Rivers no longer haven for fraudulent tax collectors – My-ACE China at BD/RIRS breakfast meeting in PH

…Urges Rivers State govt to protect companies that pay their taxes

A major fallout from the first-ever BusinessDay/RIRS tax breakfast meeting is the remark by My-ACE China, the Mayor of Housing, that Rivers State is no longer haven for fraudulent and violent revenue collectors.

This is as he however appealed to the state government to make a habit of protecting companies and businesses that pay their taxes willingly.

Making his opinion known at the tax breakfast with the theme: ‘Leveraging Nigeria’s Tax Laws to Enhance Profitability”, China, CEO of the Mayor of Housing Ltd, promoters of the upcoming Alesa Highland Sustainable Green Smart City in Port Harcourt, observed that the determination of the leadership of the RIRS to rid the state of tax touts is a welcome development.

He said: “My takeaway from this event is that we have a new chairmanship of the River State Internal Revenue Service (RIRS) that not only wants to ensure the friendliness of the taxman to the businessman, but ensure that the businessman is protected by protecting the businessman in River State from fraudulent tax people or what we call agberos or touts.

“And that was a big relief and a breath of fresh air because knowing what His Excellency, the Governor of River State, is doing to attract investment into River State, I have now seen that the chairman of the RIRS understands that before you woo and invite or attract external investors, you need to first of all protect the internal or domestic investors. You make sure they are not harassed they are not made uncomfortable especially by unharmonized and multiple taxation system from unauthorized tax collectors and miscreants who roam the state.”

The Mayor of Housing said he could see an intent of ridding the state of these hoodlums by ensuring that there’s an emergency number business people can call when these people harass them and an intent to not only arrest these people but to prosecute them.

“So, River State is not only ready for business, but River State is no longer a haven for fraudulent tax collectors.”

The Mayor of Housing used the opportunity to advise the state government and the tax authorities on how to encourage business owners in the state. “Number one, harmonization of taxes. No private practitioner wants to pay tax and come back and discover he paid tax to the wrong collector because there is no harmonized system of tax collection.

“That is why the one-stop-shop by the River State Investment Promotion Agency (RSIPA) is something the River State Internal Revenue Service should embrace and harmonize and work closely with the recipe to ensure that all business practitioners and the private business people all jump and key into it as one place to know all the taxes one needs pay.”

He went on: “The next is protection. Leaving taxpayers to fight off illegal tax collectors or hoodlums will never speak well for the business environment. The tax authorities need to provide a security system to protect the taxpayers. We plead that protection of the taxpayer from touts and hoodlums should not be the businessman’s business alone. The State should take it so seriously that it should be like a grand norm in the state that if you attempt to collect tax illegally, your fate will be so fatal that very few people can dare do that again.”

He went on: “The last one is set of tax incentives; If there are no incentives or any difference between those that comply and those that don’t comply in tax compliance, then you are not encouraging taxpayers to pay willingly.

“If there is a stark difference in incentives onto those that pay and those that default, then payment becomes something profitable just like the theme of today talked about enhancing profitability and sustainability in business for those that come up to pay their taxes as good citizens and take the responsibility of paying their taxes.

“The government and the tax authority should put whatever incentive no matter how small to give them another mirroring responsibility to respond in good terms to incentivize their responsibility of paying taxes.”

On land sanitization and administration, the real estate success strategist appealed to the state government to do something about sanitization of land acquisition systems, giving example of the Abuja model.

“We are in an era of copy and paste and the internet has made it so easy that the world is now beyond a global village. It is now a global screen that you can find out anything from anywhere and just copy-and-paste.

“One of the best land authority cataloging and land administration systems in Nigeria is the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) that has captured all the land and sanitized all the land documentation and implementing land laws in Abuja such that they even have a law enforcement authority and detention facility in their headquarters to make sure that there is no room for miscreants to do land fraud.

“So, River State can learn from that. Not only do they need to learn from that, I started my practice as the Mayor of Housing in Abuja. Rivers State can learn from those of us that know how the administration got it right there and make sure that this place is sanitized.”

He said he was not just saying this as a suggestion. “My flagship project, the Alesa Highland Sustainable Green Smart City in Eleme LGA is where I have championed the creation of the Alesa Land Development Authority that sanitizes all land transactions in Alesa community and make sure that there’s no room for land grabbers; that there is no room for land fraud. They ensure that every land transaction goes through that authority for sanitization.

“Rivers State can already leverage on our traditional system which is the Community Development Committee (CDC) system where the paramount rulers ensure that a land sanitization system is done with the Ministry of Land. In that system, for you to buy any land, you don’t need to fear multiple land sales or land fraud.

“All you need to do is go to the Ministry of Land. And this thing has been captured and systematized. His Excellency has already started that with the Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority where they sanitize and digitize all land assets of the Greater Port Harcourt. They can do that for the Greater River State and ensure that investors have the peace of mind that there is no trouble anywhere you buy land in River State.”

By this, he said, government will ensure that nowhere you will buy land in the state and fall into the hands of hoodlums and miscreants. If they do that and make people know that by paying tax, you are not only just a good citizen, you’ll be rewarded with some incentives; and that you are not only going to be rewarded with some incentives but you’ll be protected from touting tax touts and miscreants and you’re not only protected but they would ensure that your business doesn’t have to pay multiple times because there’s a harmonized authority that makes sure you pay to the right authority.

“If they do this in tax and in land, then, the dream of His Excellency Sim Fubara to make this the number one investment destination in Nigeria will explode beyond Nigeria and make River State the number one investment destination in the world.”

Those who delivered keynote speeches were John Ohaka, a Professor and dean at the Rivers State University; Israel Egbunefu, executive chairman, RIRS; Rosemary Orubo, Director Compliance and Enforcement of RIRS; Patrick Ijegbai, GM South-South/East of BusinessDay Media Limited; Clement Akanibo, a tax expert who represented the PH City Chamber; Ngozi Umelo-Agbai of Rivers Stste ICAN; Omubo Whyte of Rivers State ANAN; Chinedu Nwachukwu, former leader of SWAN in the ICAN body; leader of Women in Taxation; and some others.