ON THE NEFARIOUS AND UNWHOLESOME ACTIVITIES OF THE DIFFERENT TASK FORCE AGENCIES IN DELTA STATE – GOVERNOR OKOWA GETTING IT ALL WRONG WITH HIS SO-CALLED ‘SMART AGENDA’

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 are using every means necessary under the umbrella of the Delta State Government 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’ 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sorts of archaic, cooked-up/fabricated and dogged-up laws/decrees/Acts/Provisions (most of which urgently needs to be repealed and thrown-away by the Delta State House of Assembly and the Delta State Government), to extort and demand these illegal levies/taxes from the poor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.

If according to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s SMART agenda means – Strategic wealth creation projects and provision of jobs for all Deltans, Meaningful peace building platforms aimed at political and social stability, Agricultural reforms and accelerated industrialization, Relevant health and education policies, and Transformed Environment through Urban Renewal; then why on earth is the Delta State Government daily killing Small & Medium Enterprises trying to survive in the State’s harsh economic environment, and chasing prospective investors away – by allowing all kinds of Government Task Force and Agencies to carry out their extortion and anti-business nefarious and unwholesome activities on Nigerians living and doing business in the State?

The one that is most troubling and prevalent right now is the obnoxious activities of a so-called Delta State Signage And Advertisement Agency (DESAA) In Collaboration With Frankthonia Ventures. This said Agency of the Delta State Government, are always seen operating around major markets in Urban cities like the Igbudu and Main Markets areas in Warri. All they do is to pounce on vehicles used for carrying out businesses in the markets, like armed robbers. And before you know it, such vehicles are impounded and taken to their Office situated at the former Government House Annex area now also used by the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) and other Government Agencies, along the Warri-Sapele Road before the NPA Warri. Within their said Office premises, the four tyres of such vehicles impounded are immediately deflated. And a standby vulcanizer is there (obviously working together with them), around their said Office premises to re-inflate vehicle tyres. And of course, the vehicle owners are expected to pay for the vulcanizer’s service after they must have been able to settle/pay the so-called levy/tax charged them by the said Agency.   

The above agency of the Delta State Government, is just one example out of the many others that are daily exploiting, extorting, harassing and intimidating hardworking Nigerians that are trying to make ends meet in their daily struggles and hustling. It makes one to wonder if this is how the Delta State Government intends to create jobs for the youths in the State. Do they want everybody to become thugs and ‘Area Boys’ in the State to start collecting one levy/tax or the other from the populace? Is that how to create jobs for the teeming youth population in the State?

The payment of frivolous levies/taxes, unilaterally introduced in Delta State, especially in Warri and environs, have become unbearable and worrisome and urgently needs to be addressed. The existing Board of Internal Revenue and other Delta State Government Institutions/Agencies and structures that stand as Local Government Councils in Delta State, through the umbrella of the Delta State Government Agencies, Ministries, as well as youths (often referred to as ‘Agberos’ Or ‘Deve’ boys), are known to impose all kinds of levies/taxes on residents, business owners, motorists and others in Delta State on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. All they know how to do is to go about extorting money in the name of tax/levy from the poor masses that are trying to make ends meet, for their private pockets and self-centered interests.

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 so-called Delta State Signage And Advertisement Agency (DESAA) In Collaboration With Frankthonia Ventures doing with all the money they collect daily on our roads, when virtually all the roads in the State, especially in Warri and environs, are in a terrible state? If not for the NDDC with their little efforts in this regard, most roads/streets in Warri and environs will become unmotorable. And so it is with other of such agencies of the Delta State Government. For instance, what is the Delta State Waste Management Board doing with all the levies/monies they extort from people, when in this twenty-first century, there is no single systematic well-engineered waste management center in all the cities of Delta State, to address/manage the daily wastes of its people? What is the Delta State Environmental Protection Agency (DELSEPA), doing with all the levies/tax they extort from people in the name of their “Gaseous Emission/Environmental Pollution and Affluent Fees/Charges”? 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 revenue when most of the areas in Warri and its environs for instance, are ‘glorified ghettos’ that depict 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.?

Do not get us wrong to think that we are against taxation within the State, far from it. But what we are saying is that, it is one thing for the Government to seek out other avenues of internal revenue through taxation/levies, but it is another thing entirely for the said Government and its tentacles, to judiciously and transparently use the same tax collected for the single purpose of improving the daily lives of its people. It is also important that the said taxation/levy collection system should be done in an organized manner and not used by hired/employed ‘area boys’ to extort, exploit, harass and intimidate Nigerians living and doing business in the State. Come to think of it, other State Governments are using their taxation system and policies to attract investors and business into their State, and not to chase them away like the Delta State Government is doing with its Agencies, Ministries, Boards and Local Government Councils.

The situation is getting worse by the day, that 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, 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) operation levies, fire extinguisher fees for Fire Safety Certificate, Private business premises levies, 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 high level of unemployment, those who are struggling on their own to make ends meets, are taxed and levied arbitrary without accountability.

It is absolutely wrong and an extortion of the highest order to have Delta State Government, Local Government Councils and their ‘extensions’ to demand taxes/levies/charges 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 basic infrastructures 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?

These are obviously not the kind of incentives that will attract investors and businesses in the State. If anything, it will only scare them away. It is high time we started emulating what is going on in other parts of the developed world.

Zik Gbemre, JP.

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)