Anambra State Joint Transport Forum has rejected the Unified High Breed Enforcement Team (UHBET) set up by the State government to collect taxes from its members, vowing not to cooperate with the team.
The group described the new enforcement team members as rebaptized louts who have over the years been ripping off its members.
UHBET was set up and inaugurated by the Special Adviser to the Governor Charles Soludo on Security, Air Vice Marshall Chiobi and Acting Chairman Anambra State Internal Revenue Services Dr Greg Ezeilo to collect taxes from transporters.
Arising from its meeting on Monday, the transporters took the resolution and urged members to resist any attempt to collect revenue from them by the enforcement body set up by government.
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In its resolutions singed by the executive leader, Innocent Obogha and copied to Directorate of State Services (DSS) and the police command in Anambra state, the group said the new outfit comprised members of the same Ocha Brigade team and the Anambra Joint Enforcement Team ANJET that had before now been ripping off and extorting money from its members.
However, the group in the resolutions agreed to support Governor Charles Soludo’s drive towards ensuring accountability in the digital payment of taxes and levies into the government account.
The group stated, “We shall continue to comply with the respective payments but we reject in its totality the newly inaugurated Unified High Breed Enforcement Team UHBET set up by the Special Adviser to Soludo on Security and the Chairman Anambra Internal Revenue Services due to the following reasons.
“That the formation of the new team is a rebaptized body that was made up of the Ocha Brigade and Anambra Joint Enforcement Team ANJET that have been ripping off our members in the name of revenue collections.
“We have reported cases of our members who despite the fact that they have paid their taxes to government coffers they still force them to pay bribe of between N100,000.00 to N30,000.00 and sometimes they are arrested and forced into Black Maria truck and detained for days
“To this end we appeal to Gov Charles Soludo to allow us collect these revenues by sending POS Agents that we shall pay the money through them to government in order to ensure accountability.
“Similarly we have resolved to resist any attempt by the new revenue enforcement team to collect taxes from our members because they are neither accounted for nor well documented and government has lost billions of naira to the so called revenue enforcement team.
“All members of this organization are hereby directed that no member should have any kind of dealings with the new body in the area of payment of taxes of any kind until government provides us with the POS Agents and operatives for us to pay direct to government coffers.”
