Governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the 2019 gubernatorial election in Imo State, Nick Opara-Ndudu , has criticized the introduction of adult levy by Governor Rochas Okorocha, reports ITRealms.
Opara-Ndudu also accused Okorocha of being insensitive to the sufferings of the people, who are now enmeshed in debilitating poverty induced by his seven years misrule.
ITRealms recalls that the Imo State Government (IMSG) had on Friday in a statement by Louis Duru, the State Commissioner For Community Government, Culture and Traditional Affairs , on behalf of the Governor, stated that all “leviable adults” in the state have been ordered to pay N3,000 each as adult development levy.
According to Duru, who noted that the state had registered at least 2,000 leviable adults in each autonomous community, the money is to be used for “autonomous community adult development”. Each recognized autonomous communities in the state, will serve as the collectors and they are to pay not less than N6 million each.
Reacting to the development, Opara-Ndudu said the “announcement by IMSG requiring all adults to pay N3,000 monthly or N36,000 per annum is, to say the least, a step in the wrong direction,” adding that with this pronouncement, it is clear that the government is determined to continue in its misguided and justifiably vilified programme of punishing and impoverishing Imo citizens rather than work for their welfare and peaceable enjoyment of their livelihoods.
“In a state where the rural folks have gone through untold harassment and psychological torture in the past seven years, one needs to remind Governor Rochas Okorocha that the basis for the existence of any government is the welfare and well-being of the people. And any government that loses sight of this raison d'etre for its existence, as is the case in Imo state today, loses credibility and justification for its existence.
“As a professional accountant and public finance practitioner, I do know that there is a plethora of initiatives that can be pursued by IMSG to raise and increase revenues without burdening the citizens with additional taxes and levies. For the record, it needs to be mentioned that Imo State achieved its highest revenues since its creation in 2014 when it recorded N8.1 billion in revenues.
“From monthly revenue of about N320million at the beginning of 2014, the state made incremental progress in the course of the year reaching as high as N800million in the third quarter of 2014. These results were achieved under my watch as the Pioneer Commissioner of Internal Resources(IGR) and Pension Matters, having assumed that position in January 2014 for the following nine months,” he disclosed.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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