Government of Abia will drop tax lawsuit against Okpara University
In response to allegations that the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, MOUAU, was not paying Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes to the state, the Abia State government has pledged to drop the lawsuit it filed against the university.
Due to suspected unremitted PAYE tax, the state’s Board of Internal Revenue, or BIR, initiated a lawsuit against the University two years ago.
During a courtesy contact with the institution’s management team, Governor Alex Otti made a vow to stop the State Board of Internal Revenue from pursuing legal action against the university.
He promised that the case will be dropped in order for the institution and the state to investigate it further and come to a final decision outside of court.
“As a government, we would never bring you to court,” he declared. We’re going to investigate it and stop it since it existed before us. It is not logical.
“I will give the BIR Chairman instructions to end the lawsuit.” Nothing is too difficult for us to sit down and fix.
Earlier, the institution’s vice chancellor, professor Maduebibisi Iwe, had encouraged the governor to become involved in the legal case brought by the Abia State Board of Internal Revenue against the university for unpaid PAYE taxes. Prof. Iwe said they were paying the governor a courtesy call. Additionally, he pleaded with the governor to move quickly to provide the university a Certificate of Occupancy.
