Nigerians will soon start to pay vehicle emission tax. Payment of the tax may commence as early as the next quarter of the year. The payment of the tax comes as the Federal Government through the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) is set to implement its National Vehicular Emission Control Programme (NVECP). The idea is to control vehicle emissions because combustion engine vehicles are known to be a major source of air pollution. They produce significant amounts of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
The Director-General of NESREA, Professor Aliyu Jauro, during his visit to the Oyo State Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday told Nigerian Tribune that “Some states have already started testing their vehicles. So there is a need to harmonise and have one common standard such that when you test your vehicle in one state, you can move freely throughout the federation – all the 36 states and the FCT. If it is not harmonised there will be a lot of challenges.
“The essence of this is to ensure that we have clean air and tackle climate change and also generate employment for youth as well as revenue that can be used for carbon sequestration which addresses climate change.”
He said “We need to have the buy-in of the states for us to harmonise as soon as we have finished talking with them through the Joint Tax Board (JTB). Then we will flag off the programme as soon as possible. There will be enforcement for those who refuse the test. For those vehicles that don’t pass the test, they will be required to go and fix their vehicles so that they emit within the specified limits.
“It is going to start in the second quarter as soon as we are done with the JTB.”
At the meeting, the Executive Chairman of the Oyo State IRS, Adebowale Awakan, said: “We already have emission control in Oyo State. What the NESREA DG has come to do is laudable so that what we are charging in Oyo State will be the same in Lagos State and all states of Nigeria.”
The IRS expressed optimism that NESREA’s initiative will be ratified at the next meeting of the JTB. “It is the JTB that will decide on what you can take in a state as per revenue. We handle the revenue known as road tax.”
The NESREA DG took the harmonisation campaign to other states in the Southwest including Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Kwara States.
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