By Peter Okolie
Onitsha (Anambra), Aug. 24, 2020 – The Road Transport Employer Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Anambra chapter, on Monday decried the activities of fake revenue collectors in motor parks and markets across the state.
The state Chairman of RTEAN, Mr Kingsley Maduagwuna, expressed the concern in an interview with newsmen in Onitsha.
Maduagwuna said that the illegal activities of hoodlums who disguised as government revenue agents had continued to compound problems for both residents and transporters alike.
“They extort money from men and women who engage in their different legitimate means of livelihood.
“Our plea is that government should deploy security agencies and task force to ensure that such touts do not resurface on the road or in our various markets,” he pleaded.
The chairman expressed the readiness of the association to assist the state government in improving its revenue generation as well as halting activities of fake revenue agents.
Lamenting the level of extortion by the alleged illegal revenue agents, a commercial bus driver, Mr Chidi Okagbue, said, “if government wants revenue from us, why not make the process more formal?
“What makes it worse is that these fake agents fight and assault us when we don’t have the money to pay.”
Reacting, the state Commissioner for Transport, Mr Afam Mbanefo, said that measures were being put in place to rid the state of touts.
“The menace has become a source of worry to the people and the state government, but be rest assured that government is working to rid the state of touts,” he said.
