The House of Representatives has resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the level of compliance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) aided transport companies with the country’s extant tax laws.
The resolution was sequel to a unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Ganiyu Abiodun at plenary last Thursday.
Moving the motion, Abiodun said that in the global economy, ICT was often regarded as a strategic tool for achieving success and competitiveness in organisations.
“In recent times, ICT has had significant impacts on the way organisations operate, as it offers tremendous opportunities such as storing, processing, retrieving, disseminating and sharing of information,” he said.
The rep said that ICT has made transportation business very accessible, cheaper and lucrative especially in the urban areas.
“ICT has created many job opportunities for unemployed persons as the people’s desire for comfortable ride services have enabled companies such as Bolt and Uber spread widely across the country.
“Many transportation activities now occur through online booking and payments which make the ordering of the services easier and efficient.
“Informed that the average weekly earnings of Bolt and Uber drivers are about 60,000 to 120,000 while the companies take off 20 per cent and 25 per cent respectively as commission from the earnings of each driver operating on their platforms.
“Cognisant that the companies have benefited from facilities of the Federal Government such as road and security network which grants them ease of doing business, thus they ought to be fully accountable and up to date in tax remittances,” he said.
He said it was not clear whether the companies were fully compliant with the requirements of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, considering that the services were online.
In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker of the house , Rep. Ahmed Wase said that the committee, when constituted, would be expected to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.