By Samuel Abasiekong-Abasiekong
Akwa Ibom State government pays little or no attention to Internal Generated Revenue -IGR
The little attention paid to IGR in Akwa Ibom State is for remittance of taxes from few oil and gas companies, few oil and gas servicing companies, some civil engineering/construction firms, hospitals, schools, banks and a very few others.
Several past administrations in State ignored, have no knowledge or were not aware of most revenue leakages of Internal Generating Revenue they would have made capital from.
In August 2008 this reporter was co-opted by the Akwa Ibom State office of Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission – RMAFC to trace and investigate oil and gas companies and oil and gas servicing companies operating in the shores of Akwa Ibom State but not remitting taxes to Akwa Ibom State government and a host of them were found flouting this corporate responsibility.
While some have no known, feasible and identifiable contact offices in the State, their management operates from hotels rooms in Uyo, fly on dedicated helicopters to their platforms on the Atlantic ocean in the confluence of Akwa Ibom waters, do their jobs and fly back to Port Harcourt, Warri, Lagos where most Oil and gas exploration and Oil servicing companies evading tax based.
In the course of our investigation, some oil companies were seen having operational offices in Cross River State, but exploiting oil in Akwa Ibom waters but hiding in Calabar to be out of reach for tax remittance and other corporate responsibilities to Akwa Ibom State.
This practice is still ongoing till date, and Akwa Ibom State government is yet to take steps to halt the drift.
From decades Akwa Ibom State government has solely relied on monthly allocation from the Federation Account, but allowed its revenues to drained away either by omission or it’s collected by those who cannot account for them.
Cases of Internal Generated Revenues collected in the State but cannot be accounted for are numerous.
Itam market for instance is a huge revenue generating centre assuming the posture of a hollow bag which cannot retain commensurate revenue collected each day and return same to government’s treasury.
To be allotted a space for petty trading in Itam market, individuals pay N10, 000, N15,000, N20,000 and more depending on the size of the space the trader wishes to occupy.
The market has a population of over four thousand traders within its perimeter enclosures allotted spaces to trade on.
The stretch of Itam market at both sides of the Calabar-itu highway are still within the catchment area of the market revenue collectors who fix random charges from N500 to N3000 for traders hanging on the market’s apron.
The surcharge demanded to be allowed to trade on the road side is said to be penalties for encroaching the market and blocking free flow of traffic.
Trading in Itam market is from Monday to Sunday, everyday of the month, year in year, year out.
People selling inside the market pay for tickets to be allowed to trade but they are never given any ticket.
The assumed ticket inside the market varies from N50, N100 to N700, but traders are not giving as proof of payment.
Those hanging on the road side pay between N500 to N3000 negotiated on intimidation and confiscation of goods.
But either on the road side or within the market, one cannot be allowed to do any trading without payment of daily ticket.
A survey carried out by 9newsng.com to know the total revenue collected only on the main market day called “Etaha” is put at over N4 million Naira.
N4 million Naira generated only in a market day, not including other days of the week where payment to be allowed to trade is mandatory, and not including monies paid to be allocated a space to operate which is renewable January of every year.
When asked where does all these monies go to, many say, they don’t know, others say, it’s to Itu Local Government Council.
To Itu Local Government Council? Then how much is remitted to the Council? Is the Council giving the revenue collectors tickets to issue out to traders?
Does the Council audits issuance of tickets and compares remittance vis à vis the unsold ticket and the population of the market?
All these call for investigation because of the questionable process in which the revenue is always collected.
Get to Itam market on any market day, then you will see men just appearing before the traders with frightful look, asked for payment of ticket, and the woman will hurriedly pay and no tickets will be issued out. If this is the practice adopted by the market management, then where is the accountability to the Local Government Council and the State?
On the other hand, if the revenues are commensurately remitted to Itu Local Government Council, then what has passed and present administrations of the Council done with the revenue collected so far?
Itu Local Government Council should answer this question by showing evidence of projects which the generational revenues collected has been expended on.
Itam market is very unkempt, the stalls are extremely old, no proper easement to flush out waters when it rains, the sanitary protocol of such a large market is not respected, the market has long been overstretched by successive space allocation department creating spaces on top a little space already allotted to an existing operating traders.
There’s no new block of stores, whare house, new expansion, no renovation, rehabilitation of dilapidated stores, nothing new in the market except the market office built recently.
Summarily revenues generated in Itam market does not match the present state of its facilities.
A respondent in the survey carried out by this reporter says revenue generated in Itam market is used to construct roads within Itu LGA. Then the question is which road?
Itu road, Urua Ekpa road, Nelson Mandela street, Tabernacle road, Nwutusión village road, the firewood market others are all arteries leading traders and buyers to Itam market. But those roads are been maintained or constructed by the State Government and not Itu the Local Government Council.
The leakage in Akwa Ibom revenue and treasury is not only peculiar to Itam market. It’s almost the same in all major and medium markets within Uyo metropolis, and other markets in the hinterlands of other LGAs.
Markets stalls and the land where markets are situated anywhere in Akwa Ibom State are government utilities.
