TheCable

The average monthly internally generated revenue (IGR) of Lagos state has risen to N34 billion from N22 billion recorded in 2015, the state government has said.

Akinyemi Ashade, commissioner for finance, Lagos state made the disclosure on Monday at the state’s  annual ministerial press briefing in Alausa.

Ashade said though the state set a target of N50 billion, some challenges made it drop to N34 billion.

He expressed optimism that the target would be met in 2019.

The commissioner said in one year alone, the state has generated N327million revenue from the 13 percent derivation fund allocated to oil producing states.

Giving a breakdown, he said N197 million accrued to Lagos state in 2017 while N130 million has been received in the first quarter of 2018.

“Notably, we are recording gradual improvement in our average monthly IGR in 2018 compared to the levels achieved in previous years due to the impact of ongoing reforms and growth in the state’s economy,” he said.

“Based on our first quarter results, Lagos state has so far achieved an average monthly IGR of N34 billion in 2018 compared to monthly averages of N22bn, N24bn and N30bn in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively.

“The target we set for ourselves is N50 billion but we all know the kind of push backs we have experienced including people going to court and all that.”

Giving an update on the state’s debt profile, Ashade said the government’s debt stock, comprising 48 percent local debt and 52 percent foreign debt currently stood at N874.38 billion at the end of 2017 while the debt service charge to total revenue ratio which stood at 17.61 percent was still within the World Bank threshold of 30 percent.

The commissioner said the state government has continued to maintain a positive credit rating, however, adding that a downgrade of Nigeria’s sovereign rating would lead to a corresponding action on Lagos’ international drawing rights.

“As Nigeria continues to improve on its credit rating, we would be able to achieve better rating as we currently have because no amount of revenue generation, no amount of employment growth of Lagos State can make us surpass to surpass the sovereign rating,” he said.

Ashade also urged residents to continue to support the government by fulfilling their civic duty of paying their taxes and remitting all taxes collected on behalf of the government as and when due, assuring that the present administration was committed to maintaining financial accountability and transparency for the overall development and prosperity of the state.