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| Imo State Finance Commissioner Pro Uwaleke at a Media session |
The Imo State Commissioner of finance Prof. Uche Joseph Uwaleke recently had a media interactive session with our Reporter in Imo State secretariat Owerri .
The Commissioner highlight his journey so far at the ministry.And also the challenges he faces everyday and the progress made so far in Imo State.
Speaking to the Media, The commissioner took his time to reel out some of the challenges he faced in the ministry when he assumed office, the commissioner said he had a meeting with staff of the ministry the very first week he came in, and inquired some of the challenges they have been facing so far, from the first person to the last, they all attested that the ministry of finance was stripped off of its functions, the procurement man complained, procurement was not done properly, the government borrow and the debts department of the ministry of finance will not know about it. There was no Records.
The Hon. Commissioner Further stated that,so far so good, the ministry is doing it's best to ensure that they right the wrongs of the past administration, the ministry of finance under his watch now have records that is used to produce the state's financial reports. The commissioner stated, "for the first time in many years, we were able to publish the financial report of the state for the last 3years. We've published them and put them in the ministry's websites, we published a financial report that is in line with the INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING STANDARD".
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The Commissioner Prof. Joe Uwaleke also made it very open that as of May 2019, the government of His Excellency Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha met a paltry 250million naira as Internally Generated Revenue, but due to efforts put in place, Imo State as of October generated an estimate of 877million naira IGR and that the target is to hit 1billion naira before December.
With the introduction of Treasury Single Account (TSA) which promotes transparency, one can tell how much has come in into the State's account, that wasn't possible before because they operated multiple Accounts. The commissioner said so far, they have really done well to lift Imo State out from where she was before.
Speaking further, the commissioner said the ministry has approved an Efficiency Unit in the state. According to the finance Boss, Efficiency Unit is a unit that is responsible for reducing the cost of governance, many states have it but IMO state dont have until now; with this unit, the ministry will put in place strategies to reduce cost. Because he discovered that ministries spend a lot of money on stationaries, Fuel and overheads.
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When asked about the 45billion naira Former Governor Okorocha claimed he left,
Prof. Uwaleke clarified that, According to him, Every month Imo State Monthly Allocation is 5.5 billion naira and 1 billion will be deducted by the federal government leaving Imo State with 4.5 billion. How can one claim he left such amount when he couldn't even handover properly, IMO is indebted and we are struggling to catch up.
Every Month the state government spends 2.5 billion naira on wages and salaries, 800 million naira on pensions. That's a total 3.3 billion naira from the 4.5 billion naira.
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As of 2015 a particular loan was taken from Zenith bank 37 billion naira, federal government took over those debt and every month this state suffers 489 million naira as interest payment.
How then can one who indebted us this much leave such amount of money ,the commissioner concluded.
Conclusively, The Hon. Commissioner thanked the Press men and women for honoring his invitation despite the short notice .
REPORTING FROM BINNABOOK
Walax Ihezie
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