up with its responsibilities of delivering the dividends of democracy to the citizens.
The State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun, made the clarification yesterday while receiving members of the League of Veteran Journalists (LVJ), Oyo State Chapter, in his office.
Arulogun explained that rather than inflict pains, the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration was working hard to ameliorate the suffering of residents.
He said: “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.”
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.
The commissioner also disclosed government’s readiness to collaborate with the league towards achieving more intensive and sufficient information dissemination and enlightenment.
He said the current administration believes that information dissemination is germane, adding that it is willing to pool resources together with the members of the league who he described as “accomplished professionals in their various fields of endeavour”.
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 the Union, Mr. Wale Adele, pledged the league’s readiness to support the state government.
He also hailed his appointment as the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism as round peg in a round hole.