By Emma Una
COCOA farmers and merchants in Ikom and Etung Local Government Areas, Cross -River State, have vehemently kicked against the N5, 000 non-compliance levy on every ton of cocoa exported  by the state government.

The placard-carrying cocoa farmers took to the streets of Ikom, about 300 kilometers from Calabar, the state capital, to express their grievances. Some of the placards bore the inscriptions: “Non-compliance levy is illegal” and “Let the government respect the court judgment, the court has declared the levy null and void.”

Chair, Cocoa Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the state, Mr. Alphonsus Nana, said:  “The non-compliance levy was introduced by the former Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr.Sandy Onor, in 2011 and inherited by the current commissioner, Mr. James Aniyom, but we went to court to challenge it and we got a judgment, restraining the government from collecting the money.”

“We paid the money for three years now, but now that the court has decided on the matter, we want government to stop the illegal levy. The commissioner for agriculture should call his people to order to stop harassing cocoa merchants to collect the money,” he said.

On the deferred shipment, which many feared would affect productivity this season, he said it would commence once the levy was cancelled and urged the state government to expedite action in that regard.