Members of the Public especially travellers traversing through Edo State have continued to groan under illegal activities of revenue collectors who dispossess their victims of huge sums of money ranging from N5000 to N50,000 respectively, a development which has continued unabated in negation to the State government’s ban on all forms of levies along highways.
It was reported that border towns between Owan West and Ibillo/Lampese in Akoko-Edo local government areas of Edo State, also bordering Ifon in Ondo State axis are places these illegal activities thrive.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Commissioner for Information, Hon Louis Odion, at the weekend described the activities as illegal and called on the public to apprehend and hand over such persons to security agents.
“Anyone still found mounting illegal roadblocks or extorting money on the highways is a criminal and should be apprehended and handed over to the security agents. The security agencies have been given specific instructions on this. In the last few days, some arrests have been made and suspects are to face the full wrath of the law,” he said.
Unsuspecting travellers and motorists plying the ever busy roads are on daily basis subjected to constant harassments by these fake revenue agents who brandish letters of authorization from the Ministry of Environment and Public Utilities to extort the general public.
It was gathered that a more disturbing aspect, in spite of government ban, is the way and manner some of these persons suspected to be thugs use machetes and guns to compel compliance and, in most cases when they are apprehended by the Police, they are let off the hook almost immediately by the aid of the local authorities.
An editor of a national newspaper plied the route recently and shared his terrible experience in the hands of the revenue collectors along Ibilo and Lampese in Akoko-Edo.
He said he was shocked that even after he made the effort in arresting and handling over to the Police some of the illegal collectors, they were allow to go just as he wondered whose interest the agents were serving.
He said: “I can understand why even after the state government, through media reports, banned all forms of levies, these people here are still here extorting money from people. I made phone call to some aides to Governor Oshiomhole and they confirmed that it is illegal and fraudulent,” he said.
Two persons were, in suit ERC/1/2014, arraigned before a Mobile Revenue Court in Benin City recently for allegedly collecting illegal levies from unsuspecting motorists. Their arrest followed a tip-off by members of the public.
Among revenue banned on highways includes haulage fees, road tax fee, log control fees, and produce collection fees among others.
However, when contacted, the Edo state Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, Hon Clem Agba, said the state government was doing everything it could to put an end to the activities of the illegal revenue collectors, saying those perpetrating the crime are unknown to the state government.. He however added that the only legal tax collected is the gaseous emission which, he noted, cut across the nation. Leadership
