Nigeria: BAT Pays Govt N109.5 Billion in Tax

Source from:  All Africa 02/09/2011

Lagos - British American Tobacco (BAT) Nigeria says it paid N109.5billion as tax to the Federal Government at the end of 2009… The tobacco company disclosed this in a report titled' BAT Nigeria Stakeholders Report 2008/2009", made available to our correspondent yesterday. The company also said the payment of the large chunk of tax to the Federal government is hinged on its corporate policy of socio-economic responsibility to Governments. According to the report, the company's total value of social investment in the country since inception is over N1.3billion. "As at the end of 2009, 80 community projects have been executed in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. Fifty students have obtained scholarships to study agriculture and related disciplines under the BAT Nigeria/BATA (British American Tobacco Iseyin Agronomy) scholarship scheme". Besides, the company said within the period in view, it facilitated the Foreign Direct Investment of NAMPAK Limited in Nigeria, which invested $34million in the country by building a printing and packaging plant in Ibadan. The report also said the sum of $170,000 was committed to the University of Lagos in partnership with USAID and Kansas State University to enhance the academic curriculum of the Faculty of Business Administration. It said, the company organized capacity building programmes for scholarship awardees, Nigerian Customs, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Consumers Protection Council (CPC) in support of the fight against illicit trade. "We directly employ around 850 full-time staff across the country. Enditem