The dispatch riders stormed the FCT Administration Secretariat, in their hundreds, appealed to the authorities of the administration, especially the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to intervene and stop what they described as “extortion.”
Spokesman of the dispatch riders, Mr Olawale Ilesanmi, told journalists that riders had been paying their dues regularly, adding that the multiple taxation imposed on them has become unbearable..
He said that dispatch riders have been paying their obligations to Abuja Municipal Area Council, Bwari and Gwagwalada area councils, amounting to multiple taxation.
He added that the riders were paying N13,000 annually to the area councils, saying however, that a new revenue collector had emerged, asking for N25,000 in the name of ‘FCT Administration.’
According to him, the motorcycles of many riders had been impounded and the owners forced to pay the new fee before the motorcycles will be released.
He said: “The N25,000 is way higher than what we pay the area councils. We are, therefore, kicking against the multiple taxation that is affecting us directly in Abuja.
“We riders, we know that it’s our statutory obligation to pay tax and we have been complying year in year out, paying to AMAC, paying to Bwari and to Gwagwalada area councils.
“But all of a sudden, another group of tax collectors emerged from nowhere with another demand in the name of FCT Administration, asking for higher tax compared with what we paid to AMAC.”
The spokesman added that the riders equally pay N300 ticket each time they enter a market in Abuja.
“This means that when we enter the market 10 times in a day, we are bound to pay N300 10 times,” he said.
