Igbo traders and businessmen in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, staged a protest on Friday against intimidation and excessive taxation by the state’s revenue agency, the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service.
This action resulted in many customers of these traders and businessmen being stranded in various locations across the state capital, including Oko Erin, Ibrahim Taiwo Road, and the General Hospital area.
The Igbo traders said that the revenue agency stormed their shopping complexes at about 10 am with the revenue mobile court to prosecute them and lock up their business premises without being represented.
The people, who said that they are not indebted to the revenue agency, added that they are up to date in payment of their taxes and rates, describing the action of the revenue agency as unfair.
The businessmen also appealed to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to assist with tax waivers or tax holidays, considering the current economic hardship in the country, adding that many of their members stock their shops with goods received on credit.
Chief Aloysius Nwora, the coordinator of the 22 zonal chairmen of Igbo traders associations in Kwara State and also the Chairman of Building Materials Association, Surulere Zone, stated that the tax office wanted to start a collection of tax from individual members against an existing agreement with the agency to get the tax collectively.
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He said, “For years, we’ve had this arrangement with the state tax office to collect our taxes collectively and submit them to them. In that way, we as a union have been able to identify our members who do not even have shops, or those who are three or four in a shop, and submit them to the tax office.
“Once we submit that money, the tax office will issue receipts based on individual names we submit to them. The taxes are in categories of N7,000, N14,000, N25,000, and N45,000 like that annually.
“This continued until last year, when our members started to receive letters individually demanding another tax ranging from N700,000, N1.5m etc. Most of the people written to had already paid with their receipts from the tax office. Some of us have tax clearance certificates in three-year intervals,” he explained.
Nwora, however, proposed convening a roundtable discussion involving representatives from the revenue agency, the state government, and the leadership of the Igbo traders association to seek an amicable solution. He emphasized that business growth and development would be hindered in an unfriendly environment.
