Tricycle Operators popularly known as Keke under the aegis of Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TOWAN) recently stagged a peaceful protest at Miniolu Junction, along Ada-George in Port-Harcourt Rivers State.
The protesters who said they were unhappy over the sudden increase in taxation by the Rivers State Internal Revenue Service (RIRS) caused obstruction for road users making motorist to spend more than one hour on the road.
The TOWAN protesters claimed that they pay tax to those he called ‘Road Side Collector’ who do not issue them receipts
Confirming the protest to National Network, the Rumuokwuta Branch Chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mr. Friday Ovumba said (RIRS) sold their tickets to the Keke drivers for N200 instead of the N100 they usually pay to the same (RIRS).
Mr. Ovumba added that after the Keke drivers had paid this tax, the road side tax collectors would still come and collect money from them forcing them to pay tax twice, a situation he noted does not make them happy, because according to him, they did not even know if the money actually goes to the coffers of government.
Speaking further, Mr. Ovumba said “the government should appoint a legal union or body to be collecting the tax from the drivers and receipts should be given to them when they pay this tax so they will know how the money they pay is being used.
He also advised that the road side tax collectors should stop collecting money from the Keke drivers when they have already paid to the union even as he advised that the N100 levy should be maintained.
