Association of commercial Bus and lorry Drivers, have lashed out at the Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo over increasing activities of touts in Anambra State.
The drivers, on the platform of United Mini Truck Drivers Association, Anambra State chapter said under Soludo’s reign the activities of touts seemed to be legalized contrary to what the governor had said upon assumption of office
The protesting drivers said touts under Soludo’s Administration would wear government official uniforms to perfect their dark deals.
The drivers, who held a peaceful demonstration round Onitsha markets, complained that the revenue agents had become a threat to their livelihoods by their incessant “extortions” and “harassments” on a daily basis.
The head of the association, John Udoh, who spoke to journalists on behalf of the group, disclosed that several tolls and levies were being forced on them on a daily basis.
Udoh called on the state government to harmonise the levies and investigate the issue, saying that the development had negatively impacted both commercial and economic activities in the state.
He said, “Firstly, there are so many of them with different uniforms on the roads claiming to be revenue agents. We don’t know which is which. They collect money for goods and wares brought into Anambra markets; they call it ‘Ego Ibu’, meaning ‘money for load’. This is also affecting trading activities as prices of goods and services keep increasing because of this.
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“They engage in unscrupulous activities in the name of collection of revenues from all motorists and vehicles conveying goods to the markets, including wheelbarrow pushers and pedestrians.
“These illegal receipts and payments seem to be the creation of high-level cabals working in association with some officials of the state government and it is crucial the state government to investigates them.
“At the Ogbo Efere Market in Onitsha, the revenue agents collect N4,000, N6,000, N3,000, N1,000, from us for any goods loaded in that market, after paying the government agreed tax. This is killing our businesses gradually, in Anambra State.
But in a swift reaction when contacted on the development, the Chairman, Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, Dr Greg Ezeilo, said Anambra State had their haulage tax which was divided into two categories, upstream and downstream, and noted that nothing like “Ego Ibu” or “Offloading or loading tax.”
Ezeilo pointed out that vehicles coming from other states which offload their goods and wares were made to pay “downstream”, while vehicles passing through the state roads paid “upstream” and showed their receipt at the border to AIRS agents.
He said, “Traders from Eke Awka Market in Awka can come to Onitsha and buy goods without paying any money to a revenue agents, any agent who collects money for such a movement will be penalised.
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