The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed has vowed that no form of blackmail and misinformation will deter his administration from growing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Gov Ahmed declared that improving IGR in the state is the only way government could continue to meet its obligations to the people and survive the current economic downturn.

The governor stated this during a meeting with heads and bursars of state-owned tertiary institutions on Tuesday in Ilorin, he explained that while it is normal for people to resist change, the best interest of the people must prevail at all times.

It will be recalled that the government's directive to tertiary institutions to open Single Revenue Accounts with designated banks in a pilot scheme was greeted with speculation that he was planning to hand the management of the institutions to its holding company, Harmony Holdings Limited.

While calling on the people to ignore such rumour, Governor Ahmed stressed that the newly-established Kwara State Internal Revenue Service is the only body authorised by law to collect and manage all state and local government revenues.

Gov Ahmed also said that the planned audit of workers in the state will go beyond biometric verification and involve a thorough assessment, including the authentication of academic certificates of staff while also eliminating any lingering cases of ghost workers in the system.

Alhaji Ahmed reassured that the Single Revenue Accounts will ensure transparency and budgeting as government will have a better idea of revenue coming into the coffers of the affected agencies so that it can support them where necessary.

The Governor also  spoke to  our Correspondent, saying  that under the new scheme, any revenue transactions outside the Single Revenue Account will be regarded as fraudulent and those found culpable will be punished accordingly.

According to him, there is a pressing need to identify alternative sources of revenue apart from dwindling federal allocation to the state, which he said cannot fund the government's monthly obligations and major upcoming capital projects.

Some of the ongoing projects in the state include: Share-Oke-Ode Road, Ipetu-Rore Road, Dualisation of Gamo-Micheal Imoudu Road, Ilorin, Kishi-Kaiama Road, Pategi-Kpada Road and Tanke to UITH Road, Ilorin.

He listed other upcoming projects to include the construction of new hospitals, new campuses for Kwara State University (KWASU), additional 2000 secondary classrooms and the proposed Independent Power Project (IPP) to power industries across the state.