President Bola Tinubu has made an urgent move to stop foreign oil vessel owners from fleeing Nigeria and withdrawing their services over what they see as excessive tax back charges.
The multiple businesses received demands from Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), covering the period from 2010 to 2019 and range from $400,000 to $1.1 million per vessel, aggregating it to reach tens of millions of dollars.
The Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Zacheus Adedeji, led government officials in an interactive session with shipping stakeholders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where he warned that Nigeria cannot afford not to have vessels move in and out of the country.
Speaking to correspondents after the meeting, he allayed the fears of the stakeholders within the oil and gas sector, spelling out the agreement reached to avert vessel withdrawal so as not to disrupt the flow of products.
He said the problem arose from the demand notice to the vessel owners issued in accordance with extant tax laws to make their remittances.
The presidential aide assured that a technical committee has been set up to resolve the issues in contention.
He noted that no vessel would be arrested or detained as the committee works to reconcile the back taxes.
Adedeji warned that Nigeria would not succumb to blackmail as it laws must be obeyed.
“So, we have agreed to resolve this issue and what is the issue? There was demand notice, which was issued to the vessel owners or chattered, as it were, which is in accordance with the Nigerian tax law, that they should remit the tax deal to them, for the last ten years and that there were concerns about the timing of compliance or afraid of the enforcement.
“So, we’ve now resolved within ourselves to resolve this issue as quickly as possible, just to make sure that we don’t affect the flow of the products, in and outside the country.
“We also made it clear that Nigeria will not accept any blackmail by defaulters, who are not complying with our laws. We have laws and the laws must be respected and obeyed.
“However, we will not detain or arrest any defaulting ship or vessel because this is what is causing panic.
“We’ve sent them demand notice and then they’ve also come and the agreement is that we should give them time. So, we’ve agreed to set up the technical committee to resolve these issues.
“The technical committee will comprise the regulator, which is NUPRC, NMDRA, NNPC, Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Presidency, in the Office of Chief of Staff, SA Energy and SA Revenue and the Secretariat will be the Federal Inland Revenue.
“The technical committee will look at the concerns and reconcile the back taxes and set a process that will ensure compliance going forward.
“So, we’ve agreed to give the parties three months to come to the conclusion and we will also give a grace period of six months, when we will not enforce any of these laws, just to allow for reconciliation.
“In essence, no vessel or ship will be detained or delayed. So, we give this six months break for them so that they can reconcile with this technical committee that we set up.
“Nigeria, as you know, is open for business and we are business friendly, as you’ve seen from what we’re doing and what we will do.
“So, we are open, but that is not to say that anybody will take advantage of the country. We have the law and the law must be respected,” he said.
