The Anambra State Chairman, Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, Comrade Joseph Chinedu Nwabueze, has called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo, and the heads of security agencies in the State, to begin to enforce the Anambra State Taxes, Levies and Presumption Law 2025.
Nwabueze maintained that the enforcement end economic sabotage meting against his members by haulage fee collectors across federal roads in the State.
The Chairman, who made the call in a media briefing in Awka, lamented the effects of the multiple haulage imposed on his members, saying if nothing is urgently done by the authorities to end this, his association would take an industrial action.
Angel Network News (ANN) reports that Nwabueze described imposition of multiple haulage on his members in various entering points into the state and at the points of offloading as not only extortion and double taxation, but also robbery which he argued, contravene extant laws in the country.
Comrade Nwabueze recalled that the State government enacted the Anambra State Taxes, Levies and Presumption Law, 2025, effective January 1, 2026, streamlining tax collection, banning illegal roadblocks, among others, to curb multiple taxation.
’Immediately after the emergence of this law, the individuals that were collecting revenues on the federal roads in the state stopped, but recently, they have started again mounting roadblocks, harassing and imposing illegal revenues on our members,’ Nwabueze said.
He identified the Niger bridge head, both the old and the new, coming into Anambra State from South South and South West; Uli and Ihiala axes of Onitsha-Owerri Road, coming from Imo State; Amansea axis of Enugu-Onitsha road as well as Omor and Anaku Junctions in Ayamelum Local Government Area axis of Adani-Onitsha Road, coming from the North and Enugu State, as the various points where he alleged the haulage collectors mounted roadblocks for haulage collection.
’What bothers me most about this, is that some those haulage collectors are wearing the T-shirts of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, some of them are wearing Danjude Company’s identity, a company which claims the state government gave it order to collect tolls on the federal roads,’ Nwabueze said, reiterating that haulage was not government business.
He argued that ‘every part of a transport business is not supposed to be given to a company that is not a member of a transport union. But we see a lot of things happening here in Anambra.
’So, if it is the government that gave Danjude authority to collect revenue on the highways, the government should better call it to order, and let a right be done.
’And very importantly, I seize this opportunity to call on Anambra State Governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo; the Commissioner of Police, the Director of DSS, the Commander of NSCDC, and the heads of other security apparatuses in the State, to please swing into action and clear the roads as a matter of urgency.
’The effects of these multiple taxations on our drivers are becoming too much and unbearable.
’Our drivers coming from the West and the South to Anambra State, are complaining bitterly; those coming from the North are also doing the same.
’Can you imagine a truck driver charged N200,0000 for a load, from Lagos to Anambra, and before getting to his destination in Anambra he spends over N200,000?
’This is unacceptable; and we are no longer comfortable with it,’ Nwabueze lamented, and continued to appeal to the Anambra State government to enforce its tax law that bans illegal roadblocks.
’Because to us, this haulage collection imposing on us is economic sabotage. It is against the law of the state; it is also against the Order O O 1 of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that nobody should block the roads for any revenue collection.
’We are pleading with Mr Governor, the Commissioner of Police, the Director of DSS and the heads of other security apparatuses, to help us nip this in the bud.
’If this is not done as soon as possible, we may not have any alternative, but to embark on an industrial action because we are losing a lot of money,’ Nwabueze said.
He challenged collection of haulage at different entering points into the State, arguing that the law of haulage fees demands that the payee pays at the point of loading and at that of offloading.
’But they are collecting at boundary points. Are trucks loading at boundary points?
’Again, what they do is that after the collection at boundary points, when the truck gets into a warehouse or park or market to offload, they still go there to collect again.
’These are double taxation and pure robbery. So, we actually want these to be tackled as soon as possible,’ Comrade Nwabueze continued to appeal.
