Corporate Organisation like MTN Nigeria, Dangote Group, BUA Group and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, among others have spent about N97.4 billion on road construction in the past four years.
Through the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme introduced by the Federal Government, these private companies spent no less than N97.4 billion on road construction across the country.
Documents from the Ministry of Works and Housing and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning have shown.
The Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme is an innovation of the Federal Government that allows private companies to participate in infrastructure development in exchange for tax credits.
It would be recalled that under the scheme, NNPC is reconstructing a number of roads across the country which include the Lagos-Badagry expressway and Bida-Lambata road in the Niger state.
Other roads constructed through the scheme include Apapa-Oworonshoki-Ojota Road in Lagos and the Lokoja-Obajana-Kabba in Kogi State by Dangote Group, and 110km Enugu-Onitsha Road in Anambra State constructed by MTN.
The roads also include Oyinbo-Izuoma-Mirinwayi-Oklama-Afam Road constructed by Transcorp Group, Eyinkorin Road (bridge) constructed by BUA Group, and Opobo channel in Rivers state by NLNG among others.
The scheme provides public-private partnership intervention in the construction, refurbishment and maintenance of critical road infrastructure in the country with participants being entitled to Tax Credits against their future Companies’ Income Tax.
The scheme is powered by executive Order 007, which was signed into law in 2019.
According to the documents, private companies such as Dangote Group, MTN, BUA, Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) among others have spent N97.4 billion to complete the rehabilitation and reconstruction of 33 key road networks across the country in four years.
The document noted, “under the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, 33 road projects covering a total length of 1,564.95 km have been approved, pursuant to which private sector companies are incentivised to invest in the construction and rehabilitation of federal and state roads, and subsequently recover their investment back through an innovative tax credit mechanism, setting off credits against corporate tax liabilities”.
