An eminent human rights law, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has accused the federal government of raising charges on a variety of services but issuing orders to private operators to do otherwise.
In a tweet on Thursday, the former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said that it is wrong for the federal government to direct business operators not to increase prices of goods and services despite an increase in value added tax (VAT).
“Increased VAT, increased electricity tariff, increased petrol price, charges on POS, charges on ATM withdrawals, but private operators can’t adjust their prices under the watch of a government that keeps raising charges,” the Tweet reads
raising charges,” the Tweet reads
TNL recalls that to increase the government’s non-oil revenue, the 2020 finance act, which was signed into law in January, raised VAT from 5% to 7.5%, and implemented from 1st of February.
TNL further recalls that Multichoice Nigeria announced that it will implement the VAT increase from 1st of June and adjust prices to reflect the VAT. The company added that it did not start the implementation of the new VAT rate the time it took effect in order to provide relief for its customers.
It said the increase in VAT would see DSTV premium subscription rate move from N15, 800 to N16,200 while GOtv Max price will rise to N3, 280 from N3,200.
On Wednesday, the Acting Director-General of Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) ordered the management of MultiChoice to suspend the implementation of its new tariffs.
The remark of Idachaba was to give effect to the order of the House of Representatives. The lawmakers argued that Nigerians are facing hard times due to the coronavirus pandemic, adding that an increase in prices of goods and services would have more devastating effect.
Credit: https://thenigerialawyer.com
