By; ALEX UANGBAOJE, Kaduna
Traders in a popular Monday Market in Kaduna State have tasked the state government to use part of the revenue collected from traders to provide toilet facilities and waste disposals in designated parts of the market.
Leader of the traders Union, Bashir Adamu, who made the call on Monday when a team from the Kaduna State branch of Tax Justice and Governance Platform (TJ&GP), visited the market to advocate for voluntary compliance of tax remittance, said over 10,000 traders and visitors visit the market every Monday.
“There is need for government to use the money collected through tax to provide toilet facilities and proper waste disposal as these are major challenges in the market.
“Over 10,000 traders and visitors come to this market every Monday, this goes to show how important the market is and taxes are collected every Monday from traders and annually from shop owners.” Bashir, stated.
Manager of the market, Isiyaku Bello stressed that traders will be glad to pay their taxes if they see values for their money.
He then called on the government to provide adequate security for the market saying, “shop owners are paying through their nose to secure their property.”
On his part, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), of the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS), Mr Zakari Jamilu, who commended the network for the exercise, pledged that the Service will continue to collaborate with the network in educating the taxpayers at the grassroots and local markets.
“It was an opportunity to hear directly for micro small business owners particularly the market women.” He said.
Speaking during the campaign, Femi Johnson, a member of the network said the essence of the outing was to sensitise the people on the need to pay their taxes and also to know if there is a system on ground that allows them to pay their taxes.
According to him, “We are also doing a feedback survey so we can know if there are existing challenges and issues on ground as it relates to payment of tax so that it can help us inform other data that we gather at the market.”
