Ondo State is targeting an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N25 billion per year and this is official.

This ambitious figure was given in Akure by the State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Pastor Emmanuel Duyile Igbasan while answering questions as a guest on the Owena Press Platform.

The Commissioner who said the government will leverage on technology to drive the IGR which he said peaked from N600 million to N1.2 billion per month.



Igbasan said the Akeredolu administration has within two years unleashed on the state an unprecedented infrastructural development which has further inflamed the economy of the state.

“We have paid workers salaries up to date including the seven months owed by previous administration; we have awarded contracts worth N60 billion, more than N10 to 12 billion has been paid according to level of work done, no contractor is being owed anything.”

According to him, unprecedented achievements were recorded last year in the areas of education, health and health equipment worth N2 billion would soon be distributed across newly built five mother and child hospitals in the state.

The Commissioner disclosed that over N7 billion was expended on public primary schools across the state last year, out of which 523 or 51 percent of public schools were impacted.

He explained that there is no government in the state that has constructed the number of roads in four to eight that Akeredolu has done within two years.

Igbasan revealed that about five industries have commenced operation in Ore industrial park as part of the efforts of the current government to boost the industrialisation pace of the state, adding that feasibility study has been completed on the proposed Sea port in the southern senatorial district.

He added that the Sea port project will commence next year as development partner from Netherlands are almost through with the design.

Also, the commissioner hinted that the Southwest Bitumen project will come on steam next year to boost the economy of the state.

Commenting on the probability of the state government meeting the demand of ASUU and NLC, peradventure the federal government agreed with the unions, Igbasan was pessimistic, saying that hardly would any state cope with such demands except there is a change in the revenue allocation formula.

“If it is a general agreement, I can assure you that Ondo state will not be different; but from the benefit of information and figures at my disposal as a planner, I know that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for any state to meet this agitation as things are today.

“So if most states in the federation will need to meet this demand including the minimum wage, and the demand of ASUU, there must be a change in the revenue allocation formula.



“The federal will need to give out something more because development actually springs from the local government and the state, not from the federal”, he said.

Reacting to the insecurity issue in the nation, Igbasan attributed the wicked acts to the decadence of moral value in the society, adding that the failure of some of our youths to embrace hardwork but rather pursuing get-rich-quick practices are factors contributing to the occurrence of the kidnappings and ritual killings that we are experiencing.

“What I am trying to say is that the moral fabric of our society has been eroded such that the youth we have today are not ready to sacrifice, they want to take the shortcut to wealth. They want to “hammer” so that they can buy an hummer.

“I think for us as a state and as a nation to get it right, we have to go back to working on the hear of the children are to let them know the value of hard work, to know the value of moral uprightness, to know the value of honesty,” he said.

One of the reason why I am advocating for restructuring.

Great target, it gives some form of focus and a north star towards developing Ondo State. A foresight many past Governors didn't see.