Abuja Dispatch Riders Protest Against Alleged Multiple Taxation

Dispatch riders in Abuja rejected a new N25,000 levy levied by the Federal Capital Territory Administration on Thursday, protesting what they said was double taxation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) announced the development on Thursday.

According to the riders, the new levy was added to the taxes already paid to area authorities, increasing their overall financial commitments to a level they characterised as unsustainable.

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To urge FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to step in and put an end to what they called illegal extortion, the riders assembled in large numbers at the FCT Administration Secretariat. They maintained that the recently implemented N25,000 levy amounts to double taxation even if they acknowledge their lawful need to pay taxes.

Dispatch Riders in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Thursday, stormed the FCT Administration Secretariat, Abuja, protesting what they described as ‘multiple taxation,’” the NAN report read in part.

It further quoted Ilesanmi as saying, “The N25,000 is way higher than what we pay the area councils. We are, therefore, kicking against the multiple taxation that is affecting us directly in Abuja.”

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Ilesanmi went on to say that a number of motorbikes had been seized and that their owners had been forced to pay the additional amount before their bikes could be freed. Additionally, riders were still had to pay N300 each time they entered marketplaces, which mounted up for those who made several journeys a day.

According to NAN, the riders called off the demonstration when representatives from the FCT Transportation Secretariat met with the dispatch riders’ leaders.