Edo govt seals off NABTEB premises over tax default

By Simon Ebegbulem
CITY — THE Edo State government, yesterday, sealed off the premises of the National Business and Technical Examination Board, NABTEB, over alleged failure by the Board to comply with the Personal Income Tax Act.
The Board had last week, sealed off the Uselu Psychiatric Hospital and the Benin Owena River Basin Authority over similar offence.
Meanwhile, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has given reasons for the recent minor cabinet reshuffle in his government, saying that the action was taken to strengthen his administration, which he said was in the best interest of the state.
When newsmen visited the premises of the NABTEB, staff of the Board were locked outside while armed policemen blocked the gate with their Hilux Vans, to ensure that no body gained access into the compound. The incident paralysed activities at the Board as no body, including the Registrar was allowed to enter the premises.

The Chairman of the Board of Internal Revenue, Dr. Ese Owie, who briefed newsmen on the situation, explained “we decided to seal off the place due to non-compliance with the Personal Income Tax Act as it relates to the deduction and remittance of Pay as You Earn, PAYE. We sealed off  the place last week but they broke the seal.

“They failed to deduct and remit the appropriate PAYE from their workers. And even the one they deducted were not remitted to the state government and as you know, Governor Adams Oshiomhole needs money to execute his promises to the people, therefore, we cannot continue to keep quiet. The board also sealed off the premises of the Psychiatric Hospital Uselu and the Benin Owena River Basin over the same non-compliance issue last week,” he said.

According to him, the board had earlier warned all tax payers, especially federal establishments in the state to pay their taxes, insisting that “if they fail to pay, we will invoke the full provisions of the law to prosecute all defaulters and we are not going to back down.”

Governor Oshiomhole who gave reasons why he dropped two Commissioners, said “we have very little resources and we are determined to get maximum benefit from the very little resources we have and that puts a lot of pressure on our officers”.

Those who had worked with me in the  past 15 months, I am very grateful to them. But there is always time to join the government and time to go. When my time comes, I am going to leave too.”