In just two weeks after the swearing-in of Monday Okpebholo as the governor-select of Edo State, there are strong indications that the State faces an impending financial crisis as its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is set to nosedive from N8 billion to N2 billion monthly.
The anticipated revenue slump is linked to the ongoing turf wars over revenue collection by thugs said to be hired by Okpebholo and used to rig the 2024 governorship election who are now embroiled in a fierce battle for control of the various State’s revenue points for settlements.
The immediate past State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, had on the back of nuanced reforms in revenue administration, which revolutionized the State’s revenue collection process, recorded a 370 percent growth in IGR in the last eight years, growing the State’s IGR from N23.64bn in 2016 to N67.29bn in the third quarter of 2024.
The State’s monthly IGR was also raised to N8 billion, with a projection to close the 2024 IGR collection year with N85bn and N120bn in 2025.
This fiscal stability and growth which was achieved by the immediate past government, deploying technology, is what is now being threatened by the rascality and incompetence of the Monday Okpebholo-led administration, who are in desperate search of slush funds to settle political actors and thugs for their roles in rigging the 2024 guber polls.
The situation is made worse by the seemingly dazed Okpebholo, who in a bid to regain control of the system, announced a temporary halt of revenue collection across the State, thereby leaving the State without revenues for over two weeks.
But the thugs, despite the government’s revenue collection suspension, have continued to illegally collect the revenues in various guises, with none of the funds reaching state coffers.
The financial paralysis is said to have halted the payment of salaries and pensions while funding for ongoing construction projects has also been put on hold on account of the chaos and crisis brought into the State’s revenue administration by the governor-select, Monday Okpebholo.
Media Adviser to the immediate past Edo State Governor, Crusoe Osagie, who described the situation as a governance crisis, noted that it’s an ominous preview of what Edo people should expect under a directionless and clueless government of the governor-select.
Osagie noted, “It is not unsurprising to hear that Edo’s IGR under the governor-select is set to slump from N8bn to N2bn monthly over turf wars by thugs of who gets control of the State’s revenue collection.
“What do you expect from a man who got into Osadebey Avenue through the back door? Who hired and empowered thugs to rig elections in his favour? Who has pledged to mortgage the resources of the State to reward godfathers who helped him steal the people’s mandate?”
He added, “This is a governance crisis and an ominous preview of what Edo people should expect under the directionless and clueless government of the governor-select, Monday Okpebholo. This is deeply troubling because it is the people of Edo State that will ultimately suffer from the economic mismanagement that could define this clueless administration.”