Frontline Industrialist, Chief Azuka Alagwu says Governor Theodore Orji has brought economic relief to the Aba business community over recent directives to harmonize taxes levied to residents and stopping the harassment of business men by revenue agents in the city.
Alagwu who regretted that many companies in Aba had closed shop as a result of multiple taxation and levies, stated that the governor’s directive came at the right time.
He commended the governor for the directive to harmonize taxes paid in the state, particularly Aba, its commercial centre.
Alagwu who was a former president of Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA), posited that such multiple taxation on the Aba business community by government agencies which had had adverse effects on businesses in the city, does not augur well for the economy of the state.
It would be recalled that Gov. Orji recently directed local government council chairmen and revenue generating agencies in the state to harmonize taxes levied on residents of the city and end the incessant harassment of the Aba business community by revenue agents.
The business tycoon said the directive if properly implemented would restore the peoples’ confidence in government and also bring a big economic relief to the Aba business community.
The former ACCIMA boss blamed the country’s political and economic woes over the years on corruption and chided governments across the country for not developing the right will to fight the menace.
He further decried the level of corruption in the society. “It is corruption that has not made us to make any quantum leap, it is something that everybody should be worried and I am particularly very worried about corruption in the country and I think that part of the reasons why we’ve not been able to handle the problem is because government doesn’t have the will actually to fight it.
“Should corruption in the country be brought down to at least 30 percent, the economy would be turned around tremendously. There is need for the establishment of special courts to handle corruption cases,” he concluded.
