Imo: Uzodinma, Ihedioha Clash Over IGR

By Charles Igbo

The Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, and his predecessor, The Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, are in a tango. Both men clashed over the true state of Imo’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.

The clash is a consequence of a recent pronouncement on the IGR, by the state’s newly inaugurated Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Hon. Declan Emelumba.

Speaking on the state of the monthly IGR, Emelumba said it has doubled. According to to the Commissioner, it has risen from a disappointing monthly N620 million, during the Ihedioha administration, to a whooping N1.2 billion Naira, monthly, since the Uzodinma era. Meaning that the Governor has, since he stepped in, been doing a number of things differently to up the ante.

Miffed by Emelumba’s presentation, Amanze Obi, PhD, incidentally, a former Commissioner for Information during the Governor Ikedi Ohakim administration, and the Director General of the Ahiajoku Cultural Centre under the Ihedioha administration, and, now, the Coordinator, Re-build Imo Media, dismissed Emelumba’s pronouncement as fiction, and a figment of his imagination.

In a strongly worded press release, signed by him, he reeled out the monthly IGR under Ihedioha , and said his reaction was to set the records straight.

From his analysis, the state’s IGR has neither fallen below where Ihedioha left it, nor increased astronomically.

Following, excerpts from Obi’s press release, entitled:

Re: State of Imo Finances: IGR – Setting The Records Straight

“Recently, the Imo State Commissioner of Information, Hon. Declan Emelumba, declared that the Hope Uzodinma administration, has witnessed increase from the N620m IGR, it claimed that the administration met when it came into office, to N1.2 billion Naira within two months in office.

“These claims are false.

“The truth of the matter is that the State Internally Generated Revenue as at 31st December, 2019 stood at N1,184,745,471.87 gross, made up of N988,314,351 from Treasury Single Account, TSA, N143,411,750.00 from IMSU and N53,019, 370 from Motor Licensing Administration.

“The gross revenue for the month was  subject to 20% statutory deductions for, 1. To develop Institutional and Manpower Capacity for IIRS and, 2. For the provision of the Technology for  Integrated Tax Management System (e-Central Billing System), which was contracted by the State government, to exploit the tax potentials and expand the Tax Net.

“Other possible deductions are cost of collection of revenues by specialised MDAs that engage expertise of professionals beyond  their regular staff.

“Perhaps, the N620m referred to by Emelumba, may have been the half January  IGR of the state as at 14th Jan 2020 when the new govt  came into office, and not as at December, 2019 IGR of the state.

“It is, therefore, important, that the present administration sticks to the norms of good governance by being truthful with the state of finances of the State.

“The Ihedioha administration, in a bid to meet up with the onerous  task of rebuilding the State, undertook proactive measures to boost the IGR of the State which yielded salutary result.

“Within its seven months in office, such measures translated to rapid increase in the IGR of Imo State totalling N6, 406, 195, 252.83 and positively aroused interest and consciousness of tax paying individuals and business units in the state of the Services of IIRS.

“A breakdown shows:

July 19- 369, 622,398,64

Aug 19- 534,840, 342.59

Sep 19- 786, 785, 047.12

Oct 19- 877, 287, 268. 91

Nov 19- 926, 319,056. 07

Dec 19-1,184,747,321.93

Jan 20-    951, 648,592.10

MDAs Mop – 774,000,000.

TOTAL N6, 406, 195,252.83

“The breakdown is aimed at correctly informing the good people of Imo State on the state of IGR, which was on record low and unverifiable from any unified account platform  before the Ihedioha administration came into office.”