The Nigerian Taxes and Case Study of Dangote Cement
Reporter like asked: why is Dangote Cement made in Nigeria but sold outside Nigeria cheaper than your cement sold in Nigeria?
Dangote: “When you look at my invoice, the cement I export is cheaper than the one I’m selling domestically, because that’s how exports work...In export I’m saving a lot of money. I’m not paying 30% income tax, I’m not paying 2% education, I’m not paying 1% health, I’m not paying 7.5% VAT, and I’m not paying 10% withholding tax.”
And he omitted bank fees. Practically, there is no way any human can avoid being charged fees by Nigerian banks. I understand most of those fees are statutory, which means banks have no other option. But when a big dude like Aliko looks at his bank account, he can see another 0.5% of mindless fees here and there on deductions.
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Fellow Citizens: do you know that banks charge you about 0.5% for transferring your money from your USD dorm account to any part of the world? You may not notice until you behave like an accounting student. And when they charge that fee, they hit you with VAT on it, and at the end of the month, you see maintenance fee. It is truly unfortunate!
I know that some people are fixing these fees and taxes, I cannot wait to feel the impact.