The Federal Inland Revenue Service has kicked against the imposition of additional taxes and levies on business owners to raise money for funding the Child’s Online Access Protection Bill.
The FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, represented by Mathew Osanekwu, made this known when he appeared before the House Committee on Justice in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to reports, the committee is holding a public hearing on a bill to provide for the Child Online Access Protection Bill 2023.
This bill also included other issues of online violence against Nigerian children and related matters.
Adedeji said the FIRS had already been given a target, and instead of levelling additional burden through taxation to fund the bill to become an Act, it should be funded through appropriation.
“The impression we have is that the funding will be through a levy. We already have eight different levies, and I advised that the funding should come by way of appropriation,” Adedeji said.
He added that this became necessary since FIRS was charged with collecting revenue for the government.
Speaking in support of the bill, he said: “Our position is that FIRS fully supports the bill, and its intention is a great initiative.
“We have to adopt global best practices; we observed that funding to make it happen is also in the bill, and in this, we have raised issues,” he said.
The Deputy Director, Legal, Nigeria Communication Commission, Abang Abua, who represented the commission’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Aminu Maida, said the commission was concerned about the method of funding in the form of taxation.
“We are concerned about tax because our operators are already inundated with taxes,” he said.
He said the commission had been very active in child online protection and had deployed child line protection protocol.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Legal, National Human Rights Commission, Pwadumoi Okoh, who represented the chairman, said the bill was a proactive step to ensure the rights of children were protected.
