Covid-19-response-delta-state-governor-okowa-and-others-should-emulate-the-example-of-governor-ben-ayade-of-cross-rivers-on-taxation-of-the-people
September 7, 2020 | News
COVID-19 RESPONSE: DELTA STATE GOVERNOR OKOWA AND OTHERS, SHOULD EMULATE THE EXAMPLE OF GOVERNOR BEN AYADE OF CROSS RIVERS ON TAXATION OF THE PEOPLE
With the recent trending news online of Governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers State, inauguration of an anti-tax agency amidst outpour of emotions, which is aimed at putting an end to illegal taxes in the State, while reading a tax law that prescribes those exempted from paying tax; I believe it is a very amiable and encouraging development if actually implemented, and which every State Government, especially Delta State Government under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, should do well to emulate. Truth is, if such a law is eventually implemented by Governor Ayade, then he truly means well for the common man in Cross Rivers State, which his counterparts across the country needs to copy too.
According to the Cross Rivers State Governor in the said online video broadcast, all those categories of persons listed in the said anti-tax law, including those that may be announced by the Governor, which includes hotels with less than 50 rooms, all commercial motorcyclist (Okadas), transport taxi drivers, hair salon owners, small catering and restaurants/eating points, and all those other small scale businesses and hawkers on the roads; selling their products and struggling to make a living, are all exempted from paying tax. Governor Ayade’s reason for exempting these categories of persons from paying tax, is because “he would rather task his brain (to create wealth for the State), than to tax his people.” The Governor said he does not understand why would they be taxing farmers and those who sell products and food items on the streets, who struggle daily to make a living from their small business, and then they are still being taxed. As such, he said he has abolished products sellers from paying tax. “Why put more pressure on people whose living conditions are far worse than theirs, in a bid to make them pay tax?”
Governor Ayade noted that majority of these people are struggling to put their children through school; struggle to pay and have electricity with generators for their businesses; struggle to pay for security; struggle to get water with their borehole, and the Government is not doing much to provide them with these basic social amenities. Therefore, is it wrong for the same Government to come back to such people, and demand them to pay taxes. The Cross Rivers State Governor also expressed his disapproval of persons who still go back to demand taxes from these state persons even when the Government said they should not. As such, he provided vehicles to the inaugurated Anti-Tax Agency and tasked them to create the needed public awareness in ensuring that those exempted from paying tax, are not forced to pay tax by anyone.
This is something I would really love to see happen in Delta State, as well as other States across the Federation. I have repeated severally that no Government should be comfortable with demanding or expecting its citizenry to be faithful in paying taxes, when that Government and its predecessors have not been able to provide its people with basic amenities, and be very accountable and transparent in the use of such taxes for the good of the people. And we are more concerned about what is happening in Delta State.
To say that Nigerians, especially the common masses, have greatly suffered in the hands of relevant Government ‘real and fake’ Tax/Levy collectors in Delta State, is to put it mildly. The situation is far worse in urban cities of Delta State, where every dick and harry (often in their uniforms), are daily using every means necessary under the umbrella of the Delta State Government and Local Government Council, to exploit, extort, harass and intimidate the poor populace in the State, particularly within the Oil City of Warri and environs. This system that has been observed running for years and encouraged by the ‘tentacles/agencies’ of the Delta State Government which uses all sorts of archaic, cooked-up/fabricated and dogged-up laws/decrees/Acts/Provisions (most of which urgently need to be repealed and thrown-away by the Delta State House of Assembly and the Delta State Government), to extort and demand these illegal levies/taxes from the poor unsuspecting masses, seriously need to stop, especially in the face of hardship and suffering being faced by the common masses which is caused by the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
These so-called hired/employed thugs with different kinds of uniforms are often seen harassing poor commercial motorcyclists/tricycles and low-income earners in Delta State, all in the name of ‘internal revenue drive’. And they go by different names - from the Delta State Signage and Advertisement Agency (DESAA), Delta State Traffic Management Authorities (DESTMA), to the Delta State Environmental Protection Agency (DELSEPA). Even the so-called Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) are also not left out in these extortions, as they are fond of extorting/harassing trucks carrying essential goods. But the worst amongst them so far, are those on blue uniforms that call themselves (DESTMA). And of course, we also have the popular “Agberos” and Area boys who are still extorting so-called “Deve” from property developers. Some of them, even those in uniforms, often look so rough and rugged, yet they claim to be working for one Delta State Local Government Councils or the Delta State Government.
