 The federal government of Nigeria has just announced the 1,000 Naira levies to be paid by car owners as proof of ownership every year. The chief collector has just walked in and would like to have a quick chat with him. Mr Erizi? Yes, Mr Erizi. It's okay. So yeah, it's just this sort of ownership levies. It's just 1,000. It's not a lot. Nigeria complains too much. It's just 1,000 per year. It's not even per month. It's per year. So it's not in big deal. It happened in other country. Other country they collect levies, they just have to pay. But it's just 1,000. What are the incentives then? Incentives? I don't understand. Please comment. What motorists get in return for this 1,000? It's very simple. We give receipts. Yeah, it's transparent government. It's transparent. We give receipts. Because we don't say, okay, thank you. But no, we give you receipts. Anywhere you go in the world, you have proof that you pay the money. You have a good decision of Nigeria. Okay, all right. Don't answer your question. I don't understand. I don't understand it. Yeah, what about Mr Erizi? God, don't show it to the deaf young. How do you... Well, I was expecting you just to say... I was expecting you to say what incentive... I don't know how to explain incentive directly. It's okay. I have to play that video. When I saw it this morning, I laughed so hard. All right, so thanks for staying with us. Now, the permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Abdulla Hafiz Teriola said, I was stated that the proof of ownership certificate would help vehicle owners and the government assure the integrity of all vehicles registered on the national vehicle and identification scheme database and track car theft and recovery of stolen vehicles. Now, according to him, Lagos State will commence the collection of this fee for the proof of ownership certificate from motories beginning in July that's this month's 2023 based on National Bureau of Statistics. However, their data. Nigeria has about 11.7... It had 11.76 million vehicles in Q2 of 2018 with a car per population ratio estimated at 0.06. Multiple reports indicate that approximately 400,000 vehicles are imported into Nigeria annually with an approximation of 12 million vehicles in the country and the optimistic assumption that everyone fully complies the dutifully and dutifully pays rather the required 1,000 Naira to the federal government. This will potentially result in an estimated gross receipt of 12 billion Naira from the implemented tax. Now, is this tax necessary and where would the revenue generated from the annual vehicle ownership verification fee go to? Now, please, let's hear what you have to say. Remember, you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp is read 1 80384663 you can also do that as a wish after one of the hashtag wish show. Okay, 15.507 million registered vehicles in West Africa and Nigeria accounts for about 11.869 800,000 vehicles with that amount. That's according to a report. The commencement of the annual collection levy of ownership certificate for vehicles registered within Lagos it says it takes effect from the 1st of July so most Nigerians have criticized this levy viewing it as an additional burden and form of exploitation by the government. Currently, what do we even pay for vehicle registration in Nigeria? I can't even because I have not done my registration myself so maybe you guys at the back end can help me pull out that number. Because the fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader, PwC Mr Taiwa Edeli has described the introduction of this renewal of proof of ownership for cars as retrogressive, ill-conceived and poorly designed. It's like taking us backwards. He said he was reacting to the policy via Twitter posting he emphasized that they recently introduced annual renewal of proof. So you're going to be renewing it annually. Renewal of proof of ownership for cars should not be implemented because it will set a bad precedent for more retrogressive taxes according to him apart from the payment which seems to be solely for revenue generation and more for non-state actors than for government. It is illogical for people to have to prove annually that they own a vehicle for which they already have a certificate of proof of ownership issued by that same government. Why do I need to come back to you to say Mr. Gedikau because like I don't understand the policies. Why is my voice going off? I don't understand the policies that so I get the fact that we are trying to drive revenue and generate ways to make income and all of that but I think this one was not just thought through because when you register your car that's why I said I want to know how much. I know that there's a total package but I get to register my car but I don't know the exact amount that's proof of ownership costs but you know when you do your first registration you have a permanent certificate that's that proof of ownership you have it. It used to be free Before this 1000 years You know because we pay we pay a total package so I don't really know how much it used to be free So what are your thoughts on this? It's just like you said it's quite interesting that you'll be made to prove that you're the owner of a vehicle every single year after you have paid first of all package sum or a lump sum you paid a lump sum for vehicle registration proof, you know the whole documentation proofing that okay I either bought this car brand new or I bought this car off someone else and there is I feel like where this will come in or where this