The Adviser to the Governor of Ekiti state on Internally Generated Revenue, Ropo Ogunbiyi, has accused two telecommunication companies, MTN Nigeria Limited and Etisalat, of owing the Ekiti State Government about N50 million naira in signage and advertisement bills.
In its bid to recover the debt, the state agency on IGR has sealed of outlets belonging to the telecom companies in Ado Ekiti, the state capital. The affected outlets of the GSM companies include their main offices at Fajuyi Park and Okesa while two other outlets of telecoms giant, MTN at lyin road and Adebayo area were also sealed off.
Ogunbiyi said that his agency has legal backing for its action. He further said that both companies were formally notified about their indebtedness to the state government since 2006, but could not get any positive response from them.
He lamented that it was unfortunate that telecommunication companies of such calibre that have made so much fortune from the members of the public could find it difficult to pay their signage fees, adding that after a long period of waiting and entreaties, the board had no option left than to seal off the companies.
The revenue boss explained further that with the dwindling federal allocations, there is need for the state government to look inwards and generate more money internally so as to have enough funds to execute the numerous people-oriental projects of the State government.