One is also forced to ask, what are they doing with all the monies they collect at the end of the day, through these various Delta State Government and various Local Government Council Agencies’ in the State? What are they using all the money for? What is the Delta State Government with its Delta State Board of Internal Revenue doing with all the Internally-generated revenue from the State, particularly their recently enacted Law on Hotel Occupancy and Consumption Tax in the State? What are these Delta State Government Agencies/bodies doing with all that revenues when most of the areas in Warri and its environs for instance, are ‘glorified ghettos’ that depicts pictures of haphazard Town Planning, disorganized and inefficient Waste Management processes/mechanisms, improper drainage systems, bad maintenance culture of public utilities like roads, street/traffic lights, etc.? And the situation is getting worse by the day because even before the Coronavirus pandemic, private investors/companies and prospective entrepreneurs are shying away from the State. Almost everywhere in Delta State, especially in Warri, Effurun, Ekpan, Ovwian, Orhuwhorun, Ugboroke, Patani, Sapele, Ughelli, Udu, Jeremi, etc, Deltans and Nigerians in Delta State are frequently being harassed and exploited with one tax/levy or the other by these off-shoots of the Delta State Government and its Local Government Councils and their ‘tentacles’.
Some of such outrageous taxes/levies for which the people in the stated areas of Delta State are being regularly robbed include; off-loading and loading charges, Building Permit, Health Approval Permit, Community Development levy, pick-up and bus stickers, car radio stickers, commercial vehicle stickers, extended tarpaulin levies, hawkers permit/levies, keke (tricycle) operations levies, fire extinguisher fees for Fire Safety Certificate, Private business premises levies, borehole levy, tenement rates/levies, Gaseous emission/environmental pollution and affluent fees/charges, and so many other levies/charges too numerous to mention. People who run small businesses/stores are constantly harassed because of one levy/charge or the other. It is shameful that in a society where there is a high level of unemployment, those who are struggling on their own to make ends meet, are taxed and levied arbitrary.
Do not get me wrong. It is very good for every Nigerian citizen that earns money either as a worker or a business owner, to be paying taxes. But that is if only the Government at all levels use the tax money to provide basic infrastructure/amenities for the very public that pay the taxes. Sadly, in Nigeria, it has been a case of Nigerian politicians consuming the tax payers funds and oil and gas revenue, through their recurrent expenditure/maintenance and their insatiable greed to misappropriate same for their private use. This has left us with a Nigeria where every citizen is expected to daily struggle to have these basic needs. Nigerians are now expected to buy generators before they can have electricity; pay for security before their lives and property are secured, even at that there are no guarantees; patch their own streets/roads to have good motorable roads; provide and make their own boreholes (for those who can afford it) before they can have access to clean water; provide their own social amenities which ought to be provided by the Government at the Center and those at the State levels.
The chunk of the taxes collected from the ordinary Nigerians, and the revenues generated within the country at the Federal and State levels, are consumed by the political leaders of the day that are in power. For me, I do not think Nigerians really want to evade paying their taxes. But what the politicians are using the tax money to do is the problem. Some few years ago, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Actress/Activist, came hard on the Government on this taxation issue. In her words: “… there is the issue of tax deductions. Why are our taxes so high, when we provide nearly all the basic amenities ourselves? I’m my own government. I generate my own light, water and pay for security every month. All the basic amenities that I should enjoy as a citizen, I provide myself. It is even so bad that people donate to fix roads in their domain. We even pay taxes for the roads they construct for us. For every item I buy in this country, you remove VAT from it. We are all burdened by heavy taxation that are not properly accounted for, so, how do you feel encouraged to do more?
It is absolutely wrong and an extortion of the highest order to have State Government, Local Government Councils and their ‘extensions’ to demand taxes/levies/charges from the public, for public services they have not been able to provide. In the UK and other advanced countries around the world, State and Local Government Councils and their activities are daily felt by the people. The collection and extortion of taxes/levies/charges from the general public, without commensurate utilities and public necessities that would account for and justify such collections/taxes, is absolutely wicked, mindless and stealing from the people. And this has to stop! Why collect taxes/levies/charges for public services that cannot be provided and accounted for?
