By Clement Udegbe

THE states in Nigeria have become used to collecting monthly allocations from the Federation Account, squander it and return for more since the past years. From 1999, the Governors spend more time and energy plotting how to be more creative in collecting allocations, than growing their states’ economies.

Agriculture, mining, use of solid minerals, and manufacturing were relegated , for quick money from the centre, so much so, that today, a state governor, like in Edo State, can stand on a podium and start accusing the Finance Minister of spending money without approvals , while the beam in the eyes of his administration remain un- attended to.

Buhari

We still remember that during the campaigns, we saw television adverts that listed their many sins including corrupt enrichment, and investments overseas, but now, hiding under the constitutional immunity of their offices, they enjoy the past time of distracting and diverting the attention of Nigerians by pointing fingers at the immediate past government, as if such an action will wipe away their sins before the eyes of discerning Nigerians.

Fact is, sooner or later, these men will have to be investiged if the fight against corruption will make any sense at all.

The governors recently went cap in hand to beg for bail out from President Muhammadu Buhari, PMB, in order to meet their obligations. Their diversionary games seem to have worked on the President, and bail out has come, in the form of over N804 billion life line for them. Hurray, salaries may be paid, and more lies told! They will at least continue with their profligacy for the next tenure, before devising other means to rake in more money to continue in the vicious cycle of living as if money will get out of fashion!

Nigerians are bad followers. We suffer and keep smiling, while our oppressors continue to rip the states blind, borrow monies they have no business taking, pledging our future into indebtedness, and all we do is argue, depending on our ethnicity, religion, party affiliations, etc. The problem is that bail out or no bail out, the governors have already declared a war against the citizens using the IGR. They will continue as if there was no bail out, to chase, harass and intimidate citizens all in the good name of IGR.

For example, Rivers State Government last week, restated its commitment to shore-up the state’s internally generated revenue base. The finance commissioner, said in a statement that the government’s resolve followed the dwindling revenue from the Federation Account, adding that the government would do everything possible to ensure that business owners and taxable citizens paid their taxes, and have evolved ways of strengthening their revenue drive to ensure compliance. Meanwhile, the State Assembly has approved the borrowing of Billons of Naira by the same government.

In Imo State, they have concluded arrangments to prey on Keke-Na Pep and Okada riders. They sieze the machine, dump it in a place till the owner paid between N5000, and N10000 to be freed. Same is the story in most States in the South. The Anambra State drive for increased IGR is better imagined than experienced.

On Monday four days ago, I was riding in an Imo State registered commercial vehicle from Owerri to Onitsha in the morning hours, and just after Oba Junction, a group of  8 young men with very hard faces, swarmed on our vehicle, and tried to wrestle the car key from the driver in the traffic, but they could not because I was the only passenger in the car, and we had all doors pinned down.

At first I thought they were hooligans from their conduct, but when I noticed that they all wore T-Shits with IGR mark, I knew they were part of the hands of oppression used by Governor Obiano to wrestle money from the poor ones in the name of IGR. I introduced my self, screaming at the top of my voice, and observing my age, they piped low  a little, and brought their leader, who turned out to be an Imo State indigene, and even related to me. I decided that we must go all the hog, as I needed to understand how this IGR thing worked in Anambra State.

We drove to their office, which was a ramshackle open batcher, in an extremely dirty environment, on a muddy soil covered with saw dusts, very close to the bridge head. There was nothing to give it credibility! The Chairman sat on a short make-shift form, and asked him what we must do to get registered.

He announced that the charge was N25,000, for two stickers, one receipt and a wretched looking small plastic bucket, the task force charge was N10,000, but he would waive that because I did not argue with them.These things should not cost more than N5000 to produce! They had no POS machine for payment. Victims must pay cash, for them to collect their own commission at the end of each day. We drove to three banks before I got the money from an ATM machine, paid the N25,000, and left them.

It was clear that after almost six years of APGA in Anambra State, they have no properly thought out means of IGR collection from the people. They simply unleash touts on the poor commercial vehicle operators, and harass them into payment. There was no other team from Onitsha to Awka. So it was a matter of using an Imo son, to harass Imolites on that route. There was no bill board, or adverts on the road about IGR or any public enlightenment, as we heard nothing from their state radio throughout the six hours I spent in Onitsha that day.

If I was not in that vehicle, the driver would have been beaten, and taught a lesson of his life, according to one of them. I kept wondering why our leaders take us for granted without any respect in Igbo land. Why not visit Lagos, and learn from that State government, than this shameful put up, in the name of IGR collection.