Nasarawa State Government has adopted measures to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for rapid development across the state.

The State Deputy Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, stated this on Tuesday during a meeting with Chairmen of Local Government Areas and Overseers of Development Areas in Lafia.

Akabe said the meeting was to brainstorm on how best to improve the state’s revenue base in order to achieve the N3 billion monthly benchmark set by the government.

According to the deputy governor, the meeting became necessary in view of the sudden decline in federal allocation to the state, which has been made worse by the poor state of IGR and lack of tax remittance due to leakages.

He stressed the need for the chairman and overseers to collaborate towards proffering solutions.

Akabe also decried the non-implementation of the tax harmonisation law in local government councils.

He called on the council chairmen and overseers to ensure that they kept their records straight and as well reviewed agreements reached with consultants to avoid issues of duplication of tasks and multiple taxation.

Contributing, Chairman of Nasarawa State Internal Revenue Service, Ahmed Yakubu-Mohammad, said that the meeting provided an avenue to address challenges mitigating against revenue collection at the third tier of government.

He urged the council chairman to embrace the Central Billing System in order to boost the revenue drive of the state.

Yakubu-Mohammad also implored them to adopt the new Point of Sale (POS) system introduced to enhance revenue generation in their respective jurisdictions.

He also made a case for improved collaboration between local councils, development areas, and the state government.

Speaking shortly after the meeting, State Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Mu’azu Maifata, said the meeting addressed grey areas in tax collections.

He assured of the local councils’ readiness to implement the state tax harmonisation law to the latter.