EDITORIAL: STREAMLINING REVENUE COLLECTION MECHANISM IN CROSS RIVER STATE
In recent weeks, the social media space has been inundated with tales of government functionaries in Cross River state deploying personal bank accounts for collation of official government revenues and other official transactions.
Such posture, clearly contravenes subsisting legal provisions, while contradicting public service rules, stipulating among others that such funds must be facilitated by staff or designated agents of the state Internal Revenue Service, while the proceeds must be paid into verifiable government coffers floated by the IRS.
Though the state government has been evasive on the authenticity of the weighty allegations levelled against its officials, findings however pinpoint to a well-orchestrated campaign of calumny, spearheaded by interested political camps, jostling to snap up the schedule, ostensibly for pecuniary reasons.
Regrettably, this emerging scenario, attributable to ignorance display by political jobbers, worsen by dearth of clear cut demarcation in official duty schedule, is gradually assuming the status of a new normal, capable of frustrating the quest of the present administration to address critical infrastructures deficit across the state through prudent financial management of scare resources.
Ironically, under Duke and Imoke, Cross River state was reputed for decorum, due process, etiquette, and administrative acumen predicated on definite templates guiding MDAs towards seamless discharge of routine itineraries by government officials, thereby upscaling the dignity and respect, accorded government and its functionaries by the masses.
Today, the reverse is the case as appointees in the current administration regularly engage physical and verbal assaults, instigated by the quest for the control of revenue sources, rather than healthy competitions for delivery of democratic dividends in furtherance of the "Season of Sweetness."
It is unacceptable that while the federal government is currently fine- tuning drastic tax reforms to streamline collection of its revenues to curtail leakages and upscale returns, Cross River state government is sitting aloof while some greedy officials, outside the IRS are fighting dirty to annex similar revenue intake , purely for selfish motives.
The scenarios demands orientations, trainings and regular briefings to acquaint appointees with their schedules to checkmate the recurring embarrassing face-offs.
We implore the Ministry of Justice to do the needful by amending or strengthening existing legislations to keep interlopers parading as tax collectors at bar, or behind bars.
To replicate current innovations at the federal level, we suggest that the State Internal Revenue Service should henceforth oversee the entire process of collecting all state government revenue for optimum results, transparency, and accountability.
We call on Governor Otu to upscale the criteria for future appointments to promote competence, capacity, experience, and academic prowess, aside from political or primordial affiliations and loyalty, for the sake of standard and decorum.
The clearing house in the current administration must up its ante to instill discipline and decorum among government functionaries, to avert the looming gangsterism, flamboyant greed, and gross indiscipline being exhibited by the current crop of public office holders in the state.
