- The Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife was unsealed barely one week after it was sealed by the Osun state government for non-remittance of taxes
- The state government disagreed with the school stating that the tax remittance owed by OAU for 2015 to 2016 audit stands at N1.8 billion
One week after Osun State authorities shut Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, over tax default, workers returned on Tuesday, May 8, to the reopen Senate Building and other administrative blocks, Premium Times reports.
NAIJ.com gathered that Abiodun Olanrewaju, the spokesperson for the school said: “The Senate Building is presently open and I am in my office likewise other staff, the Senate was reopened yesterday evening for activities.”
The special adviser to the state governor on tax matters, Gbenga Akano, said “Several meetings have been held with affected organisations, but it has been a continuous imperviousness and indebtedness. We are left with no option than to openly mention some tax defaulters who failed to perform their civic responsibilities.”
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Olanrewaju while reacting to the allegations, debunked the claim by the Osun IRS, that the institution is owing N1.8 billion in tax, which led to its closure.
The spokesperson explained that the past tax liability, which represents the sum which the IRS claimed that the university under-deducted from staff salaries for the period 2015 and 2016 for PAYE, has been a subject of negotiations between the university and the State IRS.
He also disputed the figure of N1.844 billion submitted by the IRS and insisted that if there had been under-deduction at all, only the sum of N384 million was the amount by which PAYE was under-deducted from staff salaries.
In a previous report by NAIJ.com, the Osun Internal Revenue Service (IRS), on Wednesday, May 2, reportedly shut down activities at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) over alleged non-payment of over N1.8 billion tax debt to the state government.
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The New Telegraph reports that men from the revenue service carried out the action after obtaining a court order.
They reportedly stormed the institution as early as 7am and sealed the Senate building, the administrative block and the bursary department.
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Source: Naija.ng