Traders in many of the markets in Enugu State have cried over alleged imposition of N21,000 stallage fees payable in all the major markets in various parts of the state.
Stallage fees are rates paid by traders for occupying spaces and stores in markets, which are payable to the local government areas where the market is located.
The traders said they hitherto paid N2,600 to the respective local government areas, but that a recent directive from the state government had mandated them to pay another fee ranging from N21,000 to N72,000.
The first announcement was made to the traders at the Ogbete Main Market, in Enugu, where shop owners were told to pay stallage rates directly through the State Inland Revenue Service, rather than the Enugu North Local Government Council.
On Wednesday, October 11, 2023, authorities from the state government were reported to have visited the various markets in Nsukka, where it was also announced that fees for shops have increased from N2,600 per annum to between N21,000 and N72,000, which the traders find unrealistic and too astronomical given the prevailing economic climate.
It was gathered that the traders, who had already paid the rates for the 2023 fiscal year, were being compelled to pay the new rates, a development that has not gone down well with the people.
Operators in the various markets who spoke to our correspondent said the government has also refused to explain the reason for the extra rates.
Under the 4th Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, the main functions of local government councils were listed to include, among others, collection of rates, radio and television licences, establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds, and homes for the destitute or infirm; licensing of bicycles, trucks (other than mechanically propelled trucks), canoes, wheelbarrows and carts and establishment, maintenance, and regulation of slaughterhouses, slaughter slabs, markets, motor parks, and public conveniences.
One of the traders, who preferred anonymity, said the demand by the State government was insensitive, wondering why the government would hike fees at a time the traders were hardly making enough sales to break even.
“Since I came to this market as a child helping my father to sell crayfish, we have not paid any fees to the state government. Local government areas are in charge of markets.
“Look, even if the state government has changed the constitution and can now collect market rates and levies, just take a look at all of us here; do we look like we are making sales that should justify such an increase in rates?
“We don’t have a problem with paying the rate to the state if that is the new law, but the increment is insensitive; the government should retain the old rate; various governments are talking about palliatives but they want to slam an arbitrary rate increment on us,” he lamented.
When contacted by DAILY POST to speak about the development, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Aka Eze Aka, said the state government has a policy to rejig its revenue services.
The Commissioner maintained that the revenue service was geared towards harnessing all possibilities of increasing its internally generated revenue without hurting the people.
He said, ‘‘Enugu State government has a policy to rejig its revenue services, and this revenue service is geared towards harnessing all possibilities of increasing our internally generated revenue without hurting the people.
‘‘You know that so many things have increased, including the water that we drink, prices of things are going up. So there is a need to review these prices.
“That is what Enugu State is doing. It is a process we are undergoing. And the process is not yet completely done with. So, with time we will also be getting exactly those things.
‘‘We are also going through e-ticketing. We are also going through a process where people get the value of what they are paying.
“There is a need to rejig these things to improve them, to upgrade them such that they can be more in tune with what is happening.’’
