From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar Professor Florence Obi says the institution is on course to defray the tax arrears and levies estimated at about 3.7 billion naira to the Cross River State government.
Professor Obi made this known at the UNICAL International Conference Centre during an event to mark her 4th anniversary in office.
She said besides this, her administration has also cleared all taxes and levies owed the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.
She said the taxes and levies were largely owed by previous administrations but she is certain that after her tenure no tax burden will be passed onto another administration.
“We are currently discussing the modality of paying off Cross River State government backlog of tax arrears and levies owed by previous administration which is about 3.7 billion naira.
“We are certain that on the completion of our tenure, there will be no tax burden passed onto another administration.
“The huge amount of money owed as taxes to the FIRS by previous administrations have all been cleared in the present administration.
“Also, there has been consistent and timely remittance of deducted taxes which earned us in July 2024 a letter of commendation from FIRS.
“The settlement of these taxes – Value Added Tax, Withholding Tax and Stamp Duty have brought a lot of relief to the institution”, Professor Obi said.
She also disclosed that her administration inherited 3 years of unprepared and unaudited annual accounts for 2018, 2019 and 2020.
According to her, “this attracted condemnation from our supervisory and regulatory agencies.
“Thus far, we have cleared the backlog and are currently in the preparation and auditing of yearly accounts including those for 2021 and 2022; while 2023 is at an advanced stage of completion.
“This development both signifies probity and transparency in the affairs of the University as the cardinal principle of my administration”, she said.
Professor Obi also listed other achievements to include the completion of abandoned projects which became an albatross to the institution and posed a problem in accessing new interventions from funding agencies.
She said she will want to be remembered as an administration that stood for all round academic excellence.