Nigerian governors have resolved to introduce smart and uniform standard vehicle registration as one strategy to improve revenue generation.
The governors on the platform of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) rose from a meeting on Wednesday where they set up a number of committees on different subjects that could improve their revenue profile.
The Chairman of the Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, told State House Correspondents that the planned improvement on vehicle registration was based on the presentations made at their meeting in Abuja.
The two presentations were on how to improve the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) through the vehicle license revenue and traffic management.
According to him, the states were losing a lot of revenues in the past.
He also said that the discussion focused on customs duty to enable the states to join the rest of the world to have a licensing embedded in only a card, which could be swiped on a device to reveal all vehicle details.
“Today, what we are experiencing is bunch of papers which you sometimes find pecked somewhere,’’ he said.
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The governor noted that the common practice all over the world and in some West African countries was the presentation of only a card to vehicle inspection officers upon demand.
“We are trying to key in and we put a committee in place under the chairmanship of the Governor of Bauchi, Mohammed Abubakar, to also relate with other companies interested in Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT).
“I think from there we can think about producing about one trillion cards over 10 years which has not been seen in the past.’’
Yari said that the governors discussed the outstanding issue of stamp duty owed states, adding that the states were supposed to be in charge of stamp duty which was not so at present.
He said another committee headed by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State would handle the stamp duty matter.
He said that Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State also briefed the governors on the issue of forensic audit carried out on NNPC but which details would emerge at the next NEC meeting.
The governor stated that the meeting as usual was held to prepare for discussions that would take place at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting.
The forum had earlier raised another committee to interface with the National Assembly on the best way to implement the creation of state and community policing being discussed across the country to curb crimes at the local levels.
(NAN)