It is in the light of this, that I urge the Delta State Government under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, as well as other State Governors, to emulate the good example of their Cross Rivers State counterpart, Governor Ben Ayade, in his latest Covid-19 Response to ease the sufferings of the Nigerian masses in their States. They should focus and think of innovative ways to create and generate wealth for their States, rather than depend on the tax/levies being imposed on the people.
Zik Gbemre.
May 23, 2020.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
With the recent trending news online of Governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers State, inauguration of an anti-tax agency amidst outpour of emotions, which is aimed at putting an end to illegal taxes in the State, while reading a tax law that prescribes those exempted from paying tax; I believe it is a very amiable and encouraging development if actually implemented, and which every State Government, especially Delta State Government under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, should do well to emulate. Truth is, if such a law is eventually implemented by Governor Ayade, then he truly means well for the common man in Cross Rivers State, which his counterparts across the country needs to copy too.
According to the Cross Rivers State Governor in the said online video broadcast, all those categories of persons listed in the said anti-tax law, including those that may be announced by the Governor, which includes hotels with less than 50 rooms, all commercial motorcyclist (Okadas), transport taxi drivers, hair salon owners, small catering and restaurants/eating points, and all those other small scale businesses and hawkers on the roads; selling their products and struggling to make a living, are all exempted from paying tax. Governor Ayade’s reason for exempting these categories of persons from paying tax, is because “he would rather task his brain (to create wealth for the State), than to tax his people.” The Governor said he does not understand why would they be taxing farmers and those who sell products and food items on the streets, who struggle daily to make a living from their small business, and then they are still being taxed. As such, he said he has abolished products sellers from paying tax. “Why put more pressure on people whose living conditions are far worse than theirs, in a bid to make them pay tax?”
Governor Ayade noted that majority of these people are struggling to put their children through school; struggle to pay and have electricity with generators for their businesses; struggle to pay for security; struggle to get water with their borehole, and the Government is not doing much to provide them with these basic social amenities. Therefore, is it wrong for the same Government to come back to such people, and demand them to pay taxes. The Cross Rivers State Governor also expressed his disapproval of persons who still go back to demand taxes from these state persons even when the Government said they should not. As such, he provided vehicles to the inaugurated Anti-Tax Agency and tasked them to create the needed public awareness in ensuring that those exempted from paying tax, are not forced to pay tax by anyone.
This is something I would really love to see happen in Delta State, as well as other States across the Federation. I have repeated severally that no Government should be comfortable with demanding or expecting its citizenry to be faithful in paying taxes, when that Government and its predecessors have not been able to provide its people with basic amenities, and be very accountable and transparent in the use of such taxes for the good of the people. And we are more concerned about what is happening in Delta State.
To say that Nigerians, especially the common masses, have greatly suffered in the hands of relevant Government ‘real and fake’ Tax/Levy collectors in Delta State, is to put it mildly. The situation is far worse in urban cities of Delta State, where every dick and harry (often in their uniforms), are daily using every means necessary under the umbrella of the Delta State Government and Local Government Council, to exploit, extort, harass and intimidate the poor populace in the State, particularly within the Oil City of Warri and environs. This system that has been observed running for years and encouraged by the ‘tentacles/agencies’ of the Delta State Government which uses all sorts of archaic, cooked-up/fabricated and dogged-up laws/decrees/Acts/Provisions (most of which urgently need to be repealed and thrown-away by the Delta State House of Assembly and the Delta State Government), to extort and demand these illegal levies/taxes from the poor unsuspecting masses, seriously need to stop, especially in the face of hardship and suffering being faced by the common masses which is caused by the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
These so-called hired/employed thugs with different kinds of uniforms are often seen harassing poor commercial motorcyclists/tricycles and low-income earners in Delta State, all in the name of ‘internal revenue drive’. And they go by different names - from the Delta State Signage and Advertisement Agency (DESAA), Delta State Traffic Management Authorities (DESTMA), to the Delta State Environmental Protection Agency (DELSEPA). Even the so-called Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) are also not left out in these extortions, as they are fond of extorting/harassing trucks carrying essential goods. But the worst amongst them so far, are those on blue uniforms that call themselves (DESTMA). And of course, we also have the popular “Agberos” and Area boys who are still extorting so-called “Deve” from property developers. Some of them, even those in uniforms, often look so rough and rugged, yet they claim to be working for one Delta State Local Government Councils or the Delta State Government.
