Private school proprietors decry tax regime in Ondo

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko
| credits: File copy

Members of the Ondo State Association of Proprietors of Private Schools have frowned on tax regime in the state, describing it as “suffocating and obnoxious.”

The President of the association, Goke Orimoloye, stated this while briefing journalists in Akure.

He alleged that the taxes collected from its members were suffocating the private education development in the state.

According to him, the association can no longer keep quiet, as the government collects an aggregate tax levies amounting to N3m annually from an average private school.

Orimoloye, while urging the state government to regularise its tax policy, noted that members of the association faced frequent harassment from officials of both the Ministry of Education and local governments.

The government agents, he alleged, sometimes, lock up the schools and chase away their students.

The NAPPS President said, “The Board of Internal Revenue collects N2m yearly. We pay the Ministry of Education a renewal college fee for (college) N125,000 and N80,000 for primary.

“We pay N30,000 to the local government on Premises Business. The Ministry of Education also collects N90,000 for Junior Secondary School 3 examination for 60 students, while in the Senior Secondary 2 examination, we pay N55,000 for 55 pupils.

“For the primary six school examination, the ministry also collects from us, N50,000 for 50 pupils. Our tenement rates which we pay to the local government is between N50,000 and N120,000 yearly.

“Local government vehicle document (mobile advert) is N20,000 and signage to the Board of Internal Revenue is N15, 000.

“Rebranding of vehicle in FRSC colour (per bus) N150,000. We are also paying N50, 000 re-accreditation fees for colleges and N30,000 for primary. For sanitation, we pay N50,000. In total, the ministry is collecting N480,000 yearly from us, local government, N50,000; Board of Internal Revenue, N2,015,200; FRSC, N150,000 and Ministry of Environment, N50,000.”

Orimoloye said it was only in the state that private school proprietors paid exorbitant taxes, especially in the South West.

He added, “For instance, we are paying N125,000 for renewal fee, while Ekiti pays N39,000, Edo, N11,000; and Osun collects 30,000. Presently, Ogun State is not collecting renewal fees from private school proprietors.”

Orimoloye, who said members of the association were providing employment Nigerians, urged the Governor Olusegun Mimiko to redress urgently the situation.