should come in is if within the cost of a year I transferred ownership to you then you have to prove that then you then go and do change of ownership documentation I know you don't really need to do it I'm saying that it will make better sense to me if you tell me that it's at that point when you even do that change of ownership documentation in my head when you are changing the ownership the documents name and all of that it will come with a new certificate that shows the new owner's name do you understand that's what I'm saying that if the charge was to come at that point then it will make better sense to me that you're actually changing the ownership of the vehicle so proving that that new person or proving that the whole process of changing from me being the owner to you being the owner transfer of ownership where to come there I would understand it because the ownership is being changed because it's already a charge so they said under the new regime the experience will now pay $18,750 that's the lump sum for the standard private and commercial number plate against the old rate of $12,500 so they have because it's a lump sum it comes with your number plate it comes with your documentation and all of that right so if I want to change my ownership engine my fee that comes with it so it's no longer engine that is on the paper it is now over that is on the document so that is already an action because before I can do that I have to pay a lump sum of money to the government so I mean for me I feel like very soon they will resume what's they called now tolls they will resume tolls you're already paying your personal income taxes you're paying a lot of tariff on fuel or costs for fuel you're paying a very high tariff on electricity right I mean if you're not doing electricity you're also alternating those power source for probably generators and you get fuel and all of that food cost of living is quite high so I mean for the government I think that you have to be a lot more creative but let me come to you Jennifer let me come back to my thoughts because I just feel like this is just ill thought so following what Nishitao Yedale said I mean he talked about how this cost is becoming too much for Nigerians especially now that subsidy has been removed food prices have gone up skyrocketing transportation is very expensive so it's like asking the citizens to pay extra money but the permanent secretary of Ministry of Transportation according to him cannot rationalize this new law that is about to take place or that has already even said it taking place so Mr. Abduha fees said that the procedure is aimed at ensuring real time tracking and maintaining the integrity of vehicle records on the national vehicle and identification scheme database he also said that the renewal process is part of the government's commitment to keeping accurate and up to date records of vehicle ownership which is crucial for effective traffic management law enforcement and public safety so everything that he is just saying is that there is a reason and a reason for why they are charging us this particular amount is just for record purpose we already pay an annual vehicle registration vehicle renewal document vehicle license every year do you understand so if you really want to keep track of the vehicles that are on your road there is that document do you know that if you like don't pay from now to 2027 the day you want to pay in 2028 it will accumulate because it is an automated payment structure it will accumulate all your bills and give you all the bills you paid it is already standard in the system do you understand that I have to prove to you that I own a car that I already own does it make sense to me it doesn't make any sense to me now where I think me is the big question that I want to ask the government where will this money go to because clearly this is an extra channel for income generation right so we know that 1000 naira is not a joke let's even take the statistics that was given that the projections about 12 billion naira is not a joke so what would that money what would it be used for and I think it should be more than that do you understand because one household can have 10-15 vehicles some people that do run transport services and all of that they already pay and these are double taxations because these people already have very very strong levies that they are paying if you are driving commercial vehicles or even motorcycles or whatever there are charges that you are paying you keep also you should not also forget these agbe roads that we have on our roads that collect daily income from this commercial bus drivers you are going on the road so it's like for every single time you turn left right and center for AA and income that is so slim why all of these things is bothering me is because it goes back to the consumers now all of us go sufferer do you understand we would also suffer this because it will go back to food it will go back to what's it called power it will go back to every single thing you know so if the government is sincere enough to tell me that XYZ number of billions or millions will be generated from this money and they would channel that money to XYZ projects right then we can now sit down probably to have a conversation join us then to say okay yes maybe we should follow through your roads are terrible very very horrible roads like literally you would drive on our roads in Nigeria and you would have body aches right you have headaches I get sick every single time I go to visit my children in