Benue raises IGR from ₦700m to ₦3bn, targets ₦80bn

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

Benue State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Michael Oglegba, says the state has increased its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from about N700 million monthly to over N3 billion under the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia.

Oglegba disclosed this while highlighting the achievements of the state government in revenue generation and economic reforms, noting that the administration was now targeting N80 billion annual IGR.

According to him, the state’s monthly revenue has witnessed steady growth since the present administration assumed office.
“When we came on board, the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of the state used to hover around N700 million and N800 million monthly. We grew it to about N1.5 billion and then to N2 billion,” he said.

The commissioner explained that the administration had set a target last year to attain N3 billion monthly revenue, describing it as a dream that has now become reality.

“At the beginning of last year, I said the dream is to drive IGR to N3 billion. It was a dream, today we have hit and exceeded N3 billion monthly. So we have reached that landmark but it is still far from what we want,” Oglegba stated.

He revealed that the 2026 budget projects an IGR target of N80 billion, representing an increase of over N50 billion from the current annual actual revenue of about N30 billion.

“Today, this year the target is N80 billion in the budget. So we are moving from an actual of N30 billion to N80 billion. An increase of N50 billion, more than a hundred percent. It is a tall target,” he said.

The Commissioner attributed the optimism to the expected gains from the new tax law, which he said would strengthen revenue generation in the state.

“The way we look at it is that the new tax law that is coming, we will harness the gains of the new law and then leapfrog into our desired place with the IGR,” he added.

Oglegba, however, noted that despite crossing the N3 billion monthly mark, the state still considers the figure inadequate to meet its development aspirations.

“So even at N3 billion monthly it is still a huge shortfall on where we wanted to be. So I must hit N5 billion to N6 billion monthly to be comfortable. So it is still work in progress,” he said.

He further explained that recent tax reforms had affected some traditional revenue streams, particularly Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Direct Assessment taxes.

“You know that PAYE has taken a hit. People who earn less than N1.2 million a year are out of the PAYE net. So PAYE has taken a hit. Direct Assessment, which is small small business outlets, has also taken a hit. So we are turning to other sources,” he stated.

The commissioner commended Governor Hyacinth Alia for what he described as visionary and purposeful leadership, saying the governor’s achievements in less than three years had become a benchmark for other states.

He urged the people of Benue State to continue supporting the administration to enable it deliver more dividends of democracy to the masses.

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