Oyo seals IBEDC offices for tax debt after disco disconnected state secretariat over unpaid bills

“So, now we are saying that if they pay their electricity bill, we will pay the tax also,” an IBEDC official said.

News Agency of Nigeria • February 9, 2022

Seyi Makinde and IBEDC

The Oyo State government on Wednesday sealed the offices of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) in Ibadan metropolis, over outstanding tax debts.

The organisation earlier disconnected electricity supply to the state secretariat due to the huge amount of money owed by the state government.

Wasiu Olatubosun, the state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, in a statement, said the government ordered the closure of IBEDC offices due to debts owed by the company.

An official of IBEDC, who pleaded anonymity confirmed this to newsmen, saying “so, now we are saying that if they pay their electricity bill, we will pay the tax also,” the official said.

The IBEDC Chief Operating Officer, John Ayodele, had in a statement intimated the customers on the development.

“We appealed to the state government to look into the matter so as not to exacerbate the situation.

“The Oyo State Government on Wednesday, February 9, 2022, commenced the sealing of our offices within the state over some suddenly contrived debts labelled revenue bills and personal income without due notification.

“This issue of revenue bills and personal income arising now is quite suspicious.

“This issue of revenue bills and personal income arising now is quite suspicious. Oyo state government is owing IBEDC a whopping consumption outstanding of N450 million for over a period of three years,” the statement partly said.

He said that the company, as part of efforts to get the outstanding pay initiated, several engagements, through correspondences and physical meetings, took place, but all these efforts yielded no result.

However, Mr Olatunbosun dismissed claims that the state government sealed off the IBEDC offices because the company disconnected the government office.

He said that the company had been owing revenues, totalling over N400 million in the last two years.

The commissioner said that the state government had approached the High Court in Ibadan to seek an order to seal off the premises of IBEDC.

He said that this was because the company had been ignoring bills served by the State Board of Internal Revenue Service for the past two years.

(NAN)

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