The recent viral cry for help from a Calabar-based small business owner—who brandished eight different tax receipts forced out of their pocket in under six months [DZw59t8NXdQ]—is a sobering reality check for the Cross River State Government. It lays bare a painful truth that policy documents often obscure: the current enforcement strategy for expanding the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is actively killing the very entrepreneurs it should be nurturing.
Loading ...Governor Bassey Otu’s administration deserves acknowledgment for its ambitious economic vision, including the target to push annual IGR to ₦60 billion under the state’s new Tax Reform Act [premiumtimesng.com]. However, a fundamental truth of economics must not be forgotten: you cannot milk a cow by cutting off its feed. When micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are subjected to a chaotic, predatory barrage of overlapping levies from competing ministries, departments, and local government agents, capital flees. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has already sounded the alarm, noting that businesses are packing up and relocating to neighboring Akwa Ibom [businessday.ng/news/article/cross-river-moves-against-extortion-multiple-taxations/]. For a state seeking economic self-sufficiency, this capital flight is a self-inflicted wound.
The administration’s recent directives—such as suspending inter-city transport levies
[news.crossriverstate.gov.ng/gov-otu-suspends-ticket-sales-levies-on-inter-city-transport-operators/]
and outlawing cash collections to block predatory touts [premiumtimesng.com]—show that the government hears the groans of its people. But ad-hoc suspensions are temporary bandages on a deep structural fracture. What the Cross River business ecosystem desperately needs is the immediate passage and strict enforcement of the Tax Harmonisation Bill.
True ease of doing business requires predictability and simplicity. A business owner should receive a single, transparent, annual consolidated bill that clearly breaks down what is owed to the state and local governments. Shifting entirely to a digitized, single-window payment system will instantly strip rogue revenue agents of the power to harass, extort, and illegally lock storefronts.
Beyond policy, there must be accountability. The state must set up a swift, punitive mechanism to penalize overzealous or fraudulent collectors who continue to bypass the cash ban. If the government fails to rein in these aggressive collection tactics, the informal sector will simply pull back into the shadows, shrinking the tax base rather than expanding it.
Cross River cannot afford to lose its vibrant entrepreneurial class. Governor Otu must step in firmly, fast-track the single-billing framework, and ensure that the pursuit of government revenue does not become the death sentence for small businesses. True economic growth is built on the survival of the shopkeeper, the farmer, and the local manufacturer. Protect them, and the revenue will naturally follow.
