By Suleiman Anyalewechi

Hopes of Abia State Government  financing  a substantial part of its 2024 fiscal expenditure with internally generated revenue IGR appears to be hitting the rocks, despite the huge potentials offered by the widely acclaimed status of the state as a commercial and industrial hub.

As it is, the state authorities seem, hamstrung on how to handle the delicate refusal of most commercial and business players to honour their statutory obligations without touching the sour point in its relationship with them.

The Source findings have authoritatively revealed that a large part of the traders operating at the several high profile markets, thousands of business actors and tricycle operators in the two major cities of Abia – Aba and Umuahia have continued to display nonchalant and out right disdain to all entreaties to pay their statutory annual revenue to the authorities .

This has left the Government with only the twin options of the monthly federation allocation and loan facilities as veritable means of financing its activities.

Only a few weeks back, the Aba zonal Coordinator of the Abia State Harmonized Taskforce, Chief Uche Nwogu, revealed the ingenious ways tricycle operators in the state have been evading rent/tax payments. In an interview with the Source at the thick of the protest that trailed the decision of the state to migrate from daily to weekly payments of rents and taxes by tricycle operators, said:

“The tricycle riders will come out early in the morning to operate and will disappear before the time the revenue collectors will come out between 8 am and 9 am .

“Then they (tricyclist) will re- appear in the evening when the revenue collectors must have closed . In this way they continue to evade the payments of statutory levies to the Government .

“So to stem this ugly situation ,we came up with the weekly payments arrangements with their union leaders as stakeholders .In stead of payments of N350 daily, we asked them to be paying N 2,150 weekly .

“The whole idea is to ensure that ,Government is not denied of its statutory revenue .”

But this policy was almost halted at the time the tricyclists protested. And findings have shown that it is still business as usual ,with a large number of the tricyclists still evading payments of rents and levies.

The traders at the various markets and other business operators remain the most culpable in the rent/levy payments evasion.

At inception, the Government had opted for a harmonized annual levy/rent payment of N 19,500 for an average shop owner and business player ,for the purpose a seamless collection.

But that has not helped  the situation as over 80%  are yet to meet their 2023 statutory obligations to the Government, talk less those of the 2024 .

The Source findings have shown that out of the over 50 high profile markets that dot the business landscape of Abia only the Eziukwu market in Aba has given a serious thought to the issue of payments of annual statutory levies.

According to a letter addressed to the Executive Chairman of Abia state Board of Internal Revenue BIR Prof. Ogbonnaya Udechukwu ,by the executives dated June 6 2024 and  sighted by this magazine the market noted that it has so far remitted about N32 Million to the coffers of the state Government.

The amount represents payments by the market traders for  the 2023 statutory annual Government levies.

“We are directed by the central executives of Eziukwu Market to write you as follows:

That for the IGR of 2023 our market have made a total payment of thirty one million ,six hundred and twenty eight thousand Naira .

“That there are others who have not paid ,and we are waiting for the Board of Internal Revenue to send their taskforce for the recovery from those who have refused to pay .

“Furthermore, we are happy to inform you that we have procured computer sets for the computerization of the markets operations in keeping with our promise” part of the letter jointly signed by Chief Alphonsus Udeigbo and Darlington Achonu Chairman and Secretary respectively reads.

“Instructively, for a state that has continued to reel under the hugely  negative impact of evasion of payments of  rents/levies  ,the Government also appear to be in a bigger dilemma over how to confront the situation without drawing  down from its political capital.

“Worried about the continued loss of statutory revenue ,Prof Udechukwu head of the BIR ,had early December last year written to the heads of all security agencies in the state soliciting their support and cooperation in its efforts to recover its 2023 statutory levies from defaulters .

“In the letter ,also sighted by the Source, the board had signaled its intentions to embarked on the recovery efforts beginning from December 20 ,2023 with its primary targets being markets ,business premises and parks .

However, it later backed out of the planned revenue collection enforcement,due to what multiple sources said was Government unwillingness to disrupt Christmas business activities of the defaulters.

Abia State is widely projected  to be one of  the states in the country with the  potentials to rake in about N10 billion as monthly internally revenue.

But as it is, it is doubtful if the State, currently generates up to N 1. 5 billion on monthly basis due mainly to the unwillingness of taxable adults and business organizations to leave up to their statutory obligations.