Transition Committee Chairman of Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State, Sir (Hon.) Bright Najefe Edejewrho has said that there is no more hiding place for tax evaders in the council, saying that the toughest decision he has taken so far was the non re-constitution of the revenue committee.
Speaking to Reformer in his office, the council Boss who was sworn into office by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in November 12, 2012 said he has refused to reconstitute the revenue committee to enable him study the revenue system.
While saying that he was determined to beef up the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the council, the caretaker committee Chairman warned tax evaders that there will be no more hiding place for them, as the council will no longer collect cash from the people, adding that the public will be given the bank account numbers of the council where they will pay in their money.
He further said that when he assumed office the revenue drive of the council was zero, but said that his administration has been able to generate more than N10 million since he assumed office.
He said; “I decided not to constitute a revenue committee because I wanted to study the area first. Very soon, we are going to set up a revenue committee. It is called tax revolution – all they need to do is to serve people notice because they are not supposed to collect cash. Now payment will have to come through cheques. We will give you our various revenue account numbers and you will go and pay yourself. It may interest you to know that we have generated more than N10 million since I came in.”
According to him, Uvwie Local Government council area ought to be the richest council in the state in terms of revenue generation due to the arrays of industries located in the area.
He added; “We are the fastest growing local government area in the state. There is hardly any bank that does not have their branch in Uvwie. We have PPMC, Chevron, Refinery and many other corporate bodies here in Uvwie.
“So we have no reason to be poor in terms of revenue generation. Yes, we should be richest local government in Delta State like what His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan told me. We should be able to run this council without laying too much emphasis on what comes from the federation account.”
The Uvwie Council Boss also said that when he came in as the Transition Committee Chairman the greatest challenges he had to deal with were the issues of non-payment of local government salaries, security and poor sanitary condition of the council.
However, he added that the council is now one of the most peaceful council area in Delta State, saying that when he came on board he had to take a tour of the area and interact with the people, harping on the need for them to work closely with the council.
“But as I speak to you now all salaries are being paid as at when due, if you go round the town you will see that all illegal dump sites have been cleared and the issue of security has also been put to rest,” he said.
On how he was able to bring peace to the area, Sir Edejewhro said when he assumed office he noticed that the police and army in the council were not well funded, but that the security agents are now well funded, a situation he said, has contributed to the speed at which they now respond to security issues in the area.
He said; “Whatever it is going to take us to ensure that there is peace in the area, that we are going to do. When I came in, I discovered that the Police where lacking in logistics to do their work and I had a meeting with them and I told them that we cannot continue like this. As I speak to you now they are now being provided with logistics and whenever there is security breach and you call on the police and the military they will respond well to security situations. There is peace in Uvwie now.”
On the abandoned Ugbolokposo market that was built by the Chief James Ibori administration, the council Boss said they are going to appeal to the state government to re-open the market so that the economic activities of that area will be revived.
“I think the issue of that market has to do with the naming of that market. But now the people of that area are saying that they do not care what name is given to the market and that all they want is for the market to open so that economic activities of that area can come up.
“We have written a letter to the Secretary to the State Government, and we have sought audience with the state governor. The council and indigent communities and the selected leaders of Uvwie local government are going to appeal to the state government to re-open the market for business.”
On the issue of flood, the Uvwie council Boss said the people in the area should braze up for what is going to come, warning that there might be demolition of property and houses built around natural waterways.
