How Gov. Obiano Banned Illegal Levies...Sanitizes Keke Operators

The Anambra State Government in a bid to sanitise  the collection of levies from Keke owners and riders in State has banned about four categories of levies paid to youths  of different communities in the State.
The levies which hitherto became burden to  the Keke operators were Onitsha Ado n' Idu, Nkpor Obodo dike,Ogbaru di uso, loading and offloading levy and load carrying ticket.

The Coordinator of the Unified Tricycles Owners and Riders Association of Anambra State in Onitsha North Local Government Area of  the State, Mr Lucas Nweze, who lauded Obiano over the decision to ban the levies said they now pay N450 per Keke per day.

He said out of the amount the State Government's share was N350 per Keke every day and the remaining N100 was used to settle other miscellaneous interests.

He expressed appreciation to the Governor and the Commissioner for Transport, Chief  Uchenna Okafor,for removing hoodlums who have been inflicting injuries on their members to compel them to pay Illegal levies.



He said the stoppage of the levies by the State Government for three months due to the abuse and excesses of the illegal revenue collectors and hoodlums  provided the opportunity to choose real Keke operators to manage their own affairs.
He said this time Keke riders themselves sell the tickets which took effect from July 1 this year, not the touts.

He said for now there was no challenges facing them, although those hoodlums initially tried to disturb them but their State chaiman, Mr. Sylvester Obiora, handled the matter and stopped every other interest.
Nweze restated his confidence in their leadership, stressing that what caused problem in the past was greed and bad leadership.

He appealed to the State Government to sustain the tempo now, saying that they would not want to return back to Egypt, where their members were forced to pay fortunes to idle people.
He said when they resisted they were visited with maiming and injury.

Some Keke operators who spoke to newsmen commended the present levy regime, which allows them to operate in any part of Anambra State as long as you pay the unified levy, unlike in the past when  they were forced to pay as much as N1,500 and again  pay if you move to another Local Government.