Businesses Without Tax ID, Valid Registration Should Not Benefit From N225bn Intervention Fund—Ogidan

The Chief Executive Officer of Succesory Nigeria Limited, Steve Ogidan, has said that businesses that do not have bank accounts that are unregistered and do not pay taxes should be denied any government grant or loan.

The CEO said this on Thursday during a discussion on ‘support strategies for Micro, Small, and Medium-Scale businesses’ as well as government intervention funds to ameliorate hardship in Nigeria.

The reforms of President Bola Tinubu which led to the managed float of the naira and fuel subsidy removal has pushed businesses and household into suffering.

To quell rising agitation by labour unions, Tinubu addressed the country on July 31, where he promised to fund 75 manufacturing businesses with N75bn at 9 per cent interest.

MSMEs will release N125bn out of which N50bn will be earmarked for a conditional grant to 1 million nano businesses. Each will receive N50,000. Also, 100,000 SMEs will share N75bn at 9 per cent interest. The maximum for an SME or a start-up is N1m.

The CEO said on AIT, “If you listened to the president’s speech, some of the conditions are already highlighted. Number one is that the president said we are driving financial inclusion. I don’t see anybody who wants to assess government grants now without a bank account.

“You must not be given because it will filter away. You need to have a bank account. Your business must be registered and then you must be able to have a tax identification number (TIN).

“Everybody must pay tax including the nano businesses. Everybody must be captured within the tax bracket. They must register their businesses. That is how to grow the business and that is how we kill our enterprises. If you are not registered, you have no identity. It is like an individual without a birth certificate.”

He said owners of businesses excluded from paying tax are supposed to pay as individuals.

His argument is in line with the tasks of the newly inaugurated tax committee which has been mandated to widen the tax bracket.

The Chairman of the committee, Taiwo Oyedele said they are planning to repeal laws that allow double taxation but “everyone must pay taxes.”

Stressing the intervention fund, Ogidan said the N75bn should be shared between two enterprises in every state on average. He argued that there is no state in the country that does not have a big industry including Zamfara State.

He added, “Zamfara has the largest rice milling industry that can get a billion naira to push it. There are so many activities in the agro-sector that can really be pushed with the kind of support that the Federal Government is giving them.”

He said further that there should be a special focus on the nano businesses, adding that “There should be a handshake between the small and big enterprises and that is when they can overcome the challenges and problems that they are facing.”

He said that states and local governments have roles to play in transforming businesses.

“Every enterprise should be given the opportunity to contest to get the support because it is a Federation Account. I will not support that some states should be cut off to focus on other states. In industries, we need to get it right. There is no state in this country without small enterprises,” he said.