Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, has said that not less than 50 villages across 5 local government areas of the state have been deserted due the incessant attacks of the bandits.

The Governor disclosed this on Monday, when he declared opened a two-day workshop on strategies for enhancing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of local government councils in Minna, the state capital.

He expressed that the Local Government Councils have to work towards strengthening Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by expanding the tax net in order to meet the increasing demands in their Local Government Areas and the state.

He further revealed that the present IGR cannot sustain the developmental aspirations of the state due to the security challenges in some parts of the state, stressing that his government “will not hesitate to do away with Local Government Employees that are not adding value.”

“As we speak, we have not less than 50 villages deserted across 5 local governments now.

“Where do we get the resources to take care of them if  80% of our resources go to those that do not add value to the system?

“Now, we have to deal with humanitarian problems and security problems. All these require resources that we do not have. So the only way we can survive is to increase our IGR.

“At the moment, we have over 3,000 IDPs in Minna, apart from other local governments,” Bello stated.

The governor thereby urged participants to be attentive, actively participate and make meaningful contributions that will give them more insight into strategies of enhancing IGR for socioeconomic development at the local government levels.

Also, the Chairman, Local Government Service Commission, Muhammad Ahmed Dabban and the Permanent Secretary of the Commission, Nuhu Garba Ngaski in their separate remarks explained that the workshop was organized for Local Government Directors of Administration and Finance, Revenue Officers as well as heads of finance of development areas in Niger State.

They both stated that the workshop was primarily to ensure proper and accurate implementation of financial memoranda, have an internal control system for enhancing revenue collection by the councils, enhance capacity as well as improve the quality of participants in their respective duties among others at the local government levels.

(NAN)