Kano tricyclists’ strike in perspective

The Kano State Road Transport Agency (KAROTA) has been having a running battle with tricycles operators in the state. The current issue is on the payment of N8,000 for Annual Renewal Operating Permit. The operators were on a “one week long strike” to “resist” the renewal of their operating permit.   In February 2021 they […]

The Kano State Road Transport Agency (KAROTA) has been having a running battle with tricycles operators in the state. The current issue is on the payment of N8,000 for Annual Renewal Operating Permit. The operators were on a “one week long strike” to “resist” the renewal of their operating permit.  

In February 2021 they had a disagreement with KAROTA on the payment “mode” of N100 daily levy for the operators which led to a three-day strike before the issue was resolved.  

There is absolutely nothing wrong in paying taxes as long as the government will use it for the development of the state. Tax payment is a civic duty for the citizens in return for public service delivery. Public goods are provided using tax payers’ money. All we need to ask for, in my view, is judicious use of our taxes.   

The people of Kano State, in view of the massive infrastructural developments being undertaken in the state from the days of Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso to the now governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, have certainly no reason to reject a fair tax payment.  

The government of Kano State in particular and  other states in general must do more in the areas of internally generated revenues.  

The Economic Confidential Annual State Viability Index (ASVI) 2020 Ranking of states by Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs) compared to their Federation Account Allocations (FAAC) showed that Kano State needs to do more in IGR. The result for Kano was far below its potentials.  

However, it was not only Kano State that did not do well in the report, but virtually all the states in the federation. It is quite unfortunate to note that 99 per cent of the state governments including the so-called oil producing states rely on FAAC allocation for their survival. Unless and until we make serious effort in changing the status quo we will have a long way to go. It is an economic suicide for us to continue to rely on a volatile commodity for our survival.  

Out of the six states in the North East geo-political zone, only Gombe and Bauchi states have up to 11 per cent IGRs compared to their FAAC allocation. Out of the six states in the North Central only Kwara and Plateau states have above 20 per cent IGRs compared to their FAAC allocation. Out of seven states in the North West only Kaduna and Zamfara states have above 20 per cent IGRs compared to their FAAC allocation. In the said report Kano State got only 18 per cent of its FAAC allocation which was behind Kaduna State 40 per cent and Zamfara State 22 per cent despite all its potentials.   

Similarly, out of the six states in the South  South, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers and Akwa Ibom states got less than 20 per cent IGRs compared to their FAAC allocation. Out of the five states in South East, only Anambra and Enugu states got more than 20 per cent IGRs compared to their FAAC allocation.   

On the other hand, the most performing geo-political zone was South West. Out of the six states only Ekiti State got below 25 per cent IGRs compared to their FAAC allocation in the 2020 report.   

No doubt some states are fairly doing well in terms of IGR from the report. Lagos in South West; Rivers in South South; Anambra in South East; Gombe in North East; Kwara in North Central; and Kaduna in North West are the best performing states in the report.  

Doing more does not mean increasing taxes. We do not need to increase taxes to boost our respective IGRs, but we certainly need to improve on our respective IGRs. All we need to do is to digitalize our “methods” of collection and expand our tax drag net. Other critical areas that boost revenue are business and land reforms.  

My humble advice to state governments is for judicious utilisation of tax payers’ money in order to increase public zeal for the performance of their civic duties.  

May God bless Nigeria!  

Nurudeen Daudada wrote from Kaduna