Minimum wage: We’re not elected to pay salaries only – NGF

-States owe FG N41bn tax

-ASUU wants Aregbesola, Ajimobi to resign over salary arrears

As workers’ agitation for new minimum wage deepens, the 36 state governors yesterday, declared that they were not elected to pay only salaries of civil servants in their various states.
The governors said beside paying salaries, they have a responsibility to provide good roads, electricity, education and other basic amenities to the entire citizenry.
They made the position known at the end of a meeting in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of the governors, Chairman , Nigeria Governors Forum and Zamfara state Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, expressed concern that state governments had been limited to payment of salaries of workers alone and unable to take care of developmental issues such as health, education and access roads, among others.
He said: “We have a committee of six which represented us in discussions in the committee headed by Labour minister.
The committee is yet to give us the final report.
When they give us the final report, for which they have our mandate to present our position, and the position most likely is to look at the record of up to 14 years.
“For instance, in global practice, in your income, how much are you spending as salary, so that we can start from there? They have given us interim report that at the federal government level, over 82 percent is being spent on overhead which cannot move the country forward in terms of infrastructure development and development that we need now.
“So, on our own part, we are saying we are going to look at how our incomes are paid from our final account from 14 years ago so that we can come up and stay in the middle.
I don’t think you people voted us only to pay salaries.
You are looking for good roads, electricity, education and others.
So, we can’t do magic.
It’s only when we have the funds to do all those things.” He said the governors also deliberated on the way federal government agencies were handling the war on corruption in the country, and resolved that they must adhere strictly to due process rather than engage in illegalities.
Yari said: “We believe strongly that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will not sit down and supervise this illegality in the system.
What we are saying is that we all support the government to fight corruption because it is endemic and has suffered the nation for over six decades.
“Definitely, it was part of what we discussed.
What we are saying now is that we are going to support the government in terms of what it is doing to fight corruption, but the due process must be respected in whatever action the agencies are going to take in the name of fighting corruption.” States owe FG N41bn tax Meanwhile, the National Economic Council has disclosed that states owed the Federal Inland Revenue Service N41 billion, in Value Added Tax (VAT).
Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa state made the disclosure while briefing State House Correspondents shortly after NEC meeting presided over by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, in Abuja yesterday.
He said the council was hopeful that the indebted states would pay up, adding that there was an improvement in tax remission from states in comparison with that of last year.
“We had briefing from the chairman of the FIRS and it dwelt on two aspects of tax issues; one is on the Value Added Tax (VAT) that is being collected by states.
“He informed the states what their positions are and the outstanding due to the states of about N41 billion.
He believes the states have to pay; he came up also with new technique and system that will help automatic collection of taxes–both VAT and withholding tax; I think the states take and are willing to pay their outstanding.
“This is very important; when we are talking of zero oil, taxes become very important in the future prospects of this country.
“So far, he mentioned that from January to date, about N40 billion was remitted from the states, which has a significant increase compared to what happened last year,’’ he said.
The governor further said his colleagues and their finance commissioners were fully notified on how to boost revenue.
Badaru said auditing was going on in many states on how to reconcile figures between what the states had and what the FIRS had.
According to him, with the initiative, automatically tax will be transmitted to FIRS from the states without delay and without many problems.
The Jigawa state governor also said that the second issue discussed centred on the capacity of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to support the nation’s economy.
He said: “MSMEs contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was discussed and as well as their contributions to exports and tax collection.
This is all in the view of expanding our tax base and revenue generation towards zero oil economy.
“Challenges such as how the governors have to contribute to make MSMEs more active, responsive and more organised so as to pay their taxes and perform well, have been discussed.
“The states promised to support the federal government because most of the taxes are also coming into the states.” From the statistics made available by the National Bureau of Statistics, in partnership with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) group, the governor noted that there were about 37 million MSMEs making significant contribution to GDP.
Badaru said if MSMEs were harnessed, they would help the economy greatly and also boost revenue.
He said that NEC was of the view that organs of government saddled with the disbursement and utiltisation of tax revenue should be transparent and accountable in order to motivate voluntary tax compliance by the MSMEs.
According to him, government at all levels have agreed to provide infrastructure facilities and enabling business environment to allow MSMEs thrive.

 

 

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