New Telegraph

Ortom, JED trade accusations over unpaid N558m claim

Benue State government under Governor Samuel Ortom and the management of Jos Electricity Distribution Plc. are at each other’s jugular over huge indebtedness arising from power services rendered that accumulated to a whooping over N558 million. The government also sealed an unnamed cement company run by the electricity company.

The squabbles metamorphosed into the sealing of the official premises of JED in Makurdi, the state capital by the authorities of the state’s Board of Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) led by its Chairman, Mrs. Mimi Orubibi-Adzape. Mrs. Orubibi explained that the action of the board in sealing JED’s operational office was in compliance with the provisions of the Personal Income Tax Act of 2011. She said the enforcement became imperative after due processes were followed and JED refused to pay the tax. “An audit was carried out on the cement company (name withheld) . “That letter was dated January 9, 2021 and it was N474 million.

Since then we have been on the issue. “We did reconciliations and virtual reconciliations and we came down to the final amount of N218 million. “The Personal Income Tax Act, section 58 clearly states that if you are given an assessment, and the amount is stated in the assessment, you are at liberty to object within 30 days if you are not okay with the assessment, failing that assessment becomes final and conclusive. “The cement company did not object to the assessment. We followed suit with 14 days’ notice and we also did another seven days’ notice and at that point nothing was done.” The BIRS boss added that, “We even went outside the statutory period of 30 days, calling them, and they visited the office when I resumed office in November. “The court order, which we are enforcing today, was issued April 13. We did not come immediately to seal them because we wanted to exhaust all means of diplomacy, which all failed. “After that time I made calls to their Lagos office and it yielded nothing so we decided to carry out the enforcement

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