‘It’s designed to protect local bakers’ — Kogi defends bread levy

The Kogi state government says the levy on bread in the state is not a new development. 

The Kogi chapter of the Association of Master bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN) had said it received a memo from the state’s ministry of commerce imposing a levy to be paid “on each loaf of bread”.

A member of the association identified as Godfirst had expressed displeasure in the development, saying, “we are facing different types of challenges, and if they are now asking us to pay another tax, we don’t know how we can cope”.

But Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi commissioner for information, said in a statement on Friday that the levy was already in place but modified to protect indigenous bakers in the state who complained about the activities of bakers from outside the state.

He said the move will ensure that the external bakers “who bring their bread to the state without paying any form of levy” will now be taxed.

According to him, the levy is on every bread sold, and not just those baked in the state.

“Let us place on record that the levies are not new. Indigenous bakeries have been paying all their levies to the State Government in compliance to our revenue law,” Fanwo said.

“The recent letter was one of our strategies at protecting our Indigenous bakers and also protect our economy from the activities of bakers outside the State who bring their bread to the State without paying any form of levy. No responsible Government will sit by and watch her indigenous businesses lose the local market.

“Our indigenous bakers have complained bitterly about the activities of external bakers who packed their bread to the State in trucks and sell without paying anything to the State Government. Poor sales by our bakers may lead to job losses, a situation we are determined to use legitimate means to avert.

“As a Government, we have put in place tax relief measures to protect businesses from the unfortunate fangs of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are not insensitive to the plight of business owners at this critical period.”

Fanwo told TheCable that the levy is not an additional burden on the indigenous bakers whom he said were already being charged per loaf.

“The levy is for bread sold in the state, not only the bread baked in the state. The previous levy was also charged per loaf. So nothing has changed for them,” he said.

“We assure the master bakers of our open door policy and our readiness to keep listening to them in order to smoothen relationships and factors aiding their production as bread consumers have nothing to fear.”