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Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr Kelechi Anosike, has unveiled a revenue plan anchored on foreign investment, industrialisation, solid minerals and expansion of economic activities, saying the state must grow its revenue base rather than squeeze petty traders and low-income earners with multiple taxes.
Anosike said the strategy would provide the resources to finance his proposed N90,000 minimum wage and other welfare programmes without imposing additional burdens on residents.
He argued that Abia had sufficient economic assets to substantially expand its internally generated revenue if government shifted emphasis from levies on the informal sector to investment and productive activities.
The PDP candidate identified solid minerals, oil, manufacturing, agriculture and the state’s commercial sector as areas his administration would seek to develop to generate jobs and increase government revenue.
According to him, mineral resources, including gypsum and limestone, as well as oil assets, could be harnessed as part of a broader strategy to diversify the state’s economy.
Anosike said attracting foreign direct investment would be central to the plan, arguing that new businesses and industries would broaden the tax base naturally through increased production, employment and commercial transactions rather than aggressive taxation of struggling residents.
The proposal builds on his earlier declaration that his administration would “open up the state for investors” to boost economic activity and IGR instead of relying heavily on taxes on traders and artisans.
He vowed to abolish daily levies on wheelbarrow and truck pushers, akara sellers and other petty operators, describing such collections as counterproductive to wealth creation.
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Anosike had previously promised a comprehensive review of Abia’s tax system, arguing that investment and expansion of the state’s economic base should replace what he described as excessive dependence on levies imposed on low-income residents.
His wider economic programme also proposes industrialisation, expansion of agriculture, SME financing and cooperative funding as vehicles for increasing production and creating taxable economic activity. He has separately promised to establish three industries annually and a Traders Microfinance Bank to provide revolving loans to traders and artisans through registered cooperatives.
Anosike maintained that Abia’s large commercial base, particularly in Aba, could generate substantially more economic value if businesses were supported to expand rather than burdened with taxes that weakened their capacity to grow.
He also linked his revenue plan to greater financial autonomy at the grassroots, promising that local governments would be allowed to deploy their allocations directly to development under what he described as his “Let Your Money Work For You” policy.
According to him, increased economic activities in the councils would create another layer of growth, employment and revenue rather than concentrating development in Aba and Umuahia.
Anosike rejected the argument that his welfare commitments were financially unrealistic, maintaining that increased federal allocations, stronger IGR and better exploitation of the state’s economic assets could provide the funding.
For him, the revenue model would rest on a simple principle: expand the economy first and allow government revenue to grow with it, rather than extracting more from citizens whose incomes have not increased.
