Soludo tax regime: Heavy duty truck drivers embark on indefinite strike

Soludo’s men collect N80k per trip instead of agreed N12k

AWKA, Nigeria – Anambra State Heavy Duty and Haulage members have embarked on an indefinite strike to protest the government’s heavy taxes on them.

The chairman of Heavy Duty and Haulage in the state Ozoemela Okoye who spoke to our reporter on Wednesday said the strike was to draw governor Charles Soludo’s attention to their plights in the state.

According to him, the government of Anambra state and its tax partner Bigly Oil and Gas Limited are cheating and treating them as slaves in the state.

He said that what the Anambra state government is doing to transporters in the state is not done anywhere in Nigeria.

“We move to all parts of the states in the country but how Anambra state is treating transporters is different. They are stifling our economies . The government will say one thing and do another thing. Governor said he has given Bigly Nwankwo power to collect revenue from transporters for the government and we discussed how to pay.

“We agreed to pay N12,000 per trip for a trailer but today they are intimidating, assaulting and harassing us and forcing us to pay N80,000 to N100,000 per trip. Some of our members have died because of the beating , molestation from revenue collectors. They now collect what they want and not what the governor directed them or the agreement we had with them. If you refuse to pay the money they asked you to they will beat you mercilessly and force you to pay, what they want ” he said.

According to him,they are embarking on indefinite strike to draw the attention of the governor to their plight because they cannot pay the amount. He called on the governor to intervene and look into their pains , noting that keeping quiet over the issue would create more problems in the state.

According to him,they have decided to park their vehicles until the governor addresses their issues, because they will never pay the money.

“The money they are collecting from us is too much and we have directed our members to park their trucks” he stated.

Regrettably, he said that all the trucks to Anambra state are diverted to other states because of the extortion, intimidation and harassment from government and its agents

“We know that some revenue accruable to the state are diverted to others and the residents are paying higher cost of food and other items” he said.

According to him,before the administration of governor Soludo they were paying N4,500 and immediately he assumed office it was raised to N12,000 ,we agreed to pay but they are not collecting the agreed amount.

“They just collect what they want with beating ,at least we are citizens , we must be treated like one and not like slaves ” he added.