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A critical evalluation of internal revenue generating efforts of some local government areas in Akwa Ibom state
Abstract
The state of our local government finances in recent time has been an issue for
national concern. Their bad financial state has robbed our rural areas of
infrastructural provision and/or development. Specifically, this ha led to the
deteriorating standard of our rural roads, health services, schools, water supply,
electricity, food production, staff welfare and general condition of living in the rural
areas. This ugly situation is blamed on the lackadaisical attitude of local
governments to generate their revenue internally and the alleged financial
mismanagement by local governments' administrators. In a bid to enhance
improvement of local government internal revenue efforts, the federal government
has embarked on several policies some of these include; the creation of more local
government areas from 96 divisions in 1963 to 774 local government areas in
1993. The local government reform of 1976 and the use of internal revenue effort
as one of the incentives for horizontal revenue allocation to local governments.
Inspite of these efforts by successive governments, the problem continues to
persist. Our focus in this paper is on the efforts made by selected local
government areas of Ikwa Ibom state to generate their revenue internally. A
combination of questionnaire, interview and direct observation methods were
employed for our data acquisition. Though some of these local governments
studied have recorded marginal improvements, their performances are far below
expectation. It is also revealed that mismanagement, lack of commitment, poor
methods of revenue collection and lack of infrastructural provision and
development are some of the factors militating against the internal revenue efforts
of these local government areas.
Sophia: An African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 8(1) 2005: 142-157
Keywords:
Keywords:
national concern. Their bad financial state has robbed our rural areas of
infrastructural provision and/or development. Specifically, this ha led to the
deteriorating standard of our rural roads, health services, schools, water supply,
electricity, food production, staff welfare and general condition of living in the rural
areas. This ugly situation is blamed on the lackadaisical attitude of local
governments to generate their revenue internally and the alleged financial
mismanagement by local governments' administrators. In a bid to enhance
improvement of local government internal revenue efforts, the federal government
has embarked on several policies some of these include; the creation of more local
government areas from 96 divisions in 1963 to 774 local government areas in
1993. The local government reform of 1976 and the use of internal revenue effort
as one of the incentives for horizontal revenue allocation to local governments.
Inspite of these efforts by successive governments, the problem continues to
persist. Our focus in this paper is on the efforts made by selected local
government areas of Ikwa Ibom state to generate their revenue internally. A
combination of questionnaire, interview and direct observation methods were
employed for our data acquisition. Though some of these local governments
studied have recorded marginal improvements, their performances are far below
expectation. It is also revealed that mismanagement, lack of commitment, poor
methods of revenue collection and lack of infrastructural provision and
development are some of the factors militating against the internal revenue efforts
of these local government areas.
Sophia: An African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 8(1) 2005: 142-157
Keywords:
Keywords:
