The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have arrested five suspected illegal revenue collectors extorting money from petty traders in Abakaliki International Market, Ebonyi State.
The arrest was made Tuesday during a joint raid of the market by members of the Corps and a team from the State Internal Revenue Board.
The arrest of the alleged extortioners threw the petty traders and other market women into frenzy who started singing eulogies to Governor Francis Nwifuru.
Some of the women who spoke to newsmen lamented that the illegal revenue collectors had remained thorns in their flesh while coercively extorting between N50 and N100 daily from them, adding that failure to pay has often resulted to seizure of their goods pending compliance.
Leader of the team from the Revenue Board, Emmanuel Elechi, said that the arrest of the suspects was based on incessant violation of governor Nwifuru’s directive of exempting petty traders and vegetable sellers from revenue payment.
Elechi, who is also incharge of the Board’s ICT unit assured that the arrest of the extortioners would serve as a deterrent to others.
He said: “We are determined to flush out illegal revenue collectors who are bent on tarnishing the image of the board.
“We must adhere strictly to the directive of the Governor to allow petty traders and vegetable sellers do their business without paying tax.
“Our governor in his wisdom knows what the poor are passing through and decided to reduce the hardship but some people are sabotaging the gesture in a bid to enrich themselves.
“We cannot tolerate that; we shall continue to arrest them and prosecute them to serve as deterrent to others.”
Items recovered from the suspects included some booklets of receipts and cash already collected from poor women and children selling satchet water, vegetables and other petty items.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Board, Christopher Omo-Isu had flagged-off the e-tickets initiative for commercial motorcyclists and Tricycle operators, aimed at automating revenue collection to check crime and close revenue leakages in the state.
Speaking, he noted that the profiling of commercial motorcycles and Tricycles in the state was also intended to reduce crime, stop double taxation and reduce touting.
He added that by profiling and automating revenue generation, any operator that use his/her vehicle to commit crime would be traced, arrested and prosecuted.
Omo-Isu said: “The new innovation will reduce touting in the markets, streets and major roads of the state as the operators would be expected to go to registration points to register within two weeks after which enforcement will commence.”
He urged the people of the state to key into the new system that would bring sanity and safety to the revenue drive and reduce the fight between the touts andthe cyclists/tricycle operators.
