Issues Affecting Businesses In Plateau State

Issues Affecting Businesses In Plateau State

The coalition in a dedicated research conducted in 2015/2016, identified four (4) priority issues affecting the smooth running of business in Plateau State. These include:

  • Lack of Peace and Security which leads to unfavorable business in Plateau State.
  • Multiple taxation which adds to the cost of doing business; leading to tax evasion and loss of revenue to the government.
  • Cumbersome Land Administration System which leads to high cost of land acquisition and bureaucracy in processing title documents which come with high cost thereby encouraging corruption.
  • Lack of a Central Market(s) which encourages street trading, hawking, thereby leading to loss of revenue to government and other negative social vices.

The policy recommendations arising from the four priority areas were adopted. PLACOBPA is using them to drive ongoing advocacy activities with the relevant Executive, Legislative and Judicial arms of government in Plateau State, as follows:

 

1. Lack of Peace and Security

  • The use of dialogue in conflict resolution should be institutionalized at all levels through regular town hall meetings (at least once every quarter across the 17 Local Government Areas), involving religious, political, traditional, women, youths and other opinion leaders.
  • The Plateau State Government in collaboration with the Federal Government and Local Government Councils should provide skill acquisition centres in strategic locations with the aim of building the capacity and creating jobs for at least 425 youths (25 per LGA) annually. Such trained youths and graduates should be empowered through loans/grants to establish their businesses. There should be follow-ups to ensure that those trained (existing and start-ups) are truly mentored to achieve ultimate goals.
  • The Police Community Relations Committee should be re-organized and re-invigorated at both the state, local government and village levels. The public should also be encouraged to provide useful information to the police; and such should be treated with the outmost confidentiality. A secured and peaceful environment will boost businesses, attract new investment from outside which will boost government revenues by over 50%.

PLACOBPA’s advocacy in respect of this particular policy recommendation has yielded the following outcomes:

  • Formation of State Peace Building Agency responsible for crisis management in the State.
  • Formation of Vigilante Groups in neighborhoods within the Jos/Bukuru Metropolis and at the local government and Village levels.

 

2. MultipleTaxation

  • All collectable taxes should be streamlined and modes of payments harmonized to facilitate efficient tax administration. Provision of peace and security, adequate infrastructure, capacity building/ethical re-orientation of staff, expansion of the tax base and adequate sensitization of the public will lead to multiple increase in the state’s IGR – that is from  the current  average of about N500 million per month to about N2 billion (N24 billion per annum).
  • Obsolete tax laws should be amended by the House of Assembly with inputs from critical stakeholders. The 9 tax reform bills currently before the house of assembly if considered and passed into law, will go a long way in expanding the collectible tax base and drastically improve the state’s IGR.

PLACOBPA’s advocacy in respect of this particular policy recommendation led to the:

  • Amendment of obsolete tax laws by the Plateau State House of Assembly with inputs from critical stakeholders after a public forum. The 9 tax reform bills which were sent to the House of Assembly were considered and passed into law in 2016, and have gone a long way in expanding the collectible tax base and have drastically improved the state’s IGR.
  • Harmonization of taxes and review of tax laws in the State with the passage of a Consolidated Internal Revenue Law, assented to and signed into law by the Governor which has gone a long way to boost the IGR of the State..
  • Introduction of friendly tax management policies.
  • Hosting by the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service of the Stakeholders Engagement on Taxation and Tax Performance Awards

 

3 Cumbersome Land Administration

  • The Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning, being the main Ministry responsible for land administration, should be reorganized for more effective performance.
  • The process of obtaining title documents such as C of O and R of O should be made less cumbersome in terms of timeline (at most 6 months) as well as cost (rates) should be reviewed and made more affordable to enable more people process their title documents. An improvement of the situation could lead to drastic improvement in estimated revenues accruable to the Ministry of Lands and Survey. The coalition opined that estimated loss over the last 16 years from title documents non-issuance alone could reach as high as N5.2 billion (N27 million per month or N325 million per year – cost is all inclusive – land forms, processing fees, site inspection, infrastructural provision, R of O/C of O).
  • The State Land Allocation Committee should meet on a bi-monthly basis and ensure that all land allocation issues are resolved and recommendations made for the issuance of the title documents

PLACOBPA’s advocacy in respect of this particular policy recommendation resulted in:

  • Completion of Plateau Geographic Information System (PLAGIS) for efficient land administration in the State.
  • Reduction of 50% charges on land title processing and ground rents charges

 

4. Need for Central Markets

  • Government should reconstruct and rehabilitate all the existing central markets in general and Terminus Central Market (Main Market) in particular to enable the thriving of trade and commerce. Rehabilitation of existing central markets, establishment of new central markets, creation of affordable stalls in the markets, allocating the stalls to traders, regular maintenance of the markets, transparent collection of taxes and rates from the traders will ultimately lead to the elimination of roadside trading and street hawking. The coalition is of the opinion that the estimates of losses due to non-functional Central Markets for the past ten years could amount to about N9.6 billion (N960 million per year) that is, if the estimated number of traders of about 160,000 within the Urban areas were to pay N6,000/year (N500/month) to Government.
  • Government should establish more Neighbourhood/Community based markets in strategic locations within the Jos/Bukuru Metropolis.

PLACOBPA’s advocacy in respect of this particular policy recommendation has propelled the government to act, leading to:

  • Signing of an MOU for the construction of the Jos Main Market by the State Government.
  • Massive public enlightenment campaign by government encouraging traders to move into available vacant spaces in the Rukuba Road Satellite Market at friendly rental costs.