PRESS STATEMENT
The
Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, Oyo State Chapter warns and cautions the
Abiola Ajimobi-led government against harassment, arrest and prosecution of
poor workers, traders and artisans under the pretence of an anti-people regime
of taxes. This is reportedly aimed to realise projected internally generated
revenue, IGR of 5billion Naira.
The
state government revealed recently through the Special Adviser to the Governor,
Mr Biyi Oloko, and Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye
Arulogun that it’s set to commence an enforcement and prosecution of every
citizen who fails to comply and support the government’s revenue generation
drive through payment of taxes and levies.
This
report which was published in the 12th August, 2016 edition of the
Nation newspaper also has it that the provision of infrastructural facilities
like roads, security, education and health care needed to facilitate the growth
of the state will not be realised except citizens pay their levies and taxes.
As
much as it is true that state needs sufficient revenue to be able to fulfil its
constitutional obligations like provision of infrastructure and social services
to the citizens, it is largely untrue and blackmailing for government to continue
to give a false impression that the absence and collapse of infrastructures and
social services in the state is because poor people don’t pay tax.
As a matter of fact, the working and poor
people are already overtaxed as a result of
government anti-poor policies of privatization and attendant mass
retrenchment, commercialization of education, health and other social services;
collapsed infrastructure, among others. It is a known fact that every Nigerian
household is a government on its own; generating their own electricity, water,
medical service, etc. Even, people now construct their own roads. Sadly, the
cost of education and health has made many people turn to medieval solutions,
religion centres and native doctors.
As long as payment of tax is meant
to be a reward of good governance, Oyo SPN
will continue to insist that Ajimobi-led government lacks moral capacity to
arrest or prosecute any worker or poor traders who have been so impoverished
and deprived of the capacity to pay tax. It will be irresponsible and
insensitive of Ajimobi-led government, which has failed to bring any meaningful
development to the state despite the huge sums at its disposal at a period of
economic boom to begin to harass or arrest victims of its misrules and bad governance
for their inability to pay tax.
Senator Ajimobi/APC-led government
should instead focus its searchlight and direct its anger mostly at gang of
thieving ruling elites who are perpetrators and beneficiaries of looting of
public treasury; tax avoidance; and tax holidays that often responsible for why
monies that should have been used to improve on infrastructure and provide
social services often found their ways into private pockets of dubious
contractors and top government functionaries.
SPN blames these few dubious contractors
and their collaborators in government for absence and collapse in
infrastructure and social services by extension the inability of the working
people to pay taxes. It is in the light of this that SPN emphatically demands a
progressive taxation which will make the rich to be taxed more than the poor as
well as open investment of the proceeds in the area of need of the people like roads, schools, hospitals which
are currently in a deplorable condition.
SPN also condemns the anti-people arrangement
whereby, 30% of the state IGR is awarded to individuals who masquerade as
private firm in charge of the collection of the IGR. This dubious Public
Private Partnership, PPP, is a way of siphoning public resources by a few rich
individuals. It must be stopped while all the necessary public agencies that
are statutorily in charge of the collection and remittances of tax and IGR must
be empowered, properly funded with adequate incentive to its personnel for an
effective performance.
Yes, there is a
decline in monthly allocation compared with previous years. Nevertheless, SPN
holds that there is enough resources to pay salaries and pensions and implement
some developmental project and social services. For instance, the June 13, 2016
edition of Vanguard newspaper reported that Ajimobi-led government received
over N84billion between May 2015 and June 2016. This is a confirmation to the
fact that the reason Oyo State government continue to fail to bring any
meaningful improvements to the life of its citizens is not because it is broke
but as a result of a self-serving resolve to maintain the outrageously high
salaries and allowances as well as opulent lifestyle of the political office
holders and its acolytes in business.
Even if the
government denies receiving N84bn in a year, we still hold that the state has
enough resources for salaries, pensions and developmental projects. This is why SPN will continue to demand that
the governor should scrap his security votes and also stop corrupt practices,
wastages and inflation of contracts, high cost of governance in order to free
up resources for developmental projects and wellbeing of workers, masses and
students.
Except and until the menace of looting of
public treasury; tax avoidance by the rich and ruling elites; tax holidays for
private companies (multinational and local) and the general symptom of
capitalism like corruption, inflation of contracts is curbed, any additional
resources at the disposal of the state government will not only fail to translate
into any meaningful development in the life of the toiling masses but will also
always end up in trying to satisfy the insatiable looting thirst of the
capitalist ruling class.
This why SPN continues to hold
that only a government run on a socialist programme including democratic control and management
of public resources by working people is capable in ensuring that the entire resources of the
society are allocated to meet the needs
and expectations of the generality of the society.
Bamigboye Abiodun (Abbey Trotsky)
The state secretary,
08033914091.
