The Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (AIRS) says SABMiller Breweries is not the state’s highest taxpayer as claimed by Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party.
On June 9, the former Anambra governor said the Intafact Beverages Limited brewery in Onitsha, commonly known as the SABMiller brewery, remains the state’s single largest source of revenue and a major contributor to local employment.
Countering the claim in a statement on Tuesday, AIRS said available data shows that the multinational ranks behind leading financial institutions in the state’s tax contributions
While acknowledging SABMiller’s contributions, the agency said data from 2023 and 2024 positioned the company as sixth on the list of top corporate taxpayers in Anambra — trailing First Bank, Zenith Bank, and Fidelity Bank.
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According to figures published by the AIRS, First Bank was the highest contributor, with a cumulative tax payment of N2.15 billion, followed by Zenith Bank (N1.69 billion), Access Bank (N1.77 billion), and Fidelity Bank (N1.18 billion).
In contrast, the agency said SABMiller, operating under International Breweries Plc, remitted a total of N656.5 million in taxes over the two-year period.
This, the AIRS said, is an average of N28 million per month in 2023 and N26.6 million per month in 2024.
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“In this sense, the claim can be dismissed with a wave of hand as the company in question contributed on the average, N28M per month in 2023 and N26.62M per month in 2024,” the agency said.
“The above clarifications became necessary to properly situate the claims made by the former governor and to give undiluted information for the members of the public to note.”
The AIRS said the clarification is also necessary to “provide answers to certain public inquiries either to prove or disprove the claims as published in the media”.
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