Union Blames High Foodstuffs’ Prices On Illegal Levies

The Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN), Rivers State chapter has attributed high cost of foodstuffs and meat in the state to illegal levies by miscreants on highways of the state.
The union also attributed high cost of foodstuff in the state to lack of transport fare, control by governments in the country.
The State Chairman of the Union, Mr Sunny Opara made this known in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, recently.
Opara, who expressed worries over the illegal multiple taxation in the state, especially in Oyigbo-Aba highway and Ahoada-Bayelsa highway, stated the union’s readiness to resist illegal tax collection on foodstuff and animals in the state.
He said, the union would like to partner with governments and security agencies to rid the highways of illegal tax collection by unofficials in the country.
According to him, some hoodlums usually gang up to mount road blocks on highways to collect levies from truck drivers conveying foodstuffs and animals into the state.
He said, some claim to be state taskforce officials, while some claim to be officials of Federal Government taskforce, to extort money on foodstuffs and that the ugly situation forces some traders to increase the prices of their products to cover up their expenses.
We must resist illegal tax collection on foodstuffs and animals on highways especially in Rivers state.
“We must support security agencies and governments to clamp down on those claiming to be taskforce to collect money from our members, because we have found out that both the State Government and Federal Government did not set-up such taskforce to harrass traders on the roads.
“We must defend our members to proudly feed the nation”, he said.
Opara alleged that some of the hoodlums used cutlasses, iron and other dangerous weapons to compel the drivers and traders to pay the levies.
He said vehicle windscreens were sometimes smashed as means of forcing their victims to pay the illegal levies.
The union chairman called on security agencies to intervene to reduce the price of foodstuffs and meats and as well increase the production of foodstuff in the state.

Enoch Epelle