The Centre for Human Rights Accountability Network (CHRAN), Akwa Ibom State Council, has vowed to mobilize protests and initiate legal action against the state government if the House of Assembly passes the proposed Tax and Levies Bill into law.
CHRAN described the bill — which makes provisions for Harmonised Taxes and Levies, Property Tax, Taxes on Lottery, Betting, Casino and other Gaming Activities, as well as Miscellaneous Provisions — as anti-people and self-serving for the State Revenue Board.
Recall that the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly conducted a public hearing on the controversial Executive Bill last week. At the hearing, the Commissioners for Finance and Transport reportedly opposed the bill, alongside some civil society organisations present at the event.
Speaking to journalists at the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Uyo on Tuesday, CHRAN Director, Otuekong Franklyn Isong, recalled that a similar bill was presented to the State House of Assembly in 2016 but was outrightly rejected by the people of the state.
He noted that Sections 16 and 19 of the current bill would effectively transfer taxes imposed on real property owners and landlords to tenants. According to him, if passed, the bill would place an undue burden on already overburdened tenants across the state.
According to Isong, “There are no better definitions of the words draconian, anti-people, oppressive, monstrous and obnoxious than the provisions of this bill, which seek to punish the people and further impoverish the already deprived citizens of Akwa Ibom State.”
He further argued that the bill has the potential to stifle small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the state, as it appears focused solely on revenue generation without regard for the survival of private businesses. He noted that Akwa Ibom is largely a civil service state with little or no functional state-owned industries or factories.
Isong also expressed concern over certain provisions in the bill, particularly the “Enforcement” clause in Section 28(2), which he described as ambiguous and potentially open to abuse. He suggested that the provision could be interpreted to permit confiscation of property or other severe measures. Additionally, he criticised the default payment penalty stipulated in Section 28(1), describing the percentage rate as outrageous and exploitative.
The CHRAN director maintained that the bill violates Section 43 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), which guarantees every citizen the right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria. He also cited Article 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981) and Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), to which Nigeria is a signatory..
