Anambra State government has banned ministries, departments and agencies in the state from any form of revenue collection.
The State’s Commissioner for Information, Mr Paul Nwosu made this known to newsmen at the end of the State Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Nwosu said the latest measure was to correct the loopholes associated with revenue collection in the state over the years.
He explained further: “This decision was reached during ANSEC meeting where the need to centralize the data of all the MDAs with the Stateโs Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) was discussed.
“This is to avoid the situation where ICT vendors who in the past had worked for different MDAs and at the expiration of their contract still hold on to valuable data thereby holding government to ransom.
“In the light of this, Anambra State ICTA has now been charged with the responsibility to holistically consolidate and manage the data of all the MDAs in Anambra.โโ
He said that it was the sole responsibility of Anambra State Internal Revenue Service to collect revenues as the revenue collection process had been digitized to reduce leakages.
“To achieve this, each ministry should own and be able to provide baseline data on itself and MDAs under it, as government decisions will be evidence-based and data driven henceforth.โโ
The commissioner also said that at the ANSEC meeting, an elaborate presentation was made by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr Obinna Ngonadi on enhancing the Igbo Apprenticeship Scheme called “Igba Boiโโ in Igbo parlance.
“Dr Ngonadi said that it was a scheme peculiar to Ndi Igbo and has over the years been a unique venture and capital raising model studied in business schools around the world, which he said is unfortunately under threat.
“He pointed out that government is critically looking at all manner of variables that will sustain and reinvigorate the unique business model.
“Consequently, an ANSEC Committee was set to come up with ways to enhance the apprenticeship scheme so that an enduring policy can be formulated on it.โโ
Commissioner Nwosu also said that ANSEC received a report on the case of a woman of 75 years who was viciously raped to the point of coma in Awkuzu.
He noted that the man who committed the crime revealed that his native doctor told him that raping such an old woman would make him rich.
According to him, the young man had since been arrested and the police was on the trail of the native doctor whose shrine would eventually be destroyed.
