The Osun State Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday sealed the Administrative Bock of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, over an N1.8 billion tax debt.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the officials of the service, who came with policemen and NSCDC personnel, put the gates of the block under lock and key after obtaining a court order.
The Public Relations Officer of the university, Mr Abiodun Olarewaju, told newsmen that the state government and the university had an agreement which the institution was complying with.
Olarewaju said that the university, being a federal institution, was committed to paying up the tax debt owed the state.
The spokesman, who appealed to the state government to give the university a respite, however, said fresh students just beginning their week of orientation were not affected as only the Administrative Block was sealed and not their departments.
According to Olarewaju, the management of OAU is law-abiding and will ensure prompt payment of its tax debt. (NAN)
Meanwhile, The Special Adviser to the Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola on Tax and Revenue Matters, Barrister Jimoh Olugbenga Akano has declared that the seal of Osun Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) pasted on the main gates of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife over N1.8 billion tax liability was in error.
He described as misleading and totally untrue online reports that staff of the institution removed the seal, disclosing that the state government ordered the removal of the seal because it was done in error.
Akano, who spoke during a telephone chat with the Nigerian Tribune maintained that OAU was owing the state government withholding tax and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax of its workforce estimated at over N1.8 billion, explaining that government only directed OIRS officials to paste the tax seal after expiration of a 7-day ultimatum lapsed.
