Emmanuel OchayiEdo State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has witnessed a surge, leaping by over 40% from N45bn in 2022 to a staggering N62bn in 2023.
Chairman of the Edo Taskforce on IGR, Osagie Inegbedion, made this known during a press briefing in Benin City after the 2024 EIRS Management Performance Review.
Inegbedion attributed this growth to the strategic business and economic reforms implemented by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration. He explained that the state’s economic landscape has become a magnet for investments, primarily contributing to the surge in IGR, especially from the formal sector.
Governor Obaseki’s economic reforms were lauded as instrumental, with Inegbedion drawing attention to the fact that Edo’s IGR for 2023 surpassed the combined IGR of 12 states in 2022. The total IGR for 2023 reached N62,079,123,288.37, signifying a noteworthy increase of N17,016,535,848.46 from the previous year, exclusively driven by the formal sector.
Key contributors to this financial feat included Pay-as-You-Earn tax, accounting for N26.9bn, a substantial N9.44bn increment from the formal sector compared to the previous year.
Withholding Tax collection in 2023 reached N4.8bn, witnessing an increase of N1.8bn, while other revenues and ministries, departments, and agencies also experienced growth.
This achievement reflects the effectiveness of Governor Obaseki’s economic policies and positions Edo State as a beacon of financial prosperity, surpassing expectations even as it aims to reach a remarkable N72bn IGR in the 2024 fiscal year against a budgeted N325.3bn.
