AMID concern of dwindling revenue resources, the Edo State government is looking towards diversifying its economy by exploring potentials in its culture and tourism sector.
The Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, gave this information today while receiving a brief from a commissioned committee directed to come up with an economic masterplan on areas the state has a comparative advantage.
Obaseki said the state would have to make the most of its area of comparative advantage in order to realise its target on revenue generation and wealth creation.
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He said, “Tourism has a way of spurring the other entire systems to work. This would also spur the government to build its infrastructure and chart a coordinated pathway to development.”
The governor also assured the committe of his committment to implement the report, which he said would enable the state look beyond dwindling federation allocation.
An economist and chairman of the committee, Bismarck Rewane, informed the governor that the first phase of the plan, if diligently implemented, would fetch the state N50 billion annually.
“What Edo State would get from the first phase of this implementation is between N48 billion – N50 billion annually. It would attract up to 300,000 visitors in a year. We are not even talking aboutt link up jobs, it is going to be massive.
“If each of the visitors spends $200 per person, it would be more than what Edo State gets in from the Federation allocation summed up.We are not even talking about the linkage effects on the economy,” he added.
Amid growing concerns of dwindling revenue resources, some states are already exploring other revenue options to level up since drop in federation allocation payments.
This development followed the inability of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to remit any revenue into the Federation Account since the beginning of the year.
Governor Nasr El-Rufai of Kaduna State had, in reacting to the concern at the 2022 Tax Dialogue organised in November by Kaduna State, urged states to step up alternative revenue options.
El-Rufai said the federal and state governments now rely on revenues and taxes generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service and Nigerian Customs Service for survival.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.