GOVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola of Osun has charged workers in the state to help the government in promoting the culture of tax payment among the people, saying with the right revenue drive and a prompt payment of taxes by the citizenry, economic development of the state wouod be enhanced.
Speaking during an interactive session in Osogbo with Permanent Secretaries, Directors, General Managers and Executive Secretaries of government agencies and parastatals, the governor decried the poor economic nature of Osun despite its huge GDP which he said is more than that of some African countries.
Aregbesola, who called for a positive change of attitude in tax payment in the state charged the state civil service to let the people understand and embrace the culture of tax payment, saying they have nowhere to call their own, apart from Osun, hence the need to join hands in developing it.
He contended that it was imperative for public servants to begin to see themselves as those on whose shoulders lies the responsibility to move the state forward through revenue generation, which can only be gotten from the people, stressing that the level which every indigene of Osun wants the state to attain in the next 10 or 20 years will be a mirage if the civil service does not assist the government in changing the orientation of the people towards tax payment.
According to Aregbesola, “If a territory or space like Osun can produce goods and services worth N2.44 trillion, then we have no reason to be poor. But it’s a pity that we can’t hide our faces from the fact that we are poor and this is because our revenue generation is so poor. Some African countries that have presidents don’t have that much of GDP as Osun and it’s saddening that we still find ourselves in this economic mess because our attitude to tax payment is poor and we are directly at fault for it”.
“I want to tell you that if we continue like this then we are encouraging poverty, you public servants should begin to worry that it is only you who pay tax, it should interest you as public servants to ensure that every taxable adult in Osun pays his or her tax. If we don’t quickly do something about our revenue generation, the dream of a better Osun that will be the cynosure of all eyes might painfully be a mirage”.
“I came to Osun to become governor because I am from this state and I want it to develop. I want you too to begin to have the mindset that Osun must develop through you. Revenue generation is the only panacea to underdevelopment, there can’t be development without revenue, it is only through the people that we can generate the revenue and you must let the people know that they must contribute to the development of their state”.
“You must key into the ideology of driving the economy of our state through revenue generation, it is not about me but about the future of our dear state, we are talking about rekindling an attitude which used to be in people before the oil boom.
I am less worried about my successor, I am not saying I don’t care, but I am more worried about the need for the top echelon of the civil service to know their role about improving the status of our state”, he remarked.
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