Anambra governor suspends taxation for low income earners in response to recession

ANAMBRA State governor Willy Obiano has suspended the payment of tax for low income earners in the state as part of a drive to ameliorate the effects of the current recession that has afflicted the Nigerian economy.

 

Due to the collapse in global oil prices over the last year, the Nigerian economy has gone from enjoying an annual growth rate of about 7% to being in recession. Consequently, after reviewing the hardship being suffered by people of the state as a result of the nationwide recession, the governor and his administration said his tax relief intervention is for wheelbarrow pushers, hawkers permit and consolidated emblems on commuter buses.

 

 In a special broadcast by the governor to the people of the state yesterday, tagged Economic Stimulus Package, he said the suspension of the taxes for this social category was to help them cushion the effects of the recession. Governor Obiano said the objective of the tax relief programme is to evaluate existing taxes, levies and fees in the state and introduce some waivers and in some cases, scrap the collection of some illegal levies imposed on the people.

 

He added: “Following the formal announcement by the federal government that the nation’s economy has gone into recession, I consider it my duty as your governor to distil the message of the economic situation of the country down to the grassroots. I am happy to announce to you that I have come up with a stimulus package that will ease the pain of the recession and help our dear state bounce back to prosperity.

“Consequently, our intervention comes in four key areas – tax relief programme, special intervention programmes for Small and Medium Enterprises and large enterprises and social intervention programme for low income households and finally, intervention in infrastructure-for-jobs.”

 

Ogbuefi Tony Nnacheta, the Anambra State commissioner for information and communication strategy, who briefed journalists after the governor’s state wide broadcast said the state would be losing a total of N200m annually by suspending these taxes but felt that the wellbeing of the people of the state is more important than making money. He added that the state government came up with this as a way of trying to be a solution to the problem of the country instead of letting its citizens be victims.