FG orders IG to dismantle revenue collection check points across the nation
The National Economic Council (NEC) has directed the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to dismantle all road blocks mounted for the purpose of revenue collection across the nation. The council, at its today’s meeting chaired by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, decried that some state governments were collecting taxes and levies not backed by […]
The National Economic Council (NEC) has directed the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to dismantle all road blocks mounted for the purpose of revenue collection across the nation.
The council, at its today’s meeting chaired by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, decried that some state governments were collecting taxes and levies not backed by appropriate laws.
The meeting, held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, was convened to discuss the report of the ministerial implementation committee on harmonisation of taxes.
The NEC has as members, all the 36 state governors; the Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory, National Planning, Attorney-General of the Federation; Minister of State for Finance and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria.
Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano, while addressing State House journalists after the meeting, did not name the states indicted; but he said the committee was raised to investigate the complaints of multiple taxation made by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.
He said based on the finding that taxes and levies were being duplicated at state and local government levels, the committee recommended a review of the 1998 Taxes and Levies Act.
Obiano said the committee also recommended that all states’ revenue boards be empowered to automate their tax operations for effectiveness, accountability and leakage reduction.
“Some of the committee’s recommendations include discontinuation of the practice of using non-revenue officials for collection of taxes and levies by states and federal agencies which is contrary to Section 2 of the Taxes and Levies Act. The committee asks the NEC to direct the IG of Police to dismantle all road blocks mounted on highways for revenue collection”, he said.
He said the NEC also ordered the committee to work with attorney-generals of Enugu (South-East), Lagos (South-West), Bayelsa (South-South), Plateau (North-Central), Kebbi (North-West) and Borno (North-East) with a view to incorporating the inputs and comments of council members and report at the next meeting.
Also speaking, Kogi State Governor Idris Wada said the NEC said Power Minister Chinedu Nebo presented the National Power Sector Apprenticeship Scheme to the council.
He said the council realised that for about 23 years, there was no structured training for the technical manpower in power generation, transmission and distribution.
Wada hinted that N1.3billion would be disbursed from the Ministry of Power’s intervention fund for the scheme.
According to him, under the scheme, 3,700 trainees, 100 each from the 36 states and FCT, will be sponsored by the Federal Government; while another 3,700 will be trained by the states.
Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Dankwabo said the status report on the valuation of the electricity assets provided by the state governments was presented to the NEC by the chairman of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission.
He added that the council urged the states to come up with the final submission by next month.
National Planning Minister Abubakar Olanrewaju, who also briefed journalists, said the NEC adopted the National Integrated Infrastructure Masterplan and encouraged states and the FCT to ensure appropriate enabling legal institutional frameworks, align their infrastructure programmes with the master-plan and work towards developing State Integrated Infrastructure Master-plans.