The Osun State Internal Revenue Service has closed down the Joseph Ayo Babalola University at Ikeji Arakeji in Oriade Local Government Area of the state over an alleged non -payment of taxes .
Our correspondent gathered that officials of the revenue agency swooped on the university and sealed the Senate building , the administrative block and the bursary , but the lecture rooms and hostels were said to have been left untouched by the tax collectors.
The agency has , since three weeks ago , been closing down private primary and secondary schools whose owners are yet to pay taxes and registration fees to the state government .
Apart from the university, which is owned by the Christ Apostolic Church , IRS officials also closed down Wema Bank and Unity Bank in the state over the same issue.
The Acting Chairman of the IRS, Mr . Bicci Ali , confirmed the closure of the institution and the banks to our correspondent on the telephone .
He said , “ Yes , we closed down some sections at JABU due to tax issues. But they have paid us what they owed and the university is now open .
“ Concerning the banks , one of them has paid but the other one is still under lock and key . The bigger bank has paid. I don ’ t want to say more than that .
“ The state is being owed N 20 bn now . It was more than that , but they have started paying . We didn ’ t just go and lock the university and the banks , we got court judgments against them and we went there to effect the judgments . ”
Ali said that the agency had appealed to all establishments and individuals owing the state government to pay but said many of them refused to do so .
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