Oshun state I get sick every single time but I don't have a choice I have to go your roads are terrible that is a wear and tear on my vehicle I know how much it is one of my vehicle that has been parked for a month I know how much I am spending to try to fix that car back to shape because of what bad roads I was saying to someone that see Nigerians don't even mind paying all these levies if you won't tell us to come and pay 1000 naira for fuel we also don't mind to do that but you see for you to do that you have to put certain infrastructures and a minute is in place what use is it that I will spend so much money right and I will end up burning all that money on a standstill gridlock like you are literally genuinely agitating my spirit because now a lot of people are angry you see a lot of angry drivers on the road now you now come back again and say you know what this car that you own you have to pay me 1000 naira every day there are banks I don't know whether banks still do that they have poor cars they can have a fleet of 50 cars in their line do you understand and they will be paying 1000 naira every year for what so until the federal government is clear on telling us exactly what this vehicle tracking of which vehicle if I when they say they wanted to track vehicles stolen vehicle how when we even have sophisticated car trackers some companies like ray trackers they have created those sophisticated car trackers have they been able to track vehicle when I saw that part it begs the question so are we paying 1000 naira how do the tracking work how do you intend to even when it comes to tracking you already have like MTN and the rest of them that have been helping over the time to even track maybe like mobile phones track car then when you have the same card in the tracking devices so the networks have been helping with that so I'm curious to see how this 1000 can be proven that it also assists in car tracking you know I just feel like our leaders just sometimes this is it I just feel like sometimes they just think that were stupid I think that's the word because some of the excuses you hear sometimes you actually ask yourself you're an elderly man did you really really put this thing into talk before you said it to 200 million people live on TV how do you feel when your children see this kind of lack of knowledge and wisdom just being like you're not even putting it to good use like come out and give information I feel like our leaders don't inform they just come and tell you it's a lot of fraud it's true they just come out and give you a whole lot of baseless information and then sometimes I just look at some of the information and then like these guys must really feel that we're just walking around they've called those lazy Nigerian youths already so they just feel like everyone is walking around senseless I think it's because typically Nigerians when things like this come out we take it sitting down we complain for what 2 days, 3 days and everyone just complies we just fall in line and go with it they said this one again and it's actually quite alarming that they're bringing something like this up I mean it just removes subsidy people have been complaining about the cost of well people have been complaining about the high cost of transportation and now this so doing something like this also means that for people who will be using public transportation transport might increase so bus drivers are going to tell you from this location to this location you're not going to be paying $200 anymore you have to start paying $300 and that's like a lot on people's income and then when you think about it it's already slim so the people who are already spending a lot of money on transporting their goods feeding their family and then buying food it's like oh you're adding extra it might seem like nothing to some people but over time it's actually a lot the ripple effect it's and the reason why they're selling this is because we accept it yeah that's what she's saying that we sit down and I'll speak to that but let's quickly go on a break let's come back when we come back from the break we'll continue the conversation say with us I think she's telling us now if you just tuned in we're discussing the what's it called proof of ownership the annual vehicle ownership verification fee and then the conversation send us an sms or whatsapp to 081 803-4663 you can also tweet at us at Weissho after one of the hashtag Weissho alright so you know what Jennifer spoke to spoke on rather before we went on a break when you talked about how Nigerians are actually they know that Nigerians will always sit still and take everything that I mean the government brings I don't know if you've been following the incident that's been happening in France you know I remember that when I was in France there was I think the price of milk had gone up and by one very tiny fee right I mean the whole train workers all of them they just any little thing that happens in France is strike they shut down the train shut down the shut down that you know so this particular one that has happened about the 17 year old boy that was killed look at the way they are burning down things like bringing down industries right and all of that so I say to anybody that cares to listen Nigerians are the most easiest people to govern we do not have problem like Nigerians are so easy to govern all you need to do as the person is just put in the right things Nigerians will not bother you we won't ask for you to give us anything if you put the things in place give