Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
A group of Ebonyi Market women on Monday staged a peaceful protest against what they termed high taxation by agents of the state government.
The women, who are mainly yam sellers at the Margaret Umahi International Market, Abakaliki, capital of the State, marched from the market down to Ochudo Secretariat.
They noted that they had suffered arbitrary increase in tax within a short period of time which is making live unbearable for them.
At the Secretariat, some security agents locked the gate on seeing the advancing women.
However, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof Grace Umezurike, who later addressed the women, came and asked that the women be allowed into the premises.
Addressing the SSG, the Leader of the Women, Mrs Imo Nweze, accused revenue collectors of arbitrarily hiking the revenue collected from them daily.
She also noted that drivers have refused transporting their goods to the market due to high fees they are also being charged at the gate before they are allowed to drive into the market.
She said: “We are yam sellers. Previously, we were staying at one spot, but we were asked to move to another spot. Later, they completed the construction of the open stalls and asked us to move into it and we obeyed the government.
“However, due to the fact that the open shops were not conducive to our products, we were experiencing heavy losses. Before you will sell 100 tubers yams, 40 to 50 tubers would have gotten spoilt because the shop is not conducive for such crops.”
“We went and asked the market leaders to allow us to stay outside around the stall and they agreed. From then, revenue people came and started charging us N50 daily.
“From N50 naira they increased it to N100, from N100 they increased it again to N200 and we were begging them that it is too costly. When this government came on board, it was increased again to N300.
“It was very difficult. Most of these women are widows, it is from the same business they train their kids in school, pay house rent and buy food to eat and take care of other expenses. So it became very difficult for us to pay.
“It was so difficult that we had to be dipping our hands in the union purse to make up whatever the women can afford and pay so that we don’t have problems. With government .
“In our meeting last week, we calculated and found out that we have spent over N2.5m of union funds to augment the tax we were paying and our union account is almost empty.”
“On Saturday, they came and said we will now be paying N400n daily. That is N2800 weekly or N145600 a year for one person and that is to much for us to pay.
“If we ask drivers of buses and worries to takes us to the market they will say no, that they are being charged between N10,000 to N20000 before they are allowed to enter and offload. This has led to the drivers increasing their fairs making it difficult for us to make any reasonable gains.
“So we have come to complain to our Governor, Francis Nwifuru and his wife, Mrs Mary-Mauduline Nwifurụ, to come to our aid. We elected him into office and we know he will not allow us to suffer like this,” she said.
Addressing them, the SSG, Prof Umezurike commended them for being peaceful.
She noted that the governor and the wife were not around but sent her to stand in for him and receive them.
“I have noted your complaints and I promise you that I will transmit them to the governor immediately and I am sure he will swiftly attend to them,” she said.
Speaking to reporters, Commissioner for Markets Development and Parks, Nwogo Obasi said that he will liaise with Board of Internal Revenue in the state to find out if there is any such increase.
“If there is no increase then we will summon the agents in charge and they will be suspended. The governor is very much interested in the welfare of the people and have always advocated for lesser taxation of very low income earners,” he said.
