The Governor of Niger, Mr Abubakar Bello on Monday called for a review of the tax collection of Niger state, stressing that the Niger State was presently losing a whopping N15 billion annually to Federal Capital Territory, through wrongful tax remittances.
Bello who stated this in Abuja when he and his commissioners paid a visit to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun subsequently expressed the hope for the tax review, saying it was the only way Niger state could prudently improve on its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
The Governor who said that at the moment, the state was generating only about N400 million monthly as IGR, has therefore appealed to Adeosun to ensure that taxes deducted from salaries of civil servants staying in Niger State were paid to the state. He maintained that the call was “in line with our target to increase IGR and provide better services, we have been reviewing the tax collection of Niger.
“Our findings indicate that thousands of those working in the FCT actually reside in Niger State, in areas such as Suleja and parts of Bwari, which borders FCT.
“However, taxes deducted from the salaries were being remitted to FCT on a consistent basis. This had been the case over many years and related to both civil servants and workers engaged by the private sector.
“From our records, the number of people affected were up to 95,000 and the amount being lost monthly by Niger was over N1.3 billion which was over N15 billion every year.
“This money could be used to improve the lives of Niger residents in the areas of health care, education, water and social services and job creation.”
The governor appealed to the minister to direct other Federal Government agencies such as CBN, NDIC, SEC, ICPC, Police and others to commence remittances directly to Niger Government.
Finance minister said wrongful tax remittances were a serious problem yet to be resolved in the country; adding that the problem was however, not peculiar to Niger alone, citing Lagos and Ogun states where Lagos enjoyed taxes that should have gone to Ogun State.
She added that “it is regrettable that this problem still persists in this country. Losing over N1 billion a month is huge for any state.
“However, what I can commit to now is to help Niger Government to get the rightful tax due to it from civil servants enrolled on IPPIS.
“As you are aware, not all government workers are on IPPIS, so you will have to meet the other agencies to resolve the issue.”
In the meantime, as motorists and other users of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) struggled to get the product at filling stations on Monday, oil marketers blamed the worsening fuel scarcity on supply shortfall, which they said had not been fixed.
Many filling stations were shut in Lagos and parts of Ogun State, while the few stations that had the product recorded long queues of desperate motorists that stretched for kilometres and spilled onto the roads, disrupting the flow of traffic.
Commuters were seen at many bus-stops struggling to get commercial vehicles to different destinations, even as transport operators increased the fares by as much as 100 per cent on most routes.
Motorists lamented that they had to spend many hours in queues for fuel, while some petrol seekers with jerry cans were seen complaining that they had to part with extra money to get the product.
In Lagos, many of the private depots in Apapa, where many marketers get petroleum products from for distribution to other states, did not have the PMS to load.
A motorist, Idris Akande, told one of our correspondents that he had to wake up very early in the morning to go to a filling station and had to queue for some hours before he could get the product, adding, “The government needs to do something about the situation.”
A taxi driver at Berger, who identified himself simply as Mr. Peace, said, “To get fuel now is not an easy task. The little fuel I have now will be used to convey passengers in the evening. I can’t go to filling stations to queue again; the stress is just too much. If I am not able to buy fuel tomorrow, I will park my car at home.”
The Executive Secretary, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, Mr. Olufemi Adewole, said the supply shortfall had yet to disappear, adding that only a few of the body’s members had been programmed to load the product.
“But until I see them receive products and trucking out, I can’t say that the situation has changed. We can only sell what we have. The NNPC can tell us when they will bring enough products to meet people’s needs. One thing I know is that everybody is working round the clock,” he added.
Additional report from Punch
