Igbo traders in Kwara protest high taxation, lock shops

Igbo traders and businessmen in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Friday closed their shops in protest against alleged intimidation and over-taxation of their businesses by the state revenue agency, the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service.

The traders, under the aegis of the Igbo Traders Association, directed their members, especially in places such as Taiwo, Agaka, Baboko, Ita-Amodu and other areas where there are heavy concentration of Igbos within the Ilorin metropolis to shut down businesses activities over closure of some of the shops of their members in Ilorin.

Chuppet, one of the city’s oldest stores, Ejide and Top Biz proprietors were among the shops sealed by KWIRS over Personal Income Tax

Customers stranded
PUNCH Online gathered that the development left many customers of traders and businessmen stranded in such locations as Oko Erin, Ibrahim Taiwo Road and the General Hospital area, among other places in the state capital.

The Igbo traders said that the revenue agency stormed their shopping complexes at about 10am 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.

Coordinator of the 22 zonal chairmen of Igbo traders associations in the state, who is also the Chairman of Building Materials Association, Surulere Zone, Kwara State, Chief Aloysius Nwora, said 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.

Also speaking, the first Vice President of Igbo Traders Association, Chief Nathaniel Nwogu, led other leaders and members of the association to the revenue court premises and state House of Assembly to register their grievance, said that some of the business premises locked up a deal in perishable goods.

Igbo traders leader suggest roundtable
Nwora however suggested a roundtable discussion among representatives of the revenue agency, the state government and the leadership of the Igbo traders association for an amicable solution, said that there would not be business growth and development in any unfriendly environment.

He said, “For years, we’ve had this arrangement with the state tax office to be collecting our taxes collectively and submit 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 would issue receipts based on individual names we submit to them. The taxes are in categories of N7,000, N14,000, N25000, 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.

“When they tell the staff of the tax office that they had paid. The staff told them to subtract what they’ve paid before from the new bill they gave us, thereby calculating like tax of previous 10 years of outrageous sums like N10m, N15m etc.

“We went with our lawyers to explain to them that we’re only owing 2023 tax which is supposed to be paid November last year based on our agreement with them, and which we’re already gathering because we closed our meeting November and opened February this year.

“Unfortunately, they wrote our members to pay N9.7m within three days, threatening that failure to do so, they’ll bring mobile court, judge him and prosecute him in his shop.

“Most of the owners of the affected shops are not even around. They refused to listen to pleas from shop assistants and locked up the shops. That’s why all members locked all their shops in solidarity to say we’re not okay with the verdict passed by the court.

“There is a special court for tax and not a mobile court. We even have cases there,” he said.

KWIRS responds
Responding to the allegations, the Corporate Affairs Department of the KWIRS, on behalf of the executive chairman, Shade Omoniyi, said that the revenue agency conducted the mobile court on Friday to prosecute recalcitrant taxpayers in the state to ensure tax compliance.

The agency said, “As part of efforts to ensure tax compliance by residents and business owners in Kwara State, Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS), today Friday, 1st March 2024 conducted a mobile court within some business premises in Ilorin to prosecute three recalcitrant high net worth business owners who hide under associations to pay lesser taxes than what is due.

“Having exhausted all necessary measures to ensure that taxpayers remit the appropriate taxes due to the State Government without any positive results, KW-IRS resorted to enforcement on the recalcitrant taxpayers in the early hours of Friday as provided under the relevant State Law.

“Speaking during the legal action at their respective business premises, the magistrate pronounced that the business facilities be sealed following the evidence before the mobile court that the accused taxpayers defaulted in exercising their civic obligations.

“Taxpayers are enjoined to pay their tax liabilities as and when due to avoid being caught on the wrong side of the law.”

Reopen Igbo shops
Meanwhile, the President-General of the Igbo Community in Kwara State, Chief Boniface Okeke, has appealed to the state government to reopen shops of their members.

The President-General revealed that their members are always paying taxes and therefore urged the government to channel their complaints through the Igbo’s executives instead of sealing their business activities.

Boniface, who assured that the Executive will sit in a round table with the government to settle the matter also promised to maintain the existing peace between the Igbo union and the state government.