There are 98 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty, according to a report by the United Nations. To survive, many, especially women engage in petty trading in various markets. But the youths in Rivers State communities, who force traders to pay multiple illegal taxes, have become a stumbling block to local businesses. In this investigation, KELECHUKWU IRUOMA visited six markets in Port Harcourt to expose on camera young men who extort traders.

ON a Wednesday in May, the morning sun was already shining bright as early as 10:00 am. Miracle Onwuamaeze, 19, sits on an empty 15-litre paint bucket selling onions wrapped in white polythene nylons. The parcels of onions were placed on a stainless tray propped up by a white bucket.

She sells each wrap at N100, except the smaller ones kept in a blue sieve on the floor. Those are sold for N50. Onwuamaeze wakes up at 5:00 am on Wednesdays to sell at the popular Oil Mill Market in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State in southern Nigeria. Her favorite selling position is at the roadside along Port Harcourt-Aba road, while her mother sells in a stall inside the market

From nowhere, three young men approached her, demanding market levies. While two of them requested N100, the other also asked for N100.

They threatened to seize her onions if she did not pay promptly. Left with no choice, she reluctantly gave them N200. The value of her entire wares were about N3,000, but she paid no fewer than nine groups of tax collectors that day.

“If I don’t pay, they will carry my goods to their office and when I get there, I will pay double the amount I am supposed to give them initially,” she said bitterly.

This is what Onwuamaeze and other traders at various markets in Rivers State go through on a daily basis. Local government councils in the state are responsible for the collection of taxes in markets, according to Nancy Iheduru, a former vice president of Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW), a non-governmental organization that advocates for the good business environment for women to operate and ensures their businesses grow. But community youths forcefully collect illegal taxes in the form of levies from traders, and they do not issue receipts. Traders who refuse to comply are harassed and their goods are seized.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XIiYcNShnk

Read More: https://www.icirnigeria.org/onvestigation-thugs-rule-in-rivers-markets-force-multiple-illegal-taxes-on-petty-traders-as-govt-feigns-ignorance/

The is not a new thing in Port Harcourt. The worst sets are those illegal traffic enforcers at Eleme junction, they even operate with Policemen in uniform. The day they entered my car I did not even argue with them. I drove to their illegal park and I left my car there and went to Rivers State revenue office to complain. 3 of them were arrested and I still collect extra 15k from them because I accused them of stealing my wallet which I left on the passengers seat.

Ok

Some idiots took a waste bin and brought to a woman's shop demanding she pays them 1k but after they got a stern warning from the woman's husband who's a police officer, they stopped going to her shop.