*edostategovt.VS.unibenstudents*

*The legal point of view*
From the Attorney General SUG UNIBEN.

*THE EDO STATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNIFORM AND HARMONISED LEVIES, RATES, FEES, AND CHARGES LAW, 2017*

*A* *GOOD* *LAW* *WITH* *A* *WRONG* *IMPLEMENTATION*

Early this year particularly on February this year, the Edo state House of Assembly passed a bill into law which is to the effect of harmonising and creating a form of uniform position for all the levies, rates, fees and charges payable in various sectors of the state but most especially by artisans (a proper perusal of the said