Taiwo Hassan 
The 3rd Council Meeting of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has called for the immediate suspension of implementation of the FIRS Tax Appeal Practice Direction by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court pending its revision.
The council is of the view that if the Tax Practice Direction, which compels companies to pay 50 per cent of assessed tax to FIRS before any appeal to contest the assessment is allowed to proceed, most businesses in the private sector will practically collapse.
The NACCIMA council disclosed this at the end of its meeting in Akure, Ondo State recently as part of its resolution. However, the resolution and call became necessary because feelers from the organised private sector indicate that many businesses have been struggling to survive an unfriendly business environment, which has been made even more difficult due to the COVID-19. Indeed, the council was convinced that MSMEs, which are currently the bedrock of the economy and provide most of the employment, will certainly be most hard hit and will not survive the implementation of Practice Direction, some of which provisions require enforcement and forfeiture of immovable property, freezing of a taxpayer’s bank account and sealing of their premises. With such action, many of them will go under and collapse under the weight of these provisions of the FIRS Practice Direction.
The council, therefore, called for immediate suspension of its implementation to enable a robust stakeholder engagement with the relevant authorities for a revision of the Tax Practice Direction of the FIRS and other onerous tax matters. While reacting to the Petroleum Industry Act, the NACCIMA Council stated that it was appropriate time for the OPS to become key players in the upstream, midstream and downstream of the sector.
“The PIB, which was signed into law by President Buhari, deserves our attention because the arrangements for implementation have been put in place. “Our focus should be how the private sector can become the key players in the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream of the Oil and Gas Sector,” the council said. National President of NACCIMA, Ide John Udeagbala, also enumerated his agenda for NACCIMA to include strengthening the collaboration between the private sector and the National Assembly, among others.
