The Kogi State government has described telecommunications company, Globacom, as a serial tax defaulter after it failed to fulfil its tax obligations since 2017.
The Executive Chairman of Kogi State Inland Revenue Service, Sule Enehe, made this known while addressing journalists on Wednesday in Lokoja, Kogi State capital.
According to Sule, while responding to the accusation that the agency was collecting illegal taxes in the state said that Glo remained the only telecoms company that had “vehemently” refused to fulfill its tax obligation, including refusal to get approval for planting their masts in the state.
“Glo is a serial tax defaulter who takes pride in refusing to fulfill its tax obligation despite repeated communications asking them to pay up.
“Instead of the company to pay up, they are using various Federal Government agencies to blackmail both the state government and KGIRS,” the chairman said.
The Director, Legal services of KGIRS, Saidu Okino, while speaking at the briefing, noted that the current situation had led to the sealing of the premises housing Glo after a series of correspondences with the organization.
He added that a court judgment permitting it to carry out the operation was obtained.
He explained that while other telecoms companies such as MTN and 9mobile had been up to date in their tax obligations, Airtel was paying until recently.
Okino put the tax default of Glo at N300 million while that of Airtel is N60 million.
He added that neither of them had made any serious move to resolve the issue.
Efforts to get the reactions of the two telecoms giants proved abortive as of the time of filing this report.
A Glo regional manager said he was not permitted to speak on the face-off between his organization and the Kogi Inland Revenue Service when contacted.
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