After the protest over the closure of MTN Facilities in Kogi state, NewswatchNigeria reports that there are now hopes for amicable resolution in sight.
This development came as the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has made a fresh move to meet with Kogi State top officials with fresh intervention frame work that will restore the operator’s lawful operations and subscribers offerings.
There is no gain saying that subscribers in the state and environ have been worst hit since Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS) went hard down on the network service provider to shutdown over 90 Base Transceiver Stations and other facilities over alleged tax default.
MTN Nigeria last Thursday protested the closure by calling on the Presidency, the industry regulator and well meaning Nigerians to prevail on the state government officials stating that the state government was demanding for immediate payment of Social Service Contribution levy, Employee Development levy and annual rent for Right-of-Way on fibre optics cable.
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According to Tobechukwu Okigbo, MTN’s Corporate Relations Executive, the Taxes and Levies Act which introduced the Social Service Contribution and Economic Development levies mandates the Joint Tax Board to recommend chargeable fees which will be subject to the minister of finance’s approval.
“To the best of our knowledge, the Minister of Finance’s recommendation as provided in the Act is yet to be issued, and as such, it is unclear if the imposition of the fee by the Kogi State Government is on solid legal footing.
“We wish to state that we have met in full all our tax obligations to the Kogi State government and are not in arrears,” he said.
He added: “On request, we have furnished the KGIRS on multiple occasions with documentary evidence proving our full compliance with extant state laws on the matter.
“At this stage, the demands of the KGIRS, if honoured, amounts to multiple taxations and the arbitrary shut down of our base transceiver stations and harassment of our partners will stand in the way of a reasonable resolution.”
As gathered, NCC’s Executive Commissioner (Stakeholders Engagement), Mr Sunday Dare, is expected to lead the NCC officials to Lugard House in Lokoja to meet the state officials on the issue.
