The Niger State Internal Revenue Service (NGSIRS) has shut down the branches of eight commercial banks and the AEDC over N456 million tax debts.
The clampdown followed the provisions of relevant tax laws of the state, NGSIRS executive chairman Mohammed Etsu noted.
“What we are doing is in line with the provisions of the relevant tax laws,” said Mr Etsu.
Mr Etsu identified the affected banks and their liabilities as Stanbic IBTC (N113.2 million), Polaris Bank (N74.8 million), UBA (N68.9 million), Union bank (N47.1 million), First Bank (N45.7 million), Heritage Bank (N31.5 million) Unity Bank (N14 million) and GTB (N8.2 million).
Others listed by Niger included AEDC Plc, with a debt of N45.8 million, Aloe Vera International Hotel (N3.9 million), and Rashida Restaurant (N3.2 million).
Mr Etsu noted that the NGSIRS’ efforts to make the defaulting organisations pay their tax debts yielded no positive results, leading to the sealing of their business premises.
While he called on other debtors to pay their outstanding tax liability to prevent the NGSIRS from shutting down their offices.