Hundreds of air travelers were on Tuesday stranded at the Benin Airport as officials of the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue sealed off the administrative office of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria.
Both the entrance and the exit gates at the airport were closed to human traffic.
The state said it closed the FAAN office over alleged default in the payment of N15m employees' personal income tax for the year 2011.
Passengers of a local airline, which landed early at the airport, were disallowed from exiting the gates of the airport.
Chairman of state internal revenue board, Chief Oseni Elamah, however told reporters that the board did not seal off the airport, but offices of FAAN.
Elamah said, "In the past, we had to use judicial means to get the money from them. This time, we served them a notice, but they failed to respond to it. We had to serve them a court notice to that effect, to which they still did not also respond. Hence, we have to seal off their administrative office."
Speaking with one of our correspondents on the development, Head of Department, Public Affairs, Benin Airport, Mrs. Beauty Ogwum, simply said, "Only God will help us to resolve the situation. It is already on television."
Ogwum refused further comments.
Meanwhile, a statement by the General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said that the Edo State government officials claimed that the FAAN had not paid relevant taxes, including tenement rate, to the State Government.
The statement added that the action was in contravention of the laws setting up the FAAN's operations of the airport.
It added that Sub-Section 25, Section IV of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Cap. F5) of 2004, establishing the FAAN states clearly that "The Authority shall be exempted from the payment of taxes and tenement rates and any arrears whatsoever in connection thereto."
The Punch
Revenue is something really important in times like this country. It is a cool way to make Nigeria a better place. Good one.