By News Agency of Nigeria
A group under the auspices of Coalition of Concerned AMAC Citizens, have queried the proposed harmonised revenue collection in the Federal Capital Territory.
They made the call during a peaceful protest at the Area 10 Secretariat of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) on Monday in Abuja.
The protesters had placards with inscriptions such as; “AMAC is not for sale”, FCTA do not usurp AMAC”, “FCTA obey court judgements”, among others.
Mr Adamu Damihi, Leader of the group, said it was important for area councils to generate and collect revenue themselves to run its affairs.
He added that it was unconstitutional for FCT Inland Revenue Services, to take up revenue collection on behalf of the area councils, as it negates the practice in other states.
“We are here to register our grieviances based on what we heard in the media that the FCTA had consulted the FCT Inland Revenue Services, to take over the collection of all the revenue that is expected to be collected by the area councils.
“That is wrong and it should not be, this is a constitutional thing, it should not be an arrangement of one person.
“We have it in the constitution, where area councils are expected to collect revenue and there are series of court judgements on this issue.
“On the issue of area council chairmen signing an agreement, I do not want to believe that because the executive arm cannot enter an agreement without the legislature.
“And we have the legislators in AMAC and the Executive Council Members and if the chairmen signed, then they did it on their own.
“But here is AMAC, we say no because due process was not followed,” he said.
Mr Matthew Danjuma, Speaker, AMAC Legislative Chamber, who received the protesters, called for calm while assuring of their committment to get to the root of the issue.
“We know that you have a right to protest and we appreciate you for coming here to register your displeasure.
“As the speaker of AMAC, we will do everything within the ambit of the law, we will meet with the Chairman of AMAC and the Permanent Secretary of FCTA to discuss with them and get back to you,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Permanent Secretary, FCT Administration, Mr Olusade Adesola, had on June 21, announced a new harmonisation and standardization procedure of revenue collection in the FCT.
He said that after series of stakeholders’ meeting and accord reached at a retreat in Akure in May, 2023, the stakeholders resolved to eliminate double taxation and gangsterism in revenue collection in the nation’s capital.
The retreat according to him had core stakeholders’ from the FCTA, FCT Area Councils and FCT Internal Revenue Services, among others in attendance.