Recently, I wanted to correct something in my CAC registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission. When I spoke to the person handling it, he asked whether I had been paying a certain fee. I told him no.
He said that the levy might have accumulated over the years and that I would have to pay it. So that is another payment that is already there.
Local government officials would come and ask us to make payments. They would ask us to go to their office to pay, but if you could not go there, they would collect the money themselves and bring the receipt to you.
My staff and I have not had to pay any unlawful or unofficial payments. We have not experienced that kind of situation.
Honestly, everything in Nigeria feels unfair to business owners. Almost every action directed towards business owners in this country is unfair. Many of us are simply trying to put our lives together. Some of us are graduates, some even have master’s degrees. Because we could not get jobs, we had to look inward and find solutions to problems around us. That is how many of us became business owners.
We went into business hoping that the government would support us. But if you want to get a loan as a business owner, it becomes a big problem. If you want to apply for grants, it is also very difficult. Sometimes, the application window is almost closed before they even start advertising it publicly. Meanwhile, ordinary individuals on social media sometimes support business owners more than the government does.
Even when you manage to see the opportunity, the process of getting it is very stressful. When the government collects taxes from us, the question is: what do we get back? What exactly does the Nigerian government give back to us as business owners?
Even when you manage to see the opportunity, the process of getting it is very stressful. I know someone in my line of business who applied for a grant through a programme last year. They said the participants would receive grants, but up till now, they have not been able to access the money.
Business owners are bleeding.
I have lived in Lagos all my life. Almost all of my working life has been in Lagos. The only time I stayed outside the city was during my tertiary education in Ijebu-Ode. Apart from those four or five years, I have always been here.
I have been running my fashion and creative business for about six years now. Within that period, I have employed between 10 and 15 people at different times. But managing staff can also be very draining.
Many times, you train people yourself. You teach them the skills they need for the job. But after they gain some experience, they leave for better-paying opportunities elsewhere. They move to bigger companies or organisations that can offer them higher salaries.
Nothing is really working smoothly for business owners in this country. We are all just striving to survive.
As narrated by: Olajumoke Ayokunbi Cletus (Ikorodu, Lagos).
This snippet is published as part of the series, The Art of Taxing Poverty.
Discover more from Chronycles
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Published by