us good rules give us correct electricity give us good infrastructure Nigerians don't bother people we actually love to get the job done and you know fend for ourselves some other what's it called countries in the world any little thing like this they have pain in their finger they expect their government to come and cure the pain they have headache the government should come and cure the pain Nigerians are not like that do you understand maybe because of what we've seen over the years we don't demand for too much so when we ask for things government should at least have some level of conscience that these people are not demanding people the people all they just ask for are basic amenities so can you do that for us give us the basic amenities and stop over taxing us already we are the ones that we are our own government we will provide our road because some people have had to build their own roads themselves we provide our power we provide every single thing that we will use to live in the country provide our own food and now for every single opportunity you get as a government to give us multiple taxation we already paying taxes for goodness sake already an annual levy for vehicles that you pay every year you must pay it to register your vehicle to renew your license so why do we need to now come and say we want to reprove to you that we own the car that we own you as a government have you proven to us anything right so we need to learn we need to understand that this particular levy whoever thought through thought it through we didn't think it well because it's actually baseless I already bought something I have a receipt for it and you now come back and tell me that you need to show me that you doesn't even make sense I need to show I have to come back for you to issue me a receipt that you already given me before to say that I still own the property I didn't tell you that I sold it nothing happened and that issue about tracking not feasible because I know how much we pay for car tracking it's not feasible 1,000 naira to track what vehicles that are by the minute people are stealing cars in this country in 2 seconds you can't find a car anymore I say you want to track what vehicle where you have very poor borders that a car is stolen there was a day right in front of where it was in abuja they just took a car enough for the swift because of course the person also knows how notorious abuja it is for stealing cars so it was quick action do you know that by the time they found that car I think it was in lokoja or something they had dismantled the car already and they were going to sell it in parts this is that how the syndicated car theft people that's how they operate in Nigeria so you not tell me that you government you not be able to solve other problems you want to come and help me find my car oh my gosh is the lack of empathy for the common man that actually you see these 2 weeks break that we took it was important because I know that I will be able to come to Nigeria it's one issue from every single day there is one issue that is coming up when I don't see work anymore not to discharge people is it not just one thousand year annually if it's just one thousand year annually pay it on our behalf no I buy into your pain and it's not even just your pain is everybody's pain the lack of empathy from government is just incredible really it's bewildering because you not thinking about the common man and with the series of changes and challenges that we've been having in the last since the new administration was sworn into power we've been having back to back billions and it's it's affecting everyone it's affecting food, transportation everything everybody's asking for salary increment and the thing is that the law that mandates that organizations based on the current challenges are forced to do something about it so a lot of CEOs are sitting back and just watching because everybody's trying to save their funds they are running a business not an NGO so even before they make they even need clarification and authority and proof to show that okay if we do this now if we do this increase we're looking at this kind of projection because as a business you always have to consider such things like I said you're not running an NGO so it's quite traumatizing that the government will just lack of empathy they'll just bill you this week next week transportation has increased tomorrow it's okay that they will face and very soon will barrels will be paying they're already paying it would have even been better like we had good roads then some of us will say let's ride bicycle I'm telling you when this whole petrol fuel increase was in the news when it started I saw a man on an electric bike and I was like that's the next place to go not even anything you just when there's light you're part of an exercise you ride it because really but that's the thing there's no good road so even when you try to make adjustments to your lifestyle in order to fit into the current situation and manage your cost and many it is available cannot accommodate it let me come to you Jennifer this is one of the reasons why I've never been in support of two hits right because I mean people keep saying oh there's a need for it you're paying some part of taxing but like there's bad road everywhere right even the like he told that you talk about the entire like he wrote their port holes everywhere there's nothing good so it's like you want to tax us but we're not seeing whether money is going into I think that people would happily pay