In recent times, the President Buhari-led government has embarked on the imposition of several taxes and levies on Nigerians and Nigerian businesses. On Wednesday, 2nd October 2019, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola revealed that plans to return toll plazas to Nigerian roads were underway. This announcement was met with criticisms, some of which underscored the poor condition of roads across the country.
On 29th September 2019, Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service sealed off the business premises of several car dealerships in Ikeja, Lagos for allegedly retailing vehicles smuggled into the country, through land borders. The Nigeria Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah speaking on the incident, explained that the operation was aimed at ensuring revenue collection for the government. However, a group of automobile dealers in Lagos State have written to the Nigeria Customs Service, threatening to institute court proceedings against the agency if their business premises are not unsealed in 14 days from the day the letter is received. According to the group, the agency’s action amounts to “a demonstration of gross irresponsibility, unprecedented impunity and abuse of power” as no vehicles were examined or identified as not being properly cleared, as required by the Nigerian Customs & Excise Management Act, which empowers the agency to carry out such functions. The dealers maintained that the cars in their business premises were duly cleared, with appropriate duties remitted to the Federal government.
In another development, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) imposed charges on withdrawal and deposit transactions on personal and corporate bank accounts in Nigeria in September 2019. CBN announced that an individual’s cash withdrawal in the excess of N500,000 would attract a 3% charge while a deposit in the excess of the same amount would attract a 2% charge. For corporate bodies, the benchmark was placed at N3,000,000, with deposits in excess of the amount attracting a 3% charge and withdrawals in excess of the amount being charged at 5%. Although these charges had been introduced and suspended in the past, they have been reintroduced to take off in six States and the Federal Capital Territory, while nationwide implementation will commence in March 2020. This comes on the heels of an announcement by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) of an upward review of the rate of the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5% to 7.2%. Not to be left out, government at different levels and even private companies seem bent on exacting more taxes and levies on citizens. In a bizarre situation, a private telecommunications company, MTN announced that it was imposing fees on bank transactions involving the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes. Although the Minister of Communications, Isa Pantami gave a directive for the suspension of the proposed charges, Nigerians worry that these rash imposition of taxes and levies started by the government may continue unabated. No doubt, hapless and helpless citizens will bear the brunt of these unrestrained imposition of taxes without commensurate increase in their income.