Ndi Anambra, Come, Let Us Walk And Work Together For The Good Of Anambra 

JUVENTUS CHUKWUNWEIKE OKOLI 

It was early this month, precisely on Tuesday the 1st of August, 2023 that the UNIFIED HYBRID ENFORCEMENT TEAM (UHBET) was birthed. The singular mission of this team is to enforce tax compliance in Anambra State, and then put a complete stop to the activities of touts and other illegal revenue operators.

UHBET is an outfit of Anambra State Government powered by Anambra Internal Revenue Service (AiRS). It was birthed through the ingenuity of the ever dynamic and creative minded Chairman and Chief Executive of Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue Service, *Dr Greg Ezeilo FCA* in obedience to the call to serve Anambra State.

The joint efforts of AiRS, the mother agency, which is the only agency of the government with the authority to generate and also to decide who generates internal revenue in the state and its offspring, UHBET has been praised as a game changer. Thanks to the wisdom of the current helmsman of AiRS, Dr Ezeilo, his team of AiRS workers and the three Coordinators of UHBET, namely, Hon Evaristus Obiora Offor, for Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, Hon Chiejina Obieze, Anambra North and Hon Chijioke Okolie, Anambra South.

It is therefore proper to state authoritatively that within this short period of time that UHBET, under the watchful eyes of its mother agency, AiRS, has been able to make tremendous contributions to the growth of the state’s IGR. Under this unified effort, monies accruable to our state as revenues are finding their way into the coffers of the state as against the age long tradition where a great part of this money found its way into the pockets of Ndi Agbero and their usually very connected cronies. This unholy alliance between touts and their powerful employers milked Anambra State dry by releasing only peanuts of the collected revenue to the state. This deprived the state of critical resources needed for its developmental pursuits and administrative purposes.

This is more reason Ndi Anambra should join hands with Gov Soludo to institutionalise this new tax policy which firmly kicked and continues to kick against any other means of collecting the state’s IGR other than the taxpayers’ direct payments of their taxes, revenues, tolls, et cetera through e-transfers or payments to the state bank accounts. This policy emphatically says no to cash payments of all kinds so as to block all leakages. Ndi Anambra are today already reaping the fruits of Soludo’s determination and firm policy implementations towards the IGR growth, which entails more money for our state development!

With the state’s steady IGR growth today, we expect various critics of Soludo administration’s tax policies to intensify their efforts. The coordinated media onslaught against the current tax policy and its enforcement is proof-positive that the policy is achieving its intended purpose. With leakages blocked, those who used to have a field day milking Anambra dry are sponsoring all kinds of malicious propaganda. Their intent is to blackmail and force the state government to stop the enforcement of this policy so they can continue with their business of profiting at the expense of the state.

The government’s resolve is strong. We will keep our doors open to constructive criticisms, valuable, as well as evidence-based reports of all alleged ill conducts of our personnel. The organisation will continue to work with the general public to address legitimate grievances. Where necessary, corrective actions will be taken. We will, however, not succumb to the antics of blackmailers who would want to perpetually keep Anambra State on its knees. It should be unconscionable for a few individuals to hold Anambra to the jugular while the state goes begging for money to exist as a state and to take care of its responsibilities towards its citizens, residents as well as its own growth!

(Juventus Chukwunweike Okoli, is the State Media Director of Unified Hybrid Enforcement Team (UHBET). He wishes to call on the general public, especially those who interface daily with UHBET personnel on duty to report their experiences with video and pictorial proofs directly to the establishment through the following links: E-Mail, ansg.uhbet@gmail.com; WhatsApp and Mobile Number (Hotline): +2348142055272 and also via our WhatsApp Group, *UHBET PUBLIC COMPLAINTS* which can be accessed via this link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/DcDZUAOAIB01z4CL9ilKh0