for taxes if we can see what our money is doing if we can see what because it will work our money is being put into we can have to see the results right we need to see that oh we're having good roads we need to know that when rain falls my area will not be flooded our gonkin will not be flooded Surile area will not be flooded I need to know that oh when I go on the road we have clean drainage system everywhere is working things are working there is there's constant light I mean there are also increasing light they said they don't want to put a post on that one but that one is not going to be long live they will impose it soon so I think when a new administration came they said like okay time frame every month something we must hit these people with something so money must leave your pockets so I think right now once they pay we have a question though my number play is abuja is not legal where will I go and pay this that question because I normally renew my papers on abuja anyway they will probably be online so let us say this let us assume July face I am not entitled to pay it for that I will wait till abuja tells me that even if it takes effect for new ones I should think that it takes effect for ones that have expired so you want to renew because it won't make sense if they tell everyone who has paid but I was going to say that for lack of ideas from the government might I suggest some things for you to generate income we already know you government you know that your system is over bloated the salaries that your people and the allowances that they take let's go from your national assembly all the way you know that those are avenues to actually save a lot of income for the people I think you should try as much as possible to avoid this already agitated Nigerians because you see it will get to a point where you know they chase goats when it gets to a junction there is nowhere to run to it to turn back and bite you so we are begging the federal government look within to generate this revenue if you do a project will cost a billionaire government will write 10 billion dollars on that same project you will not only write 10 billion dollars you will not complete that project you will not only not complete that project you will use inferior products on that project that would ensure that next year again will revisit that project in the project so there are so many avenues in generating income and saving your already depleting income right 1000 naira to your citizens you think it's small money but it's not because what it is now a lot of us are bleeding dry a lot of Nigerians are not excited particularly about all this unnecessary multiple taxes that we have to pay so if for anything at all if you really care about us as a people you would avoid because it could attack on our personal income because we don't have any income that is increasing so it is the small whatever that we have we try to buy expensive food we try to buy expensive fuel we try to buy expensive power we try to pay so much to fix our cars that the roads that you create that damages the car on a month on month on basis so if there is anything that we say to the government look within to drive for revenue because it is not it is not sitting well with any Nigerian right now we are already tired the local government council people will come they will say they want to collect the other day here would you put up how much they said they should come and pay they will come to your businesses they will come to your private they come everywhere that they want to collect taxes for goodness sake where is the money now where is the money ladies the planned annual renewal of proof of purchase of vehicles is a mischievous and a shady attempt to generate revenue for the government the last government over borrowed and an incoming government must tidy its books by anymore we should not be made to suffer for the financial recklessness of leaders Nigerians should reject it in its totality thank goodness some lawyers are challenging it in court where will that end today is cars tomorrow will be bikes and tricycles and even horses where you have to renew where you have to renew your proof of ownership of your house every year the government should have a database of vehicle owners or current owners when they go for an annual MOT test it's very sad that this government is putting off this nonsense annual vehicle ownership vehicle this shows that Nigeria is a criminal society that is run by heartless criminals Santos calm down who are made mention of her experience on the bad road we shouldn't be talking about this or complaining if things are going on well and right she's still made mention of the government being there without any shadow of doubt we Nigerians are demanding we do not have any problem we are not like other countries let our government cooperate and make things available and easy for us my name is Daniel Illo thank you so much ladies I think we ran out of time now before we go and show you follow us across all social media handles as we show Africa interact with us further drop a comment and more importantly follow all our engagements on social media of course but today here it is again we believe that the POC will help track the real time status and guarantee the integrity of all vehicles registered on the national vehicle and identification scheme database this was from the permanent secretary of the legal state government Mr. Abdulafiz Toriola now we'll see you guys tomorrow at 8pm as we bring another great conversation to your screen