Chinedum Treasure
Chairman of Ogbaru LGA of Anambra state and his legislative council have come under heavy criticism following introduction of an extortive law mandating all house owners in the council to pay N15,000 within 7 days for house numbering.
The LGA had in statement, copies of which are made available to journalists said it has resolved to put house plate numbers on all the buildings in council for proper identification, enumeration and fiscal planning.
“In this wise, IYKOB AGENCY MULTI WORLD LTD has been contacted to produce and place the digital numbers in all the buildings. However, landlords/landladies will bear the cost of producing and placing the numbering plates.
“By this notice, Landlord/Landladies are expected to pay the Ogbaru LGA through the contractor fifteen thousand Naira, the cost of the digital plate numbers within seven days” the statement added.
In a sharp reaction to the development, landlords and landladies have condemned the exploitative tendencies of Ogbaru LGA government.
Some of the house owners who spoke with journalists on the ground of anonymity for fear of what they called selective punishment from the council boss noted that Ogbaru LGA has about one hundred thousand houses.
They noted that if one hundred thousand houses are forced to fifteen thousand Naira each, the contractor must have raked in close to two billion Naira.
The landlords and landladies said that they have discovered from experience that only a token would be remitted int the council account.
“The peasant and poor farmers in Ogbaru who make up more than 75 percent of the population are calling on well meaning Nigerians to come to our rescue and save us from these tax masters,” they said.
The house owners also appealed to Gov Charles Soludo who has been giving Anambra State a responsible and responsive leadership to help them plead with the Ogbaru LGA chairman over the matter.
“It’s not that we don’t want to pay anything but the amount been charged for the numbering exercise is not just ridiculous but also exploitative and regressive,” they asserted.
Recall that the incumbent Ogbaru LGA chairman came on board when the substantive Mayor was arrested in abroad for undisclosed reasons.
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