Guardian

HE is currently in the eye of the storm over calls for his impeachment for alleged poor service delivery and gross mismanagement of Niger State’s resources, but Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu has charged public office holders in the state to be pre-occupied with the delivery of dividends of democracy to the people.

And to the people, Aliyu wants them to reciprocate what government is doing by paying their taxes and levies in order to make funds available for increased service delivery.

He has also expressed fear over the manner politicians were going about heating up the system in their quest to secure public office come 2015 insisting that they were creating problems for themselves, where there should never be any.

While inaugurating internally generated projects and presenting new vehicles to the state Board of Internal Revenue in Minna, Aliyu stressed that public office holders must do their best to justify their appointments adding that this was only possible through the delivery of dividends of democracy to the people.

The governor said payment of taxes and levies by law-abiding citizens, ensures that governments at all levels provide infrastructural facilities and basic amenities to the people without recourse to the Federation Account.

He said the state commits well over N1b to the payment of salaries and allowances to civil servants monthly, whereas the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) falls within the range N340m.

He therefore wondered what would happen to the state if allocation from the centre were to stop for just one month.

According to him “people must pay for service given by government, we should not rely on the Federation Account, and if we want to move away from where we are, we must cultivate the culture of regularly paying our taxes.”

Aliyu said the BIR should not feel satisfied with the rise of the state IGR from N240million to N340m monthly saying that can only be the case when the N1bn target set in the last two years is met.

Chairman of the Board Alhaji Sulaiman Abdullahi Badeggi in an address said to improve the performance of the organisation, a bill has been sent to the state Assembly for the review of some existing taxes and levies, which he said were no longer in tune with the present realities.

He said the board was also adopting new strategies to increase the state IGR with the automation of tax collection and computerization of the entire system.

However, with particular reference to the series of attacks from politicians and opposition members directed at some public office holders in his administration in the last one-week, Aliyu maintained that the attackers were already heating up the polity with their antics.

The governor’s remarks is coming on the heels of attacks on some of his administration’s policies by the two main opposition parties in the state, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), especially the decision to sale some government houses to finance some projects in the state.

In addition to this, a group the “Concerned Citizens of Niger State” stormed the Niger State House of Assembly, accused members of being stooges of the Executive arm over their failure to check the financial undertakings of Aliyu-led administration.

The group in a petition titled “Gross Mismanagement of Niger State Resources and a Call for Immediate Impeachment of Muazu Babangida Aliyu,” which was addressed to the Speaker, Adamu Usman said it was disheartening that the lawmakers were turning blind eyes to the manner in which the state funds were being utilised by the administration allegedly against public interest.

The group therefore, demanded the House to immediately begin the process of impeaching the governor to pave way for genuine development in the state failure of which they will be held accountable for complicity in the misappropriation of the state funds.

The group in the petition signed by its Chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Moude Usman and his deputy, Mohammed Awaisu Giwa Wana, expressed dismay over the manner the state Assembly has conducted itself before the Executive arm alleging that the legislators were conniving with the governor to misappropriate state funds.

“The House should clear itself as the people of Niger State are made to believe that the governor usually shares the funds with members every month since nothing worthwhile is seen to have been done and the Assembly has remained mute over all these wrongdoings”, the group said.

Meanwhile Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta (PDP) representing Niger East Senatorial Zone of the state has alleged that the Aliyu was working clandestinely to scheme him out come 2015 because according to him the governor was eying the seat.

In an interview he granted the Voice of America (Hausa service), which was monitored in Minna, Kuta alleged that the governor was working in concert with the People Democratic Party (PDP) leadership in the state, particularly from his zone, to scheme him out in 2015 and vowed to protect his seat with the last drop of his blood.