The Bayelsa State Security Anti-Touting Task Force Committee on Revenue, says the essence of constituting the committee is yielding government desired result as illegal tax collectors have drastically reduced to the bearest in the State, especially the East West road.
Bayelsa Daily online reports that the task force members, through its routine monitoring toure in some parts of the state, apprehended four suspected illegal revenue collectors, set their camps ablaze and recovered ticket.
Those arrested were, Fanmeme Amasamana Alex, Sele Record, Ikechukwu Aniedeh and Ikpe Samuel.
The illegal revenue collectors, who attacked members of the taskforce committee, took the efforts of the truck drivers, motorists and onlookers along the East West road to intervene and calm the situation.
Speaking with journalists shortly after the exercise, Chairman of the Committee, Reuben Lugard, condemned the attack on members of the committee along the East West road, and warned those involved to refrain from the act, saying the committee would not condon any act of lawlessness.
Mr. Lugard, who stressed that their nefarious activities is inimical to the development of the State as well as portraying Bayelsa in a bad light amongst comty of other states, and implored youths to engage in legitimate businesses to eke-out a living.
According to the taskforce chairman, the unwholesome practice has adversely affected the internally generated revenue of the state and urged Bayelsans to complement government efforts in providing the basic amenities by meeting up their tax obligations.
He warned youths against being used as tools in the hands of their sponsors for illegal activities that could truncate their future, adding that the state would not be a safe haven for them and their co-horts.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the illegal revenue collectors along the East West road, a truck driver, Mr Atiku Abubaka, who lamented the arbitrary tax collections, said they usually pay forty thousand naira per truck.
Appreciating the state government for setting up the taskforce, Mr Abubaka also lauded members of the committee for being proactive and pleaded with them to make the monitoring of the East West road a daily routine.
Credit: Bayelsa Daily Online.