Date Published: 10/02/11

The Abia Infrastructure Fraud

“Take note that Abia state government has directed that every household should pay a monthly fee of (N300)   three hundred Naira per room for SCOOPING and carting away of drainages in Aba, Abia state of NIGERIA, with effect from the month of June 2011.” The   above is a copy of DEMAND NOTICE served on Aba residents by the agents of the Abia state government.

Since the beginning of the month of July 2011,anxiety has enveloped   residents who live or do business in the city of Aba as they battle with the various Task force teams contracted by the Abia state government to collect sundry levies.

Armed Security agents and thugs accompanied by agents have been having a field day invading roads and streets arresting residents. Those arrested has had sad stories to tell as they are made to pay heavily before regaining freedom.

“They pasted a notice at the gate of our residence requiring us to pay N3,600 per room as the annual infrastructure levy. The year has not ended and yet they have started harassing people with Policemen and thugs. They arrested my husband’s younger brother and took him to Azuka Police Station, where we secured bail for him with N10,000 and a receipt of the payment of the Levy.”

The above statement depict the agony of a housewife on the sundry levies which the Abia state government has continued to force her residents to pay. It is said that in Abia state, everything is possible. This is why there exist all forms of uniformed men on the streets harassing residents.

Residents of the state have continued to bemoan the multiplicity of levies which have the various Task force teams harass them for. Sources hinted that   the Abia state government usually engage the contractors and agents to collect these levies on her behalf. These agencies in turn employ thugs who move around the areas allocated to them to enforce the payment of the levies.

A business centre operator at Pound road, Aba, Mr. James Eke said “one has to be a first class brain to remember the various levies he is required to pay in Abia. There is the infrastructure levy, Business premises Levy (N6,000); Operation Permit(N6,000),Pollution Levy; Sanitation levy of N5,000 being collected by the Abia state Environmental Protection Agency(ASEPA)   and the other levies being collected by the Local Councils such as Store license, Liquor license and Hawkers Permit.”

Eke added that the various levies are not fixed.” These Task Force teams backed by fierce looking thugs and Policemen can come into your shop, look at the size of your investment and decide that you will pay a certain amount. The problem is that, most times, the amount paid are never written on the receipt.”

An agent who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Pointblanknews revealed that the various contractors pay the sum of N2million Naira to the Ministry of Environment and are allocated areas and zones where they are to collect the specified levies to recoup their money.”If you invest such amount of money in a business, you have to be and doing to recover your money. This is because if you recoup the money or not, the contract expires at the end of December each year.”

Certain groups and individuals in the state have dismissed the Infrastructure levy as a fraud. In a statement made available to news men in Aba and signed by the Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Evang. Dickson Ejiama, the ACN   condemned the rate at which the Abia state government use contractors and agencies to harass her residents in its bid to collect levies.  

“We condemn the unbridled deployment of thugs and security men by the Abia state government to collect revenue. Sometimes, these task force teams beat up and inflict bodily harm on hapless residents. We wish to remind Gov.Theodore Orji that the primary purpose of any government is the protection of lives and properties. The people of the state have been made to suffer for too long. We call on the governor to place the welfare of the people above other considerations in the execution of his policies” the statement concluded.

A resident of Umule area of the city, Chief   Abraham Nwankwo also berated the government for the confusion she created in the city by deploying thugs and Policemen to collect various levies. ``The infrastructure levy is a fraud, the demand notice said that the money is for the scooping and carting away of drainages, why have they been able to achieve this? Have we not been paying this infrastructure levy since the tenure of former governor Orji Uzor Kalu? The roads in the city are still in a terrible state. From the situation of things, there is no doubt that most of these levies paid by the residents end up in private pockets.”

Efforts to get the reaction of the state Commissioner for Environment, Engr. Solomon Ogunji proved abortive as he failed to respond to phone calls to his mobile phone.