Ebonyi Loses N50m Annually To Fraudsters

The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr Ifeanyi Ike says the state government loses about N50 million annually to fraudsters at the quarries.

Ike made the disclosure in an interview with  newsmen in Abakaliki, recently.

He attributed the loss to “the unwholesome activities of unscrupulous individuals at the quarry sites”.

The commissioner said: “in a given month, government loses two to five million naira. If you approximate it for a year, the state has been losing about N50 million yearly.

According to him, government has installed a N30 million weigh bridge, to curb the fraud.

“The government has been losing such huge sums of revenue to some unscrupulous elements in the state because the bridge has not been functional.

“The weigh bridge is to determine the number of trucks and tonnes of crushed stones that leave the quarry enterprise zone.

“The problem is that most of this money is being siphoned by some unscrupulous individuals in the habit of stealing from the State Government,” he said.