The Transportation Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration has suspended the enforcement of its Drivers and Riders Permit Levy pending further engagement with relevant stakeholders.

The Mandate Secretary, Chinedum Elechi, conveyed the directive in a letter addressed to the Managing Director of First Capital Cargo
Ltd, the firm contracted to collect the levy. According to Elechi in the letter obtained in Abuja yesterday, the decision followed a meeting held with leaders of dispatch riders on February 19.

He stated: “Following the meeting with the leaders of the Association of Dispatch Riders in the FCT, and the concerns of multiple taxation by various authorities raised during the meeting, you are by this letter directed to suspend the enforcement of collection of the Drivers and Riders Permit Levy, pending further engagement with all relevant stakeholders.”

Dispatch riders had on February 19 stormed the FCT Administration Secretariat in Abuja to protest what they described as multiple taxation.

The riders, who turned out in their thousands, appealed to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to intervene and halt the alleged extortion.

They claimed that they were already paying an annual levy of N13,000 to the Abuja Municipal Area Council, Bwari and Gwagwalada Area Councils, in addition to the newly introduced N25,000 permit levy by the FCT Transportation Secretariat.

The riders further said they also paid N300 each time they entered a market in Abuja, describing the various charges as multiple taxation