BENIN CITY: A special Committee set up by the Edo State Government and mandated to fine turn the proposed bill that will harmonize revenue collection in the various local government areas in the state has submitted its report to the governor of Edo State Mr. Godwin Obaseki.
Receiving the bill, titled “A bill for the Edo State Local Government Uniform and Harmonized Levies, Rates, Fees and charges Law 2017” the governor appreciated the committee headed by his deputy Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu for a job well done saying that the job of the committees is not yet over as she will be responsible for the implementation of the bill after its being passed by the Edo State House of Assembly.
“I want to commend you for a job well done, you have tidy up this laws which will be transmitted to the Edo State House of Assembly for their swift consideration. The job for this committee is not yet over, I will expect that pending when the final consideration is passed into law, the operational modalities will still be decided on. What I expect this committee to do is to go back to the drawing board and let us look at the implementation”.
Obaseki said there might be variances from local government to local government which need to be marked. He said the mode of collection will differ from one LG to another LG and want the unique differences to be captured.
“The passage of the bill must be expedited so that before the end of March it will be in operation, which means that within the next forth nights it will be imperative commence the assignment of getting this bill implemented”.
Governor Obaseki says the bill need the backing of the judiciary and also the technological platform that will ensure efficient collection and accountability put in place.
Earlier, the chairman of the committee and the deputy governor of Edo State Rt. Hon. Shaibu said the committee has interacted with the LG and state and the body is happy to say that the bill is ready for the governor to look at and sign for onward transmission to the Edo State House of Assembly for legislative action.
