Kogians have been worrying over the fact that the state government does not derive the desired benefits in terms of revenue and personnel from Dangote Cement Company located in Obajana, a few kilometres from Lokoja, the state capital.
In view of the dwindling financial fortunes of the state, which has hampered infrastructural growth, indigenes of the state have always asked to know about the strength of revenue from the multi-billion naira cement company.
A former Commissioner for Solid Mineral Resources, Barrister Bamidele Suru who is also human resources development consultant has disclosed that the revenue accruing from the company to the state coffers is negligible.
In an interview with our correspondents recently, Barrister Suru pointed out that the only way to benefit from the company is to buy shares in the company, which the state failed to do at inception.
The former Commissioner stated that what the state government enjoys from the cement company as revenue is derivable from Pay As You Earn (PAYE), stressing that it amounts to nothing, at the end of the day.
“PAYE is very minimal these days, because these days, companies have a way of evading it by putting the salary of their workers very small and increasing their allowances. So, most of the foreign nationals are not paying the tax, along with their Nigerian counterparts,” he said.
He added, “You cannot ask a company as big as Dangote Cement Company to remit PAYE as revenue. In the end, the entire state is short-changed.”
Suru argued that the state had opportunity to buy equity shares between 2003 and 2005, but had no political will to do it, maintaining that the entire idea behind Dangote Cement Company is not successful.
On the way forward, he said that all hope are not lost as the state government can still invite the company to a round-table, with all the miners in the state that are not paying revenue to the state.
He contended that no state can depend on PAYE and expects to pay salary of workers and embark on infrastructural developments.
Credit: The Graphic
