Moves by state governments in the country to shore up their internally generated revenue (IGR) profile seem to be yielding results as they recorded an improvement of 25.62 percent in 2018 from what was declared in 2017.

Figures by Joint Tax Board reveal that the total IGR from all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in 2017 stood at N936.471 billion, while it went up to N1.176 trillion in 2018, representing an improvement of N239.959 billion.

The figures show that Lagos, Rivers, Ogun and Delta states are the top earners in IGR, while the South-West, South-South, and North- West lead other geographical regions.

Lagos State posted an improvement of N48.21 billion or 14.44 percent from N333.967 billion in 2017 to N382.181 billion.

Rivers State recorded N112.780 billion from N89.484 billion, representing an improvement of 26.03 percent or N23.295 billion.

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Other top earners are Ogun State and Delta State. Ogun State recorded an improvement of N9.718 billion or 12.99 percent from N74.835 billion in 2017 to N84.554 billion, while Delta State posted N58.439 billion in 2018 from N51.888 billion in 2017, representing an improvement of 12.63 percent or N6.551 billion.

A further breakdown shows that the South-West geopolitical zone posted the highest IGR of all the six zones with N533.005 billion from N458.878 billion recorded in 2017, representing an improvement of N74.127 billion or 16.15 percent.

This is followed by the South-South, which recorded N255.044 billion as against N213.300 billion in 2017, an improvement of 19.57 percent or N41.744 billion.

The North-West recorded N121.612 billion from N101.066 billion, North-Central posted N84.299 billion from N66.761 billion; the South-East recorded N76.732 billion from N66.275 billion, while North-East recorded N40.114 billion in 2018 from N30.188 billion.

In the light of the improved IGR generation by states across the country, the Joint Tax Board has warned newly elected and re-elected governors against the misuse of taxpayers’ money.

Oseni Elamah, the Executive Secretary of the board, gave the warning in an interview recently in Abuja.

He urged the new and returning governors to make use of the taxpayers’ money judiciously by executing meaningful projects that would impact the lives of the people.

Culled from the Independent