Tricycle operators’ protest may worsen insecurity in Anambra ― ACSONET tells Soludo

The Anambra Civil Society Network, ACSONET, a platform for citizens and non-state actors’ stakeholders has called on the Prof. Chukwuma Soludo-led administration in Anambra State to rejig its tax/revenue administration strategies for seamless compliance.

The leader of the group, Prince Chris Azor stated this in a telephone interview with Tribune Online, in Awka, on Friday, in a reaction to the observed protests by operators of commercial
tricycles (Keke) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, on Thursday.

Our correspondent gathered that the operators were resisting the enforcement of the fifteen thousand naira (N15,000.00) monthly levy by the state government.

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• Tricycle operators’ protest may worsen insecurity in Anambra ― ACSONET tells Soludo
• Tricycle operators’ protest may worsen insecurity in Anambra ― ACSONET tells Soludo

“During the protest, the operators including drivers of shuttle buses refused to ferry passengers, leaving many citizens stranded on the streets.

Azor, who doubles as the non-state actors co-chair, Open Government Partnership (OGP) reasoned that these protests if allowed to continue may further worsen the security challenges being experienced in the state, and at the same time pose a disincentive to ease of doing business and direct investments. “I had earlier engaged the authorities on this, but they didn’t budge,” he said.

The citizen advocate is of the opinion that the monthly lump sum revenue collection may be unwieldy and unsustainable, as most of the operators hardly make enough savings due to the obvious unpleasant economic situation in the country. He, therefore, advised the authorities to devise smarter, innovative strategies to lighten the yoke on the operators and indeed citizens.

He suggested a weekly collection against the current monthly practice that’s causing the present resistance and non-compliance.

Recall that the present protest is coming in the wake of a recent similar resistance from the same operators.

This time it was reported that the operators complained about constant hounding of their members by policemen, personnel of OCHA Brigade, a civil security outfit in the state, and operatives of Anambra vigilante security services, which were used to enforce the payment.

The protesters carried placards expressing their pains and anguish over the high tax. Some of the placards read: “Soludo wants to kill us. We say no to Soludo” “We cannot pay N15,000”, “We are driving hire purchase,” and “I am the breadwinner of the family, N15,000 is too high”, among others.

One of the operators who gave his name as Ajebo said the timing of the enforcement was sudden and not convenient for them.

“The government is putting so much pain and hardship on us. I am driving hired purchase and I am responsible for every cost incurred. The amount of the taxing is too much,” he said.

It could be recalled that Governor Soludo had months back unveiled a new tax regime, which confers monthly payment of N15,000 to all tricycle operators, as against the daily payment, which the Soludo administration said amounted to over N1,000, and which was illegally collected.