The Internally Generated Revenue of Kaduna state has been growing in the last six years, from N12 billion in 2015, to N44.9 billion in 2019 to over N50 billion last year. What has this administration been doing differently since it came into office?
Last year, the state raked in N50 billion at a time when businesses had shut down owing to Covid-19 pandemic and the attendant lockdown. This trajectory somewhat defies the logic of economics. What is the explanation of this phenomenon of improved IGR in times of low business activity? It’s a case of balance. You have to have a balance, keeping in mind that the first reason that we increased our IGR was because we expanded the database. We first introduced the mechanism of Presumptive Tax to capture taxpayers. So, the issue of under declaration, we can come to that later, we can correct that. But if we don’t capture them through the Presumptive Tax mechanism, we can’t talk about adjustments.
We are spending these funds judiciously. For instance, as you are aware, when Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai came into office, he made Basic Education free and compulsory up on to JSS3 and now it is free and compulsory up until SSS3. We have also launched what is called the Universal Healthcare service which means that you don’t have to sell your house or your car, if you have a medical emergency.
No, we are collecting the levy through the mechanism that’s in place, we are not arresting, harassing or forcing people to pay. It is a voluntary contribution so far. First, it is the investors’ confidence in the leadership of the state that is responsible. Once investors believe that they have a leader who is just, reasonable and supportive of their businesses, it doesn’t matter where you are or what you have to offer, that’s where they will go to. They want an environment that is investors-friendly, where they can get support from the leadership.
We also have the first commercial ranch in the entire country being established in Kaduna state. A partnership between Kaduna State Government, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association and Arlan, which is a Denmark company and owns the 3largest dairy farm in the world. We are settling 1,000 herdsmen with 5,800 herds of cattle and they are going to have homes, milk house, milk parlours, market, schools, healthcare centres all that they require like water and grass, to ensure a productive ranch.
Yes, first it is the federal government’s intervention, the Covid and Post Covid economic support initiative. We are very active on that and we have 5,000 businesses that have benefited on that. We also have a joint venture agreement with BoI and on that we have created about 2,000 jobs with about N1 billion advance and second fund of about N1 billion.
The government has stepped up collection of ground rents and land use charges as major sources of Internally Generated Revenue ; The Dangote-Peugeot Automobile Company, a partnership between Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Kaduna State Government, as well as some northern states, will start rolling out vehicles in the next couple of months;