From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has expressed worry over the effect of the new cashless policy of the Federal Government with the attendant effect of Naira scarcity on traders in Abia State.
This is even as Ikpeazu has directed the State Board of Internal Revenue to suspend the collection of taxes in all markets across the State, with immediate effect.
Disclosing the governor’s concern in his office, the State Commisioner for Trade and Investment, Chief John Okiyi Kalu said the state government was looking at multiple ways to ease the negative effect of the policies on traders hence the announcement by the Governor that Abia State Board of Internal Revenue Service should immediately suspend collection of 2023 revenue from all markets in the state till June 2023.
According to him, “the Governor has visited many markets in the state since the cashless policy came into effect along with the scarcity of new currency notes as a result of the naira redesign, and observed that traders in the state are possibly the worst hit.
“Many of our traders are unable to transact with buyers as the policy implementers failed to capture their peculiar needs while rolling out the new policies.
“The traders are really bearing the brunt, and as a responsible government, we are looking at various options to support them. One of those options is what the Governor announced this afternoon during his visit to Good Morning market, Aba, that, henceforth, state and LGA revenue collections in the markets will be suspended for at least 6 months starting from January 2023.”
The Commisisoner called on banks in the state to immediately deploy sufficient number of POS machines to all markets, superstores, and other trading centres in the state to enable buyers utilize their ATM cards for transactions.
He also called on the CBN to ensure that the new notes are made available to traders and citizens of the state in sufficient volume to avoid a breach of the peace and security that might result from the massive suffering occasioned by the new transaction regimes.
“We are not against the new cashless regime and redesigning of the naira notes by the federal government but the Governor is deeply worried about the effect on our hardworking traders as a result of the poor implementation strategy which failed to take into cognisance the peculiar needs of rural and urban traders”.
Okiyi Kalu said the Governor was of the view the tax break will make life easier for the traders while all citizens wait patiently for the federal government to stabilize the currency situation in the country.
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