But do they generate commensurable revenues to its owner (the government)?
Asking this question concerning any market anywhere in the state, the answer will be a big NO.
In Akwa Ibom State, market rather serve as private estates to few persons who remit pittance to public treasury.
Akpan Andem market is another kettle of fish.
Akpan Andem market was built with a counterpart funding of Akwa Ibom State government and the United Nations Development Program – UNDP coordinated then by late Sir, Val Attah
To put the market to use, all the lock up shops within the market were sold to individuals at less than one hundred thousand Naira but today those put their shops for sale put the asking price at between N3 million and more.
At the inception of Akpan Andem market, trading was skeletal because of the dominant patronage of Uyo main market and the poor business trend in Uyo at that time.
The market became an oil well for Uyo Local Government Council when former Governor Godswill Akpabio closed down Uyo main market and directed that all traders should move their wares to Akpan Andem.
The explosion in business and trade of Akpan Andem market has made it the largest and dependable source of revenue for Uyo Local Government Council.
But from that time till date, revenues collected by Uyo Local Government Council cannot be justified by projects they can show to be commensurate with the huge revenue collected from a market which is opened from Monday to Sunday from its inception.
All traders selling in any open space in around Akpandem market pay for daily ticket of N200, N150 or N100 as the fancy of the revenue collectors please.
Those in lock up shops pay N1000 per month for security and security. Additional N1000 is demanded thereafter ” to take care of development” yearly.
A respondent who volunteered to feed this reporter with necessary information said Akpan Andem market is an “Oil well” for Uyo Local Government Council.
The payment of tax or revenue is inevitable for whoever is a recipient of public services.
But where the tax or revenue collector cannot account or justify how the tax or revenue has been expended, it amounts to financial crime.
On the left of Akwa Ibom State leaking revenue, the arbitrary collection of levies from tricycles riders is an illegal revenue generations created side by side the State Government official ticket sold at N200 per day.
It’s a known fact that tricycles riders pay N200 a day from Monday to Thursday to be allowed to ply roads within the State. But others pay more to other unofficial revenue collectors.
A case study are tricycles loading at the flank of Uniuyo first gate by Ikot Ekpene road and those loading at Ikot Ekpene road by Udi street in Uyo.
Tricycles loading on those spots pay N50 each time they drive out with passengers. Beside the loading fee of N50, they also pay N100 called security fee. Other fee such as welfare and development are also demanded some days.
Now the question is: For the over hundred tricycles loading ten to fifteen times a day from those two spots and paying N50 per loading, are these monies remitted to government?
The answer is another big NO.
A tricycle rider interviewed by this reporter said besides the N10,000 he is asked to pay as new member for the loading spot, he does to and fro from Ikpa road to Urua Ekpa junction 16 times a day and 6 days a week. At each loading he pays N50. Putting it together, the rider pays N50 sixteen times a day and 24 days a month bringing it to N1200 from one person payment to an unauthorized revenue collector, and hundreds of them pay same, more or a little less to this amount to illegal tax collectors.
While the Federal and State governments are busy finding palliative measures to reduce the heat of the harsh economy of the country on the people, other sets of people shouldn’t be allowed to milk others dry by collecting revenues they are not remitting to government to finance capital projects and other recurrent expenditures.
And it may interest you to know that the blockage of most roads in Uyo metropolis and others cities by illegal loading points by tricycles riders or vehicles are been backed up by security agencies whom the illegal revenue collectors remit part of the amount of their loot to seek coverage.
The leakage of revenue in the transport sector is very wide and it has remained so across the state in decades.
When asked why the government cannot put a stop to it, some respondents say actors and beneficiaries of the loot are untouchable.
Another respondent say they are groups of jobless people who feed through these illegal revenues. “If they are stopped from further collection of these revenues, there’s going to be increase of robbery and others crimes in the State” another respondent said.
Could this be the reason Akwa Ibom State government assumes the status of a blind man against leakages of its revenues in almost all sectors of its economy which would have boost its IGR?
What about tenement rate? Are owners of properties who supposed to remit inches of the rent they collect from occupants also miscreants?
Tenement rate is also a viable IGR. Tenement rates are remittances from rent paid to government by owners of commercial properties. Akwa Ibom State is about two mile away to be economically like Lagos and she is already due to start collecting tenement rates.
Akwa Ibom State has all it takes to finance capital projects even if there was no revenue from Oil, but successive government and the incumbent pays less or a seeming attention to all sources of its IGR.
Aside from the leakages uncovered by this reporter in Akwa Ibom State IGR, 9newsng.com has unravelled several others sources of income lying fallow and some illegally exploited but no revenue is remitted to the State.
It’s time, Governor Umo Eno rises up to the occasion to make capital of the natural endowment/wealth of the state and close the age long leakages frustrating the growth of its IGR.
A sincere audit of revenue collected in some sectors of the state economy should be carried out, and measures taken to stop further leakages
©️Samuel Abasiekong, French & English languages Journalist, Researcher, Public Affairs Analyst.
Here reporting @ 9newsng.com
Email: [email protected]
