LGAs lose N500m to illegal advert tax collectors

Over N500m is lost yearly by local governments in Nigeria as a result of the activities of illegal mobile adverts tax collectors, the Joint Mobile Adverts Agency of Nigeria/Mobile Advertisers Association of Nigeria, one of revenue collection arms of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, has said.

To put an end to the continued loss of revenue by local councils, ALGON, in partnership with JMOAN/MOAN on Tuesday announced the introduction of clearance certificates for mobile advertisers in a bid to stop all forms of harassments on Nigerian roads by uncertified agents.

Speaking on behalf of ALGON and the advertisers, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, JMOAN/MOAN, Chief Gabriel Ojoba, told journalists in Abuja that local governments in Nigeria had lost so much revenue to fraudulent advert tax collectors.

   

Asked to state the amount of revenue lost by the local councils, Ojoba said, “If we have to actually quantify the amount of revenue lost, it is enormous. What has gone out without reaching the council’s purse is enormous. Over N500m has gone out.

“A particular local government is expected to generate nothing less than N10m from this source annually. But go to most local government councils now you won’t see anything under this heading of mobile adverts. This is an internally generated revenue base for local governments, but the annual loss is over N500m and this is because of illegal activities of uncertified agents and operators.”

He stated that JMOAN/MOAN had been authorised by both the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees and ALGON to handle the revenue collection of the 774 local governments including Abuja Municipal Area Council.

Ojoba said, “Today we hear that some illegal agents are forcing people to pay for mobile advert fees or tax on our roads. The fact is that most of these agents are not accredited personnel of the local government and they don’t have any right to collect levies on behalf of ALGON.

“But with the emergence of JMOAN/MOAN into ALGON and NULGE, we have been able to come out with a platform in line with the directives of the Joint Tax Board. We have come out to do exactly what the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Board of Internal Revenue want local governments to do with respect to revenue collection because this issue generates problems daily.

“So, we have come out with a clearance certificate and we now have a consolidated clearance of NULGE/ALGON. These documents are free and are for uniformity and for free movement of vehicles. In fact, we want to make sure that no vehicle that moves from one location to any other part of the country will be faced with the problems posed by local government levy collectors on our roads.”

He added, “Once you pay your dues at one particular local government, that payment covers you throughout the country. And with this uniformity, it will help to know those who are actually commissioned to handle revenue collection. So, mobile advertisers should go to their local governments, pay the stipulated fees there and get the two required documents and they are free to carry out their lawful activities without harassment.”