by crossriverwatch admin
The ceding of 76 oil wells from Cross River state to Akwa Ibom has made the state to harness its opportunities in tax management and this has consequently hiked the State Internally Generated Revenue(IGR) from 200Million Naira to over One Billion Naira Monthly CrossRiverWatch can authoritatively report.
The State Governor Senator Liyel Imoke disclosed this when he led the Class of ‘88 of the Nigerian Law School, NLS on inspection to the Summit Hills where some of Imoke’s legacy projects are domiciled.
Summit hills is an investment hub of the Cross River State government where the Calabar International Convention Center, International Golf Course, Golf and Executive Water Front Estates, Carnival Village as well as other attractions have been established to attract traffic to Calabar.
Imoke said, “When they took our oil wells, we had to be creative and we understand that we need an economy without oil which has made us to look inward.
“You need to see that presently, our internally generated revenue has grown up. When I came on board we had an IGR of about 200million but it’s now a bit above 1billion per month”.
While responding to a question from one of the class members over why most businesses in Calabar perceive his administrations’ tax laws as obnoxious, Imoke said: “We don’t over tax here because we have a tax regime law in Cross River State. It is a fixed regime; all we did was to track the leakages and enforce the payment according to the law.
“You know our people don’t like to pay taxes so we introduced an efficient and effective mode of collection”.
Speaking on a question about the deplorable Calabar – Itu road that links Calabar with the Eastern markets which one of the class members observed as a big factor that will affect business in Calabar, Imoke said: “This is what we are suffering from, honestly I don’t believe in what is called Federal road because if there is a road in this State, give me the money and let me fix it.
“But the good news here is that East West road which originally ends in Eket in Akwa Ibom state will now terminate in Calabar while the Federal Government has made provision for repair in the 2014 budget before the outright construction”.
follow us on twitter @crossriverwatch
Leave feedback about this