‘Obiano sanitizing Onitsha to end rising relocation of deep pocket investors’ to Asaba’
A member of the Special Taskforce on Decongestion of Onitsha Metropolis of Touts and Hoodlums who doubles as a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Rommy Ezeonkwuka has given insights on why the governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano set up the committee.
In an interview with Business Hilights South East Bureau chief in Onitsha, he said “Government is not happy that a lot of leading investors’ and business moguls doing their daily business in Onitsha have been relocating in drones to Asaba in Delta State due to security concerns and excesses of touts masquerading as tax collectors”.
He said the governor was disturbed on the outcome of investigations by the state which revealed that market leaders along with highly placed businessmen are behind illegal revenues agents and multiple taxation rocking Onitsha over the years.
He alleged that the said market leaders and highly placed businessmen are behind those street urchins parading different types of tickets and emblems including those who extort money as levies, tolls from visiting traders, motorists, market women, wheel barrow pushers and traders in Onitsha, adding that Obiano’s desire to sanitize Onitsha has to be carried out to the fullest.
According to him, “Those boys working like touts and forcibly extorting money from people are working for some market leaders and highly placed people. That is why the boys are untouchable. Any attempt to arrest and question them always met strong resistance”.
Ezeonkwuka further observed that those who have stolen and milked government revenue for many years are using what they generate to build plazas, hotels and petrol filling stations to the detriment of the state treasury and the image of Onitsha as a leading commercial city in Nigeria.
He said the steps to restore the lost security and living glories of the metropolis stemmed from the unruly activities of touts and illegal revenues agents who have been degrading the image of Onitsha to ridicule, thereby scaring people from other parts of the country from coming to either live or do business.
According to him, “Obiano has given us the mandate to sanitize Onitsha and restore the city back to its glory and we have to achieve the target. It is not acceptable to hear that people now prefer to live and do business in Asaba and likewise, the revenue that is supposed to be generated in Onitsha is moving to Asaba”
He further commended the Commissioners for Transport, Trade and environment for his support calling on the Governor to ignore those opposed to the Committee’s activities, saying the security agencies such like the Police, Nigeria Army and Vigilance groups have assisted so much in the ongoing efforts to rid Onitsha of criminals.
