The government signed the agreement with
the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Road Transport Employers
Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, and others on Tuesday.
The levy will see each commercial driver in
the state pay a consolidated levy of N800 to be shared among government
agencies and local governments.
The agencies to share the N800 collected
are LAWMA, LIRS, LASEPA, Ministry of Transportation, Local Governments, among
others.
With the levy, the LGs will not collect
levy from commercial drivers anymore as their shares have been inculcated in
the N800 levy per day for a commercial driver.
All commercial bus drivers will now be
issued tax cards by the Lagos Internal Revenue Service, LIRS, annually for
paying the N800 daily and roughly around N24,000 monthly.
At the signing of the agreement at the
Bagauda Kaltho 6Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, Commissioner for Finance, Dr.
Rabiu Olowo, explained that the fees covered monies for not just the local
government alone, but also that of clearing waste from the motor parks paid to
LAWMA, and pollution dues which was collected by LASEPA.
According to Olowo personal income taxes of
the drivers would also be deducted from the levy.
“The consolidated transport levy will
include the personal income tax of the drivers, include cost of taking care of
parks, include money for Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA; LG money and
others,” he said.
Olowo said the need to harmonise the
transport collection levy process became paramount as other associations have
template for collecting their dues.
He said from findings, a commercial bus
driver pay as much as N3,000 as levy on daily basis to the various unions and
government agencies, saying that has now been pegged at N800 per driver.
“We want to reduce the fees payable. The
levy will consolidate all levies; we want to build a reliable data base to know
those who are doing businesses in our state. Bus drivers will get tax card. We
want to bring about collaborative effort. It is imperative for Lagosians to
know this is a remarkable achievement. An average danfo driver pay N3,000
daily. Once they pay from the point of entry, that is all. It is N800 charge
per day.