Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state is in the news again, this time he came with a terrible tax structure and impose it on the people of Ebonyi state. These are people he never cared for or asked how they are surviving and managing to pay their children’s school fees. Viewers Corner has nothing against any Governor collecting taxes because taxation is a good source of income for the state but a proper method on how to get these taxes should be thought through properly.
You do not impose taxes on people who can barely feed well, people should pay taxes when you create good conditions and a better means for them to pay taxes. Another thing is that all these taxes Ebonyi state people are forcefully told to pay, how are we sure that Governor David Umahi would use the money collected to better the lives of the Ebonyi state people because we know him as someone who has corruption in his system, therefore collecting these taxes is another method he introduced just to enrich himself (David Umahi).
When he announced sometime ago that he would pay a 13-month salary as a bonus to the workers, every worker in Ebonyi state became very excited and now he has changed that plan again, saying that he will not be able to pay the full 13th month salary. He announced that junior workers in the state will receive 50% of that 13th month while those in the position of directors in various ministries in Ebonyi state will be paid 10% of the 13th month salary.
The second aspect is that Governor David Umahi’s administration has added extra 500 naira on the West African Examinations Council (W.A.E.C) fees for the students in his state. According to information Viewers Corner’s correspondent gathered, from this extra 500 naira per student, 300 naira is going to the pocket of Ebonyi state Commissioner for Education while the remaining 200 naira is for the Secondary Education Board in the state. This is incredible! Another funny tax imposed is called “Children Tax” where each pupil in Ebonyi state primary schools are asked to pay a compulsory 400 naira for a Report Card which he printed out newly. If not paid, the child will not get his/her result after examination. We also gathered that primary schools in the state still have lots of Report Cards that were printed during the tenure of the former Governor Martin Elechi but David Umahi has rejected them and decided to print his own thereby forcing parents to buy a Report Card for each child for 400 naira. This is terrible.
Again, he has asked each teacher in Ebonyi state Secondary schools to buy a compulsory laptop which David Umahi’s government will supply at the cost of 96,000 naira. It was stated that at the end of every month, 4,000 naira will be deducted from each teacher’s salary until the 96,000 naira for the laptop is completely paid. This is a must for all the secondary school teachers in the state. Our (Viewers Corner) concern on these sorts of tax system that Governor David Umahi is imposing on the Ebonyi state people is that it is causing more and more hardship on the people of the state. If the allocation he gets from the federal government is not enough for him, he should channel his grievances to the federal government and not on the poor people of his state who most of them are farmers. Most states in the country are running free educational programs but Governor David Umahi can not do that instead he keep on imposing different sorts of taxes on the people of his state. This is not right at all. Honestly David Umahi’s system of leadership in Ebonyi state is getting out of hand.
Viewers Corner would take this opportunity once again to advise voters in Ebonyi state and across Nigeria to be mindful of who they vote for during elections. Do not vote for someone because he or she is your friend, brother or sister etc., vote for someone based on his/her good track records in the state. Find out more things about the candidate before casting your vote for him or her and with this little advice, everyone would be able to choose a better candidate and not someone who would not care about the welfare of his people.
Source: Viewers Corner, Germany.