The Commissioner for information, Mr. Patrick Uka stated this yesterday in his office at Asaba while playing host to members of the Sub-Committee on Roadmap for the Co-ordination of Tax Activities in Delta State.
The commissioner said that since the emergence of Governor Okowa administration, running the state has not been easy due to shortfall in the revenue accruable to the state, especially from the federal level; hence the need for all taxable persons and companies to co-operate with the state government by paying their tax as and when due.
While congratulating the members of the sub-committee for their selection, which was based on merit, the commissioner stated that his ministry, apart from ensuring adequate publicity to the activities of the committee also have structures that can generate revenue for the state, noting however that some of them need to be restructured in order to be more effective to enhance the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.
Ukah informed the sub-committee that apart from giving adequate publicity to the activities of the committee members of the committee should avail themselves with the platform presented by the state-owned media outfits, Delta Broadcasting Service in Warri and Asaba, as well as The Pointer Newspapers by participating in talk shows and advert placements to get the people more oriented.
Earlier, the chairman of the sub-committee, Barr. Frank Nwugo informed the commissioner that they were on advocacy visit to MDAs, especially revenue generating ones to inform and educate them on the need to synergise in order to achieve the common aim of enhancing internally generated revenue of the state.
Nwugo, who is also the Executive Assistant to the Governor on Revenue Matters, said that the committee is also using the opportunity to inform the revenue generating agencies that there is a law which mandates all agencies to collect and pay all revenues into the appropriate government account, desist from collecting and spending revenues generated, as well as solicit the co-operation of the ministry and its agencies in informing and educating Deltans on the need to pay their tax appropriately.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Information, Hon. Patrick Ukah, has advised the members of Delta Online Publishers Forum (DOPF) to ensure that they always adopt the basic tenets of journalism, discipline, based on accurate reporting and determination to build lasting goodwill, cautioning that it is impossible for them to use bad news to attract government patronage, saying that other strategies could be preferable.
The commissioner spoke during a courtesy visit to his office at Asaba by a delegation of the forum on Wednesday.
He lauded the people for coming together as a united body, which he said, makes it easy for any aggrieved or offended person or group to seek redress, if it becomes necessary, using their corporate names as a platform, but emphasised that “my office would strictly deal, as we have been doing before, with some selected online publishers based on their proven antecedents, positive tract-records and roles as partners in progress with the state government.”
Ukah lamented the situation where some online publishers blatantly shun professional ethics of journalism in their writings, either because they are new on the job or just merely interested in online business to attract negative attention from the public, adding that it is very surprising that despite the numerous good works of the Governor Okowa administration within the past two years, despite the obvious economic recession, most online writers pretend not to
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