Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
More commendations have continued to trail subsidy palliative plans of Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, for the people of the State.
Ikengaonline had reported that the Governor recently unveiled plans that would see civil servants, transporters, small business owners and vulnerable groups benefit from planned palliatives in the state.
This, the Governor said, was aimed at reducing the harsh effect of the fuel subsidy removal on the people.
Since the announcement, several groups including Labour Unions, leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and other political and apolitical groups have eulogised the governor on the giant move for the people of the state.
Even transporters including tricycle riders (Keke) and bus drivers in the State were not left out. During the weekend they joined the train of other unions to echo their support and likeness of the planned palliative programme in the state.
Making their position known during a press briefing in Awka, the Chairman of Tricycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (TOAN), Awka Zone, Prince Collins Ozojiofor, said the 20 per cent reduction of the tax they pay to the State Government as contained in the Soludo’s recent palliative packages have reduced their sufferings to the barest minimum in the State.
The Chairman recalled that they had written to the governor on the sufferings, noting that the tax rate was becoming unbearable to the members.
According to Ozojiofor, Soludo’s disposition was a clear indication that he has listening ears to the plights of the people, especially those in the transport sector, and vowed that the association would continue to support the government if it continues to listen to their complaints and demands.
The Chairman, however, urged the governor to also devise means where the tricycle riders could pay their tax on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis as obtained in other States in the South-East.
Similarly, the Chairman Awka—Onitsha Bus Drivers Association, Old Road, Anambra State, Comrade Fred Nweke, maintained that Soludo’s timely intervention to ameliorate the untold hardship the people found themselves in was a welcome development.
He pleaded that the governor should save transporters from future agitation by creating a fertile ground that would afford them the opportunity to pay tax based on what he described as “pay as you go” in the State through electronic payment platforms.
