The tasks of
reviving a comatose state or nation from
outright collapse are more and more difficult
than fixing it. It is like nurturing a child
from diaper and unto formative years and then to
adulthood. But the challenges we face today are
surmountable given that Oshiomhole has the will
power to overcome the human induced crises. With
the will, we will have the means to combat
crime, unemployment, infrastructure, human
capacity development, security, poverty,
human trafficking, prostitution and the
like.
In all of these,
there isn’t any particular area Edo State didn’t
rank precariously, or may I say rustically, at
the rug of the ladder of social development. The
silver linen is that Edo State has potentials
here and there to prioritize the variables in
order to maximize the meagre resources in the
face of plummeting economic downturn. If you go
to our
public Hospitals they are as just
deplorable as the public schools conditions, and
given the level of poverty in the land the vast
majority of our people still look up to
public health institutions and schools to
meet their needs.
To talk about
availability of clean water, even in the urban
cities is something that the state cannot take
for granted. But we are resolute because the
best of a man’s inventiveness emerges from his
moral absorbency in times trouble, rise above
mundane concerns and forge well thought-out
practical solutions to issues that seem
insurmountable. The only way to provide an
accurate mirror of the public will to the
acceptance of the chosen democratic highway is
to go back to basics and access how committed is
our resolve, in full freedom, to collaborate
with government in its drive for
good governance.
The revalidation of
actual Pay As You Earn PAYE, tax laws of 2004 is
one of the steps taken by Oshiomhole-led
administration as a matter of course and, one of
the durable options on which an aspiring or
prosperous state like Edo can be build. The
organic integrity of this process should spur
other states of the federation into emulative
efforts towards self-dependence,
self-reassurance and self-advancement; thereby
reiterating the true principle of federalism.
As a matter of
courtesy,
economic crisis like this should create
an opportunity for all well meaning people in
the nation’s economy communities to take
participatory steps on the side of government
towards its resuscitation by encouraging people
to pay tax, demand for accountability in order
to guaranty a better and sustainable future for
the unborn generation. That was not to be;
instead they maintained an undignified silence.
With these communities as redeeming graces,
wherever they found,
Nigeria do not need opponents.
But as a matter of
fact, Edo people are decidedly plying the part
of honour in a bid to reposition the state
through total adherence to the payment of tax in
accordance with the laws as amended in 2004. The
implementation of about 39 taxes, levies and
feels, including 8 Federal, 11 state and 20
Local Government taxes and levies
captured in the taxes and levies Act 2004 is one
of the ways out of Nigeria over dependence on
oil that might dry up soonest. With this and
others, we will be able to deliver on our
promise in all the call areas programmed to
provide for the people as government that would
have constituted a very hug deficit without
taxation.
Oshiomhole
administration is blowing up a perverted
do-nothing successive and obscene lawless style
of governance designed to reward only the mighty
at the expense of the not-so-mighty. To many Edo
people, Oshiomhole is the embodiment of their
aspirations towards purposeful economic rebirth,
even in the face of the failings, dubbed ‘‘economic
meltdown’’ – the much adopted indulgence
of the super rich nations and individuals to
avoid taking responsibility for
global financial crisis – that merely
represents the limitation of human imperfection.
As auspicious as
Edo tax administration might seem, the doubters’
eyes and the quibblers minds are not actually
averted from the fact that ‘‘Edo State
Government could get itself involved into the
messing problems of
income redistribution which includes
disincentives of higher taxes, and tax invasion,
etcetera’’. I have, in all earnestness,
addressed these doubts by setting the tune at
the outset as I superimposed the questions. In
all intents and purposes, the inhabitants of the
state who have been distended and the collapse
of the state infrastructure under the watchful
eyes of cletomanaic and mindless looting leader
is enough to encourage tax apathy.
To me, this
cynicism is well founded and it is not only
healthy and desirable for the tax paying people
of Edo State as well as the government, but also
galvanizes the far reaching economic
transformation by taking government to account
and to task on its promises at the
electioneering. It just couldn’t be better;
after all democracy is richer for it in the long
run.
What was more; the
quest for human government pays heed essentially
to strives and agitation of all shades of
opinion and fused into a springboard for
institutionalized dissents, allowing people to
voice their concerns through formal channels.
Erasmus Ikhide is a Senior Special
Assistance
Media Affairs to
Edo State
Governor Adams
Oshiomnhole.
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Published
May 17th, 2009