Sellers at the Eke Awka Market in the Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State have complained about multiple taxations under Charles Soludo, the recently elected governor of the state.

According to Daily Trust, Shop owners in Eke Awka are taxed as high as N14,200, while hawkers pay N200 daily.

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Emeka Onyemaechi, former chairman of Eke Awka Market 4B, told reporters that marketers were told to “pay for stallage and other fees”.

 “Last week Thursday, I was inside my shop and some people started ringing bells, announcing that everybody should come out and pay for stallage and other fees from Tuesday. I asked them how much and they said N14,200 per shop,” Onyemaechi said.

“On Friday, I went to the Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue to find the true position. The information I got was that on Tuesday, they were coming to capture all shops in the market and everybody would pay N2,000 for the capturing and after that, government would give account numbers where traders would pay their fees.

“Unfortunately, they started the capturing and collection of the money on Tuesday. They forced people to the market office where over 20 PoS machines were stationed and people without cash were asked to use their ATM to pay. After that, I called the revenue office again and complained. They said we should pay.”

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A source at the Anambra State  Board of Internal Revenue also confirmed that the state government approved the N14,200 payment, which is broken down as follows: N4,800 market stallage fee, N2,400 for market development, N3,000 market traders fee, N2,000 for sanitation, N1,300 for market operations and N700 for biometric market registration.

In a meeting with parks and market executives, Soludo had announced a new tax regime.

Christian Aburime, Soludo’s Chief Press Secretary, said the state government would issue a statement about the taxes at the appropriate time.