Five richest states: ‘Ogun is first among equals’

Against the backdrop of the report of the Economic Confidential, which listed Ogun among the five rich states in Nigeria, Soyombo Opeyemi, Special Assistant on Media to the Governor of Ogun State, spoke to Sunday Vanguard in Abeokuta.

Recently, the Economic Confidential listed Ogun among the five rich states in Nigeria in terms of its Internally Generated Revenue. Others are Lagos, Rivers, Delta and Edo. The report must have come to your government as good news…


Gov Amosun
Of course, we are elated by the report. One should however try to appreciate its ramifications. By virtue of the size of allocation from the Federation Account in the year reviewed by the economic magazine, Ogun is number 25. That means 24 out of the 36 states in the country got more money from Abuja than Ogun State. As a matter of fact, except Ekiti State, Ogun collects the least from the Federation Account among the South-West states. But we are number four out of the 36 states in terms of the size of our IGR. Again, when you compare the IGRs of states to what they receive from the Federation Account (in terms of percentage), Ogun is number four among the 36 states.

This is what the findings of the Economic Confidential reveal. In comparison to the situation of the state before Amosun mounted the saddle of leadership, it shows we have leap-fogged economically. And this should not come as a surprise when you have a technocrat-politician as governor. I guess you know that the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria with track records of achievements in the private sector.

Lest I forget, there was the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report released in April this Year. The NBS rated Ogun State as number one among the 36 states of the federation in terms of percentage improvement of the Internally Generated Revenues between 2014 and 2015. Our state can be said to be   first among equals in this regard. The vision of the governor is for the state to depend less and less on funds from the Federation Account. These are reports of independent institutions. They show the quantum of progress made under the Amosun administration in terms of financial re-engineering. In a nutshell, we are thrilled by the latest report but we are not exactly surprised because there is always a reward for hard work.

The implementation of Income Tax once led to an industrial dispute in your state. How was your government able to achieve these feats?

I must thank you for that question. No governor has the power to increase the income tax. All he can do is to implement the tax law. The Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) is a federal law. It had been in force throughout Nigeria long before Amosun became the governor. Yes, the Act was amended in 2011 and I think it was the interpretation of it that led to the minor dispute, which was quickly resolved then. However, raising income tax is usually the only road known to those who cannot think out of the box in order to raise public revenue. If you create an enabling environment for business to thrive, as Amosun has done, more and industries will be established, which will pay tax to government, federal and state.

They will employ more hands which will also pay income tax. So you see why you don’t talk of increasing the tax to be paid by your people even if you had the power to do so. You can increase the tax net, by that I mean get more hands to be productively engaged so that you reduce crime, raise the standard of living of the people in the process and the government get more revenue. In the last five years of the Amosun administration, about 90 major industries have been established due to the investment of the governor in security and other services that boost investors’ confidence. These are multi-billion naira industries. If you check the reports of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), then you know under the current government, Ogun State has attained th