Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, on Sunday, disclosed that the monthly internally generated revenue of his state has increased from N1.5bn to about N3bn.
The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria made the statement on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ while taking stock of his stewardship in the last two years.
While stating that his government plans to exceed N4bn by the end of the year, Soludo affirmed that Anambra as a commercial hub in the South East has the potential to generate about N10bn monthly.
He also explained that he mandated petty traders, hawkers, and low income earners like barrow pushers to be exempted from taxes and levies in order to allow ‘the poor’ to breathe.”
He said, “In terms of IGR, when we came, we were doing N1.4bn to N1.5bn a month. Now, we are getting to a little under N3bn. That’s not where we want to be. Our target this year is to be able to exceed N4bn, and Anambra has the potential to get up to N10bn on a monthly basis. We are slow on some processes.
“For example, we stopped taxes and levies on petty traders, hawkers, people who have capital less than N100,000, truck and barrow pushers and others so that the poor can not only breathe but also walk and run.
“For us, we are putting money in the pockets of individuals with free basic education. That’s money back in the pockets of people. Free antenatal, delivery, and caesarean operation in all public hospitals. You need to hear the testimonials of people.
“There are 42,079 women now undergoing various forms of ante-natal in Anambra free of charge and thousands of delivery every month in public hospitals at zero mortality. All these are designed to put money in the pocket of people.
“In terms of direct employment, this government is probably the first to create more jobs in the state. I don’t know about anyone else. In the first nine months of our coming into office in terms of our human capital, social agenda, health, and education, we have employed 5,000 teachers directly because there is no school without good teachers. And we’re processing another 3,000. We have employed over a thousand health workers and professionals in all the medical facilities around the state.
“Then, of course, in the area of security, we have over 2,000 of them. So, in terms of direct employment, you might be talking about well over 11,000. When you talk about employment, the government is the enabler. I am giving you the numbers, and there are very few places where you can have that number of direct employment”
Meanwhile the Governor has equally promised to address the challenges of electricity supply in Anambra by replicating the Geometric Power project feat of Abia in the state.
Soludo noted that while it took 20 years to bring the Geometric Power Project in Abia to fruition, Anambra State would achieve the feat in a shorter time range.
Soludo said this while presenting the scorecard of his administration’s two- years in office in Awka, the Anambra State capital on Sunday.
He commended Prof. Barth Nnaji, the brain behind the Geometric Power Plant for his innovation, as he revealed that his administration had studied the power plant process and set up a team to work out the Anambra version.
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