An economist, Mr Kelvin Emmanuel, CEO of Diary Hills Ltd, has knocked the federal government on its policy to impose an N1,000 mandatory annual payment for Proof of Ownership Certificate (POC) verification for all vehicles in Nigeria.
The new scheme was introduced by the Bola Tinubu-led administration Tuesday.
Lagos State jumped on it with its Permanent Secretary at the Transportation, Ministry Engr. Abdulhafiz Toriola, hurriedly announced Tuesday the levy will commence in Lagos on July 1.
Toriola spun the Proof of Ownership Certificate as serving as valid proof that a vehicle is legally owned by the registered individual or entity and will contain vital information such as licence plate number, model and year of manufacture, in addition to the owner’s name and address.
This new scheme comes within a month of a flurry of Tinubu’s policy reforms which appears to focus on amassing revenues from the government but very little on deliverables to the citizenry, millions of who are now desperately poor.
Mr Emmanuel said the new proof of ownership levy was merely “an excuse for revenue generation by the government. It’s not a step in the right direction”.
Emmanuel was speaking as a guest on The Global Business Report show on Arise TV this morning anchored by Rotus Odiri.
“Charging N1,000 as proof of ownership is an exercise that doesn’t align with global best practices given there’s already the Road Worthiness that VIOs issue to car owners.
“What government needs to do is harmonize taxes; revenue collection of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), NIMASA and Customs Service into the Nigerian Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as it’s done in other parts of the world.
“Nigeria doesn’t need excuses to generate revenue. There are clear ways to generate revenue in a structured manner based on international best practices that would not put an extra burden on the people”, he advised.
On social media, the new policy generated huge negative reactions with many accusing the administration of running an elitist, anti-poor economic agenda.
The National Bureau of Statistics puts its estimates of vehicles on Nigerian roads at about 12 million. If the policy goes through, it is easy to see how the government is eyeing a whooping N12 billion from Nigerian car owners annually.
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