Rivers State generates N55 billion from road tax annually, but only N223.93 million entered the government treasury in 2022.
This is according to an investigation funded by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR). The report said that much of the money is being pocketed by members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), including community touts and contractors . The report noted that the trend has been on in the state since 1999, noting that it is an indictment on all past and present administrations in the state.
The investigation was conducted in nine local government areas in Rivers State, including Port Harcourt, Obio-Akpor, Ahaoda East, Eleme, Ikwerre, Oyigbo, Gokana, Khana and Tai.
About 24 officials of the National Union of Road Transport (NURTW) were interviewed in these local government areas. The number of vehicles in Rivers State was estimated at 62, 418, while that of tricycles was put at 24,432. The number of motorcycles was estimated at 10,892.
The investigation found that each commercial vehicle in Rivers State pays N1,800 daily, summing up to N41.121 billion annually.
A tricycle pays an average of N1,400 daily, amounting to N12.519 billion annually when multiplied by 24,432 tricycles. Over N1.5 billion is collected from bikes annually.
However, less than one percent of the money goes into the government treasury as evidenced in the 2022 Internally Generated Revenue records of Rivers State reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
“Rivers State has deliberately failed to embrace technology by asking that the road tax be paid electronically through numerous online platforms available today or via the bank,” a United Kingdom-based economist, Dr Ikechukwu Obiefuna, was quoted to have said.
Efforts were made to interview a firm named De-Jonny West Africa Limited, which collects N100 from each tricyclist around Obio-Akpor Local Government, but they were unsuccessful as they did not speak, according to the report.
Two government officials contacted did not comment. Rivers State earned N170 billion IGR in 2019, N117.190 billion in 2020 and N123.348 billion in 2021, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It generated N172.823 billion in 2022 as its IGR.
In terms of debt, Rivers State’s domestic debt stood at N226 billion as at June 30, 2023, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO). The debt stood at N232,576 billion as at March 2024.
Only domestic debts of Lagos, Delta, and Ogun were higher. Rivers State unemployment rate stood at 41.59 percent in 2020, according to the NBS. Rivers State has a population of 5.49 million people.
