THE issue of multiple taxation plaguing Nigeria�s telecommunication industry appears insurmountable as the Rivers State government has asked each telecoms company in the state to pay N25 million each as radioactive and toxic emission fees.
The state government has also given the telecom operators an ultimatum of 14 days, from July 23, 2008 to pay up. But the telecoms operators have stated that the state had no single tax penny to collect from them.
The fees are said to be in accordance with Section 11, subsection (1) and (2) of the Environmental Sanitation Authority Law of the state, Cap 52, (1991), which confers on the Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Authority the power and authority to maintain a clean and healthy environment in its area of operation.
�In the event of your failure to comply, the authority shall not hesitate to commence proceedings against your company at the sanitation court,� Chief Executive of the agency, Chief Nnamidi Wokekoro, said in a letter, dated July 23, 2008 and addressed to one of the companies.
A reply sent to the agency by the chairman of the Association of Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, referred the agency to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which places telecommunications under the Exclusive Legislative List.