Osun govt shuts OAU (Obafemi Awolowo University) over alleged 1.8b tax evasion [PHOTOS]

The Osun State Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) has reportedly shut Obafemi Awolowo University for allegedly over the school’s failure to remit a sum of N 1.844,770,939.45 to the agency.

The Revenue Task Force led Mr Oladipo Babatunde, arrived the campus on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at about 7:00 am,  sealed the Senate Chamber and the administrative building before proceeding to seal the university main gate.

According to Channels TV, the closure of the institution and other establishments in the state followed the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum issued to all affected establishments by the state government.

The leader of the task force, Babatunde said the institution owed the state government about N1.8 billion and they had no choice than to seal after the management of OAU refuses to meet up with the deadline issued to them.

According to him, the money owed by the Institution is outstanding unremitted PAYE withholding taxes and developments levy which had become due and payable since the year 2015 and 2016.

OAU reacts

However, the Public Relations Officer of the University, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, while reacting to the closure of the institution told newsmen that the debt was inherited from the past administration of the institution.

He said, “I must add this that the present university administration since 2017 has been paying consistently but the backlog of debt inherited from the past administration is what is causing this little problem’‘.

The University spokesperson however assured the public that the issue will be sorted out with the state government soon.