By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—Edo State House of Assembly, yesterday, commenced debate on the bill for the law to make provision for uniform and harmonized levies and charges for local government areas in the state presented to it by Governor Godwin Obaseki, and expressed fears about the political will to execute same.

Though majority of the lawmakers, including members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, commended the bill, saying if passed into law, it will not only provide employment for the youths but will also boost the Internally Generated Revenue of both the state and Local Governments, they urged the executive to commence serious enlightenment programme so that people at the grassroots will understand what they are paying for.

There was a thunderous applause from the lawmakers when Mr Monday Ehighalua, who had earlier opposed the bill, said: “Initially, I was against the bill but from what I have read about it, my fears, particularly as regards uniform taxes for both rich local governments areas and those that are not so rich, has been allayed because I have found out that those issues were taken care of. So, I support the bill totally.”