Benue Govt. seals federal varsity over N2.3bn tax default

chika ebuzor

March 29, 2017 6:42 PM

Students of the university besieged the BIRS office on Gboko Road, Makurdi, to protest against the closure.

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom

The Benue State Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) on Wednesday sealed the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi (FUAM), over N2.3 billion unremitted Personal Income Tax (PIT).

The BIRS Chairman, Mrs. Mimi Adzape-Orubibi, led the enforcement team to the university and sealed the offices of the Vice Chancellor, Registrar and the Bursar.

Adzape-Orubibi told newsmen that the board had no option but to honour a Makurdi High Court order to seal the institution over the non remittance of the funds.

He said “BIRS got an interim order to seal off FUAM because it fails to remit N2.3 billion PAYE that it deducted between 2007 and 2011.

“Also, there are cases where the university deducts less than what the law stipulates. The university will now pay about N3 billion, including penalties and interest.”

She said that Gov. Samuel Ortom was committed to uplifting the standard of education in the state, but the decision to seal the institution had become imperative.

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She expressed regret that the tax problem had been on for a long period.

Reacting to the closure, the ASUU Acting Chairman, Mr Bemgba Anjembe regretted that workers’ PAYE was deducted monthly from staff salary while they were denied tax clearance certificates.

Meanwhile, students of the university besieged the BIRS office on Gboko Road, Makurdi, to protest against the closure.

chika ebuzor