For business owners in Imo State, this is not the best of times as operatives of the government appear united to snuff out their businesses.
According to them, it is an era of endless visits from officials of Imo Internal Revenue Service (IIRS); the Environmental Transformation Agency (ENTRACO); Imo State Signage Agency (IMSSA); the Imo State Waste Management Agency (ISWMA) among others. And their demands are the same, payment of certain monies for operating in the state.
Already, hoteliers in the state have threatened to down tools over what they complained as multiple taxations which allegedly is not going into government coffers, even as they maintained they are the second largest employer of labour in the state.
According to the chairman of the Association, Mr Chima Chukwunyere, despite the fact that the state had stopped the activities of revenue consultants, the menace has worsened, as touts masking as officials extort unsuspecting hotel owners, and frustrate the tourism industry.
Small scale enterprises are not left out, as different set of officials storm business premises demanding all sorts of documentation and payments.
The investors lament that operating businesses now is tasking due to rising costs of operations like power, inflation, insecurity, without any financial assistance or support from government.
An entrepreneur who pleaded anonymity said “If government, as big as they are, have resorted to loans, how then do they think private individuals and organisations are coping in the face of their harassment?”
Local newspaper publishers are not left out. Publisher of Nigerian Watchdog Newspaper, Comrade Precious Nwadike, complained that its business premises is under constant visitations by staff of the IIRS, who inundate them with multiple demand notices, even when such outfits have not been formally assessed as provided by the relevant laws, provision and guidelines. It was also reported that the media outfit was asked to pay taxes for the years it was not in operation.
However, the state government maintains that the claims are spurious as they are only following laid down laws in the discharge of their duties, to enable government meet her numerous obligations as expected by citizens.
With the warning notice issued by hoteliers in the state, it may be impossible for visitors to access lodging facilities especially from a tiring journey, even as the state, considered the hub of entertainment business in the southeast, may be on gradual wind down except the parties reach an amicable resolution and fast.
