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From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
United Mini Trucks Drivers Association, Anambra State chapter, has protested over what they called incessant extortions, and intimidations by revenue agents in Anambra State.
Speaking yesterday in Onitsha, the Chairman of the association, Mr John Udeh, said his members were being given inhuman treatment by the revenue agents subjecting them to untold hardship.
“It is disheartening that the field revenue agents have been collecting money for goods bought in Anambra markets in the name of ‘ego ibu’ (money for load). It is a cause for concern as the agents have engaged in these extortion activities against motorists, barrow pushers and commuters,” he said.
He appealed to the Anambra State government to halt the embarrassment as it had been affecting trading activities in all markets in Anambra State while putting smiles on the faces of the neighbouring states like Delta and Imo where such activities were not experienced.
The chairman suspected that there could be high-level cabals associated with the harassment and collection of revenue which he said government should investigate and deal with them once and for all. He observed that those revenue agents did not adhere to the use of Point of Sale (POS) as directed by the government, adding that they were rather collecting cash from unsuspecting road users.
Some people who spoke to Newsmen at different markets visited in the five Local Government Areas of the State warned the revenue agents not to destroy the efforts of Governor Soludo’s administration with different phases of lies.
They warned that if the ugly activities of the revenue agents continued unabated, it would create a negative impression of Governor Soludo’s administration.
In his swift reaction to the development, the Anambra State Chairman of Internal Revenue Service, Dr Greg Ezeilo said that Anambra State had their haulage tax which was divided into two categories Upstream and Downstream. He noted that there was nothing like ‘ego ibu’ or ‘unloading or loading taxes.”
He said that vehicles coming from neighbouring states to unload their goods paid ‘downstream’, while those passing through the State paid ‘Upstream’ and showed their receipts at the boundary to the revenue agents on the ground.
Ezeilo said that traders from Eke Awka could come to Onitsha and buy goods without paying any money to agents, saying that any agent collecting such money would be sanctioned.
“Take the pictures of such agents engaged in collections of ‘ego ibu’ and send them to my office and action will be taken immediately, “he said.
Meanwhile, traders at Ogbo Efere market in Onitsha, yesterday, chased the truck drivers away as the traders complained that the money being paid to the agents in the market was unbearable. They said the revenue agents were collecting N4,000, N6,000, N3,000, and N1,000, from them for goods loaded in that market after paying the government’s agreed tax.