One is also forced to ask, what are they doing with all the monies they collect at the end of the day, through these various Delta State Government and various Local Government Council Agencies’ in the State? What are they using all the money for? What is the Delta State Government with its Delta State Board of Internal Revenue doing with all the Internally-generated revenue from the State, particularly their recently enacted Law on Hotel Occupancy and Consumption Tax in the State? What are these Delta State Government Agencies/bodies doing with all that revenues when most of the areas in Warri and its environs for instance, are ‘glorified ghettos’ that depicts pictures of haphazard Town Planning, disorganized and inefficient Waste Management processes/mechanisms, improper drainage systems, bad maintenance culture of public utilities like roads, street/traffic lights, etc.? And the situation is getting worse by the day because even before the Coronavirus pandemic, private investors/companies and prospective entrepreneurs are shying away from the State. Almost everywhere in Delta State, especially in Warri, Effurun, Ekpan, Ovwian, Orhuwhorun, Ugboroke, Patani, Sapele, Ughelli, Udu, Jeremi, etc, Deltans and Nigerians in Delta State are frequently being harassed and exploited with one tax/levy or the other by these off-shoots of the Delta State Government and its Local Government Councils and their ‘tentacles’.
Some of such outrageous taxes/levies for which the people in the stated areas of Delta State are being regularly robbed include; off-loading and loading charges, Building Permit, Health Approval Permit, Community Development levy, pick-up and bus stickers, car radio stickers, commercial vehicle stickers, extended tarpaulin levies, hawkers permit/levies, keke (tricycle) operations levies, fire extinguisher fees for Fire Safety Certificate, Private business premises levies, borehole levy, tenement rates/levies, Gaseous emission/environmental pollution and affluent fees/charges, and so many other levies/charges too numerous to mention. People who run small businesses/stores are constantly harassed because of one levy/charge or the other. It is shameful that in a society where there is a high level of unemployment, those who are struggling on their own to make ends meet, are taxed and levied arbitrary.
Do not get me wrong. It is very good for every Nigerian citizen that earns money either as a worker or a business owner, to be paying taxes. But that is if only the Government at all levels use the tax money to provide basic infrastructure/amenities for the very public that pay the taxes. Sadly, in Nigeria, it has been a case of Nigerian politicians consuming the tax payers funds and oil and gas revenue, through their recurrent expenditure/maintenance and their insatiable greed to misappropriate same for their private use. This has left us with a Nigeria where every citizen is expected to daily struggle to have these basic needs. Nigerians are now expected to buy generators before they can have electricity; pay for security before their lives and property are secured, even at that there are no guarantees; patch their own streets/roads to have good motorable roads; provide and make their own boreholes (for those who can afford it) before they can have access to clean water; provide their own social amenities which ought to be provided by the Government at the Center and those at the State levels.
The chunk of the taxes collected from the ordinary Nigerians, and the revenues generated within the country at the Federal and State levels, are consumed by the political leaders of the day that are in power. For me, I do not think Nigerians really want to evade paying their taxes. But what the politicians are using the tax money to do is the problem. Some few years ago, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Actress/Activist, came hard on the Government on this taxation issue. In her words: “… there is the issue of tax deductions. Why are our taxes so high, when we provide nearly all the basic amenities ourselves? I’m my own government. I generate my own light, water and pay for security every month. All the basic amenities that I should enjoy as a citizen, I provide myself. It is even so bad that people donate to fix roads in their domain. We even pay taxes for the roads they construct for us. For every item I buy in this country, you remove VAT from it. We are all burdened by heavy taxation that are not properly accounted for, so, how do you feel encouraged to do more?
It is absolutely wrong and an extortion of the highest order to have State Government, Local Government Councils and their ‘extensions’ to demand taxes/levies/charges from the public, for public services they have not been able to provide. In the UK and other advanced countries around the world, State and Local Government Councils and their activities are daily felt by the people. The collection and extortion of taxes/levies/charges from the general public, without commensurate utilities and public necessities that would account for and justify such collections/taxes, is absolutely wicked, mindless and stealing from the people. And this has to stop! Why collect taxes/levies/charges for public services that cannot be provided and accounted for?
It is in the light of this, that I urge the Delta State Government under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, as well as other State Governors, to emulate the good example of their Cross Rivers State counterpart, Governor Ben Ayade, in his latest Covid-19 Response to ease the sufferings of the Nigerian masses in their States. They should focus and think of innovative ways to create and generate wealth for their States, rather than depend on the tax/levies being imposed on the people.
Zik Gbemre.
May 23, 2020.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes