Plateau state governor-elect, Caleb Mutfwang, has revealed plans to offset the debt burden he is about to incur from the outgoing Simon Lalong-led administration. 

According to Mr Mutfwang, he will increase the state’s internally generated revenue to pay off the debt. 

He made this known during an interview with Peoples Gazette on Saturday, April 1. 

“I have said it often that the issue of debt repayment is neither voodoo nor rocket science. We have to generate money to pay debts, so the only way we can do it is to look at how to improve our IGR,” he said. 

According to him, the need to block leakages and loopholes in the state’s tax system was paramount. He also acknowledged the role of the private sector in boosting IGR.

“Now the key to this is that, first of all, we must be able to boost the confidence of our taxpayers. The loopholes in our tax system must be blocked. All the leakages must be blocked and we must make the system more efficient as we get along so that we can be able to increase government revenue,” he said. 

“That will also give our creditors the confidence that we mean business and that they can do business with us. They will then be able to give us the space to restructure or reschedule some of those debts and then of course we will see how we can be able to revitalise the private sector so that we can also enhance our capacity to generate more IGR,” he added.

Mr Mutfwang, during his visit to Kaduna last year, expressed worry over the huge debt burden Plateau state had accrued.

“With what I heard from a source in the Central Bank of Nigeria, Plateau is in trouble. Our dear state, Plateau is now indebted to the tune of N220 billion without commensurate development on the ground. This must be of concern to all of us”, he said.

When The Gazette asked about how his administration will handle agriculture and mining sectors, while considering environmental impact assessment, as a way of generating IGR, Mr Mutfwang reiterated his willingness to partner with the private sector. 

“One thing you can be sure of is that we are going to insist on compliance with extant rules and regulations, laws and regulations that govern the environmental sector,” he said as he responded to issues surrounding illegal mining. 

“We are going to ensure that we leverage on whatever partnerships we can go into with the private sector again to be able to drive that sector,” he added. 

Responding to his plans for agriculture, he said, “Two things we are going to do in agriculture broadly speaking, we are going to expand the agriculture beyond the rainy season. I have talked about how we can build infrastructure to harvest rainwater so that we can go into proper irrigation. At the same time, we want to also expand the value chain of agriculture so that within every cluster of the chain, we can actually generate a lot of employment within that cluster and these are the things we will be looking at. Again, I believe that the private sector should take the list.”