The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, has disclosed that the federal government will soon harmonise taxes paid by jetty operators to address double taxation and promote the ease of doing business.
Mu’azu who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja in a meeting with the Technical Sub-Committee of the Presidential Standing Committee on Private Jetties (PSCPJ), led by its chairman, Engr Joseph Ororo, noted that operators are more often made to pay multiple registration fees by different regulatory agencies such as the National Inland Waterways and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.
Speaking on the committee’s mandate of licensing jetties and closure of illegal platforms, the minister appreciated their exploits while advising that their inspections should not be restricted to timelines but should include unscheduled visits to jetties to ensure compliance with extant laws and regulations.
Earlier, the chairman, Technical Sub-Committee on Private jetties, Joseph Ororo, informed that the committee was created in 2004 to checkmate security breaches, economic sabotage, gun-running and other criminal activities which were traced to private jetties.
He said the Technical Sub-Committee is the expert arm of the Presidential Standing Committee on Private Jetties (PSCPJ), adding that prior to the constitution of the Standing Committee, there was a directive shutting down all private jetties across the country due to the intractable illegalities associated with them.
Ororo said the committee’s Terms of Reference include to re-open all jetties deemed vital to the economy of the country as well as to examine all the remaining closed jetties and recommend those to be retained and those to remain permanently closed.