The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and telecommunications companies in Nigeria, on Thursday, in Lagos, inaugurated an Industry Working Group (IWG) that will assist them in tackling the hydra-headed problem of multiple taxations and regulations and imposition of frivolous levies on the telecoms operators.

The setting up of the group, which drew its membership from the NCC, telecommunications companies and the telecoms subscriber advocacy body,  followed years of battle by the telecoms operators with all sorts of multiple taxations and levies from various regulatory agencies in the country.

Stakeholders have reiterated that the issue is reversing all the observable growth being witnessed in the sector.

According to Mr Okechukwu Itanyi, an Executive Commissioner of NCC, multiple and frivolous taxations have been a sore point for operators in the telecoms sector, with losses arising from non-compliance running into millions of naira.

Mr Itanyi said in the last few months, the industry had been witnessing cases of forceful closure of Base Transceiver Sites in various parts of the country by agents of states and local government for reasons bordering on non-payment of what they described as "spurious levies and taxes, which in most cases, cannot find any firm basis in the laws of the land."

He noted that the high incidence of closure of BTS sites in the country, when added to the current socioeconomic realities in the country, portended grave danger to the telecoms sector.

"This problem, if not quickly addressed, could even erode all the gains of the past 10 years in the industry," he said.

He decried the rate at which various state governments were latching on to the modest gains of the telecoms sector to shore up their internally-generated revenue, saying with the inauguration of the IWG, which cuts across various stakeholder groups in the industry, urgent steps would be taken to stem the menace.

 "The mandate of this group would be to carefully articulate the industry' position on the dangers of multiple taxation and engage relevant levels of government with the aim of stopping imposition of illegal taxies and levies on telecoms operators in the country," he added.

Reeling the terms of reference of the industry working group, Mr Itanyi  said that the Group would liase with the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Joint Tax Board to ensure a fair and equitable taxes and levies regime for operators within the industry, as well as review the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act of 2008, which he said, had become moribund.

While clarifying that the objective of setting up the group was not to shield the telecoms companies from performing their legal tax obligations, the Head, Compliance and Monitoring Unit at NCC, Mr Ephraim Nwokonuoya, said: “The objective of the industry working group is to address the issue of illegal imposition of frivolous taxes and levies on the operators and while ensuring that the closure of telecoms infrastructure in the country, among sundry issue set to achieve with the standing working group.”