Google asks Nigeria to simplify taxes, stem multiple payment

Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, the country manager for Google in Nigeria, has asked the Nigerian government to simplify taxes and end multiple taxation.

Ehimuan-Chiazor, also requested that the government should reduce fees involved in laying fibre optic cables to encourage development of infrastructure for the technology industry.

Speaking to Reuters, the Google boss said boosting the technology industry would help diversify Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy.

“The private sector can play a very strong role,” Ehimuan-Chiazor told Reuters, adding that internet service providers regularly complained that multiple taxes at the federal and state level raised the cost of expanding the required infrastructure.

“Where the government can help is just removing some of those obstacles – for example, bringing down right of way fees and removing this challenge around multiple taxation,” she said.

Ehimuan-Chiazor said Google had laid fibre optic cables in Uganda’s capital Kampala and in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, but said it had no similar plans in Nigeria.

The ministry of budget and national planning has outlined in the country’s  Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) that the government would encourage local production of technology hardware to reduce dependence on imports and generate foreign exchange.

The ambitious plan aims to create 2.5 million new technology jobs in 2017-2020 via a state-run training programme.