Abia State Government has reinstated it’s commitment to rid the State of illegal revenue collectors, who violate it’s laws against touting and illegal revenue collection, to provide a more conducive environment for businesses to thrive.
This is against the backdrop of withdrawal of services, by table water producers in Aba, the state’s commercial hub, to protest multiplicity of taxes from Government revenue collectors and touts.
As a result of their strike, the price of sachet water (pure water) skyrocketed from N150 to N300 per bag of 20 sachets, a situation residents found as harsh and unacceptable.
John Okiyi-Kalu, State’s commissioner for Trade and Investment, explained that the current administration in Abia State, led by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had long outlawed touting in the State.
He vowed that Government is going to make sure that the law against touting is enforced seriously on some persons, who have decided to violate that law, by parading as touts and extorting people in the State.
Okiyi-Kalu, assured the Association of Table Water producers in the state of a better and friendly business environment going forward.
Speaking to newsmen after a crucial meeting with the union in Aba, Okiyi-Kalu, assured them that the State Government will support them fully, and make sure that nobody intimidates them further.
On the issue of revenue, he stated that Government is going to consolidate what they pay, as the new plan is to simply give them a particular amount to pay yearly and after that, even those at the local government level will not be able to chase them about for any kind of revenue.
The Commissioner, also stated that Governor Ikpeazu, is determined to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSE) in the best way he can, because they are crucial to deepening Abia’s economic agenda.
He praised the Association of Table Water Producers, as a group that has contributed immensely too the economy of the state with the crucial role they play with their products, which is an essential commodity and reassured them of Government’s full support.
“We’ve met and they have outlined the issues and all of them are revenue related. We’ve agreed on a new direction and as soon as they’re able to present the necessary documentation, the Governor will review and do the needful.
“We realized that most of the things they highlighted and revenue they’re talking about, the payment don’t get to government.
“Anyone stopping them after that will be tagged as a tout and dealt with according to the existing order of the executive Governor of Abia State.
“We’re with them 100 percent and we’ve also agreed with them that they should quickly call off the stoppage of production and they’ve agreed with us that in a day or two, they should quickly return to production and production”.
He however said that government’s engagement with the union should lead to a reduction and not an increment in price since the discussion was meant to reduce the burden they are carrying as business people.
“They told us about the tax-related burden, diesel and electricity and we’re happy to announce that we expect Geometric Power to fully roll out before the end of this year and that will help reduce the cost of production, related to electricity for SMEs.
“So, if Geometric rolls out before the third and fourth quarter of this year, there’s no basis for them to increase the price. This is the same thing with other businesses that use electricity”, he said.
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Ejikeme Uzoma, chairman, Association of Table Water Producers, Abia State chapter, explained that they articulated their problems to the Government, as related to taxation and touting.
Uzoma said that the withdrawal of their products from the streets was to protest against Abia State Signage and Advertisement Agency (ABSAA ), which is arbitrarily charging them on advertising and signage, which they are not involved in, as they have not placed any signpost anywhere as a form of advert.
He, however, said that they are doing maintenance of their equipment and with the skyrocketed production cost they are currently facing, there will be 100 percent increase (N250) on their products new price after maintenance in two to three days.
“We’re dealing with an essential commodity, water. bread has increased 13 times since last year. Other commodities have also increased. We run our power generators with diesel.
“We were paying a whopping sum of N35,000 to buy a drum of diesel, but as I speak to you now, we can’t buy it for N16,000. So how do we sell at the same price? The price of cellophane we were buying for N1,050 per kilogram is now N1,800.
“The price of packing bags has also increased. More importantly our workers, how do we pay them with this biting economy? How will they meet up if we keep paying them the same thing since we all buy from the same market?
“So, invariably we try to upgrade what we’re doing to reward workers, so we can’t sell at the same price. Members have been clamouring for an increase in the price of products, but for now, a bag of sachet water is N150. Consequently, customers should expect an increase between N200-N250 when we resume production”, he stated.
