Group Carpets Revenue Collectors Over Rights Abuse

The Deputy Programmes
Manager of South Saharan Social Development Organisation, Miss Febechukwu Maduko, has decried the rate of human rights abuses by revenue collectors in Enugu State.
Speaking with newesmen on the sideline of a town hall meeting on revenue collection in Enugu on Friday, Maduko said that some agents of the government displayed cruelty in their relationship with the members of the public.
She said that the situation was no longer acceptable, adding that the non-governmental organisation wished to assist in enthroning good governance in the state.
She said that the organisation intended to put an end to impunity and human rights violation by agents of the government and others.
“We no longer want the rights of the people to be violated for whatever reason, the days of impunity are over,’’ she said.
Maduko regretted that some of the government agencies invited for the meeting were absent.
“We invited the police and other relevant groups to attend this meeting but they are not here,” she said.
Earlier, the Chairman of Partners for Electoral Reform, Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, said that members of the public had suffered untold hardship in the hands of overzealous agents of the state government.
Nwagwu said that it was a fundamental right of Nigerians to demand enduring essential services from government agencies without excuses.
“As consumers, we have the right to push you to work in our interest to provide the services we require,” he said.
Nwagwu accused some government agencies in the state, including the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, of harassment and exploitation of the masses.
“Exploitation of the citizens has a backlash. Our demand is for you to follow due process and not to make money for yourselves and the government by all means,” he said.
The Director of Planning, Research and Statistics at the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, said that enforcement officers of the agency were working within the ambits of the law.
Egba regretted that the master plan of Enugu had been defaced by residents who built shops on public facilities, while traffic regulations were violated at will.
“We tell our enforcement officers that their aim should be to control traffic and not to make money for the government but people should learn to obey traffic laws,” he said.
Egba said that the agency was seeking approval from the state executive council to streamline charges paid by defaulters of traffic rules in order to discourage revenue leakages.
The representative of the Managing Director of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, who refused to disclose his name, said that fixed charges in the power supply chain was an acceptable industrial practice.
He said that the company was at the verge of rolling out its pre-paid meters to their customers.
He said that the company had given out contracts to enumerate the buildings in the company’s network coverage, adding that the meters could be rolled out from November 2015.
Our correspondent reports that participants at the meeting appealed to the relevant government agencies to rise above the increasing incidences of street begging in Enugu.
They also appealed to the electricity company to streamline its charges to serve the people better.