– Accuses Edo Born Deputy Director Of Unleashing Mayhem On Industrialists, Business Owners
A cross section of Imo people across political divide have called on the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma to as a matter of urgency, disband the Imo Waste Management Company and allow the Environmental Transformation Company (ENTRACO) to do their job which is it’s core responsibility instead of the current duplication of functions.
This was contained in a release signed by Victor Nnadi, State Coordinator, Imolites For Good Governance (IFGG).
The group noted that their investigation reveals that the Edo State born Deputy Director of the Eastern Waste Management Company who has been in charge since the General Manager of the Company, Cyril Njoku travelled out of the country for medical checkup has taken it upon himself to inflict pain on Imo people through the imposition of multiple and outrageous levies and taxes without considering the effect such outrageous fees are having on their targets including hotels, factories and other business places that are finding it difficult to survive the prevailing economic down turn.
The group urged the Governor to disband the waste management company in the interest of Imo people, adding that the company’s nefarious activities should be thoroughly investigated.
“Though, we are not against the payment of taxes and levies by industrialists and business owners in the state but it should be done with a human face devoid of harassment, intimidation and undue extortion”.
They posited that at a time like this when Imo people are complaining of lack of factories and industries to create employment and the 4000 oversea jobs the state government promised Imo youths are not forthcoming, it will be very bad for the government to scare the few functional industries in the state who defied the harsh economic realities to operate in the state, when others are relocating to other states.
A member of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) who spoke to our correspondent said that most of their members have been subjected to multiple tolls and levies by the Environmental Transformation Company (ENTRACO), Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) but the worst of them all is the Waste Management Company that imposes outrageous levies on them for services they did not render.
This, according to him, is nothing but extorting packaged with harassment and intimidation.
According to “him staff of the waste management company impose levies of between #500,000 and #1million naira on our members for services like waste disposal, when in actual fact the companies manage and dispose of their waste themselves.
The disturbing aspect of the issue is that the outrageous amounts we are told to pay are not paid into the State government’s TSA account but into a suspicious personal account that has nothing to do with the state government.
Recall that the Imo Waste Management Company had earlier locked up the premises of some hotels alongside their occupants and guests most of whom came from different parts of the country for business engagements in Imo.
It was also reported about three weeks ago, that, “Imo State Waste Management Board, like most agencies of the state government, has imposed outrageous fees on business owners in the state without recourse to the prevailing economic downturn that has already taken its toll on all sectors of the economy.
Information available to our news desk indicates that the company which bears the name, Eastern Waste Management Board but quotes the Imo State Waste Management Law No 5, Section 15(1) which empowers Imo State Waste Management Board to seal up premises in the demand notice it claimed to have issued, locked up a popular high profile hotel in Owerri, with the occupants inside on Wednesday, November, 20, 2024, in the guise that the management of the hotel did not pay the sum of Three hundred and Twenty-Four thousand that was imposed on them as waste disposal fee.
Investigation by Nigeria Watchdog Newspaper reveals that, after the amount was later paid into the company’s bank account number, 1311356172, instead of the State governments Single Treasury Account (TSA), the company still refused to unlock the hotel to enable some of the trapped occupants and guests in the hotel to go for their businesses.
A staff of the hotel who pleaded anonymity said, “after paying the amount of N324,000 and N25,000 penalty that must be in cash as stated on the on the demand notice they came with, they insisted on collecting more money before they will unlock the hotel, despite the fact that they neither gave us notice nor issued demand notice prior to their visit to seal up the hotel.
hotel.
I am aware that they did not give us any demand notice or reminder before they came to seal the hotel, an incident that caused monumental damage and inconveniences to the hotel and some of the guests who missed their flights because of the delay caused by agents of the waste management board”.
A look at the demand notice which they gave the hotel shows that they were asked to pay the aforementioned outrageous fees for sundry issues including, non payment of waste disposal fees, waste disposal materials, indiscriminate dumping of refuse, use of illegal disposal agent, non bagging of waste, blocking , parking, damaging, littering, covering drainage with concrete/wood slabs, littering of wastes, dumping of refuse at unauthorized places, etc.
