New Telegraph

C of O: Crisis imminent as manufacturers flay govt’s decision

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has disclosed that issue of variation and multiple taxes being levied against them by the federal and state governments is frustrating businesses and putting their investments at risk. MAN said it was currently at loggerheads with some state government over revalidation of their Certificate of Occupancy, a titled document that has been certified long ago.

The National Chairman of Non-Metallic and Mineral Products Sectoral Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Sir. Afam Mallinson Ukatu, while disclosing this to New Telegraph, said it was absurd for some state governments to impose a new CofO revalidation payment order on manufacturing firms on lands that were bought many years back and covered with genuine CofO.

Certificate of Occupancy is deemed the most important document to a land owner or property buyer in Nigeria? It is issued by state governments to landowners and property buyers as a legitimate proof of ownership. It also spells out what the land can be used for – residential, commercial or mixed development. Government is constitutionally mandated to issue the CofO because all lands in the state are vested in the governor of the state as clearly spelt out in the Land Use Act 1978. According to Ukatu, some state governments are asking MAN members to again pay very high percentage on lands that had been paid for over the years. He said the policy move by these state governments, if not checked in all sense, would put many manufacturing companies out of businesses if their C of Os are revoked by governments at the end of the exercise. Speaking further, Ukatu frowned at the activities of the government agencies that are fond of slamming high amount of tax on manufacturing firms for doing legit businesses in the country, a development that is not in tandem with what is obtainable in other climes.

He said: “How about the issue of variation in taxes and multiple taxes? I have been fighting the issue of double taxation, but yet to yield the required result. Unfortunately, the government failed to understand that the size of factor does not determine the size of tax you pay. “The government agencies and those generating revenue will see the size of the factory that is about to close down, and slam it with the amount of tax that you cannot afford. “Government should understand that these manufacturers have done the investment by themselves, build the road themselves, generate power themselves, yet the government wants us to pay all forms of taxes. “We have had a lot of issues, including that of revalidation of our C of O, which we were asked to pay a very high percentage of what we had paid for over years on a title document that has been certified long ago.

“I ask, do we still have to payfor what we have paid for in the past 10 years. It is not done anywhere in the world. This is policy that is taking people out of business.” According to him, “we have pleaded that it is not viable. This is bad, for a government that has been in office for eight years to have issued C of O, and another one comes into the same office and start requesting for revalidation, asking for the amount you could not even pay when you were acquiring that property. “The policy is frustrating. Abuja and a couple of other places did their validation at little or no cost. We are begging the government of the western states to reconsider such policies.”

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