The Lagos State Government has said that its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, increased by N36.9 billion to N436.3 billion in 2016 from the N399.4 billion in 2015.

This was made known by the State’s finance commissioner, Akinyemi Ashade, during a ministerial press briefing to mark the second year anniversary of Governor Akinwumi Ambode’s assumption of office.

Ashade said that the state realised N7 billion from Land Use Charge, LUC, in 2016, N1 billion higher than the N6 billion it generated from the charge in 2015.

He attributed the increase to the introduction of innovative ideas by the ministry as well as continued public sensitisation.

The commissioner said that one of the innovations was the opening of more payment channels to cater for the large numbers of people that needed to pay the LUC.

Ashade reminded property owners that the LUC was an annual obligation to enable the state government carry out its obligations.

He said: “Governor Akinwunmi Ambode provided a conducive, safe and secured enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

“We equally embarked on massive infrastructure development with strong patronage of indigenous contractors which helped to boost the state’s Gross Domestic Product.”

The Lagos State finance commissioner further said that the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, LIRS, alone generated N247.022 billion, representing 80 percent of the total IGR.

According to him, the development was due to some strategic revenue reforms by the LIRS which saw about 420, 000 new taxpayers included in the state’s tax net in 2016.

As a result, the number of taxpayers in the state has increased from 4.6 million in 2015 to more than 5 million in 2016.

Ashade appealed to residents to pay their taxes to enable the government provide more laudable projects.