-As Edo adopts a business-like approach to governance
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki has described taxation as vital to the economic and social development of the State. He made this known to participants present at the Second Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) Zonal Tax Conference (South-South) held in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
Declaring the conference open with the theme “Tax Amnesty in Emerging Economy: The Case of Nigeria”, Godwin Obaseki who was represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Hon. John Inegbedion, said the theme of the tax conference was germane as it concerned the issues of tax, tax holidays, tax reliefs and incentives vital to the growth of the Nigeria economy.
Governor Obaseki said that the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) is of prime and vital importance to the infrastructural projections and projects execution in the state as it strives to give full social and economic effect to the state’s slogan which is the ‘Heart Beat of the Nation’.
He said, virtually most states in the country are yet to attain an appreciable record in diverse ways of sourcing funds to run government projects, noting that the source of funding such projects majorly comes from the federation allocation as well as their internally generated revenue (IGR), and these had not helped these states.
Governor Obaseki further stated that Edo State’s approach to expanding the revenue base is to always think out of the box, break away from the traditional way of doing things, adopting a business-like approach to governance, accommodate and support private businesses to grow by granting tax waivers. These, he said, are the overriding interest of the state government and a way to guarantee a constantly increasing revenue base through taxation.
Obaseki said “having an effective synergy with the CITN, the successes of Edo as a state can only be reflected in a properly and highly profitable tax administration.”