Soludo: Industrialist wants revenue touts off Anambra roads

As the good people of Anambra State continue to bask in the euphoria of the just concluded governorship election won by former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the Chairman/CEO of MACDON Group of Companies, Chief Mike Emerah, has called on the governor-elect to get ready to bring his expertise to bear on revenue services in the state and by so doing flush out touts and those milking the treasury.

Speaking on his expectations from the governor-elect, Emerah decried the method of revenue collection in the state, observing that the way touts parade tickets and demand for payments from motorists, traders and wheelbarrow pushers at the markets, motor parks and bus stops was very crude and unacceptable.

He wondered why the job of revenue collection should be left in the hands of touts, noting that the involvement of touts in revenue services amounts to corruption and economic sabotage.

He blamed the menace of touting on the agents contracted by the state Ministries of Transport and Trade and Commerce, noting that the Commissioners for the two ministries shouldn’t allow agents to engage touts as revenue collectors.

“Soludo has to stop the crude way of revenue collection in Anambra State and ensure adequate supervision of the activities of Ministries of Transport and Trade and Commerce to prevent corruption and economic sabotage. He has to ensure that the revenue of the state is safe, secure and used for the purpose of executing development projects on education, health care services and roads, among others,” he said.

He stressed that touting was not supposed to be seen in Anambra State, which prides itself as the Light of the Nation, in this digital age. 

Emerah also drew the attention of the governor-elect to the plight of investors and industrialists in the state, noting that he has to create a conducive environment for them to enable them to sustain, expand and create more jobs for residents.

“The clamour to attract investors into the state is a welcome development, but attention has to be given to us that is existing so that we can expand and churn out more jobs. We need government’s support for sustenance and expansion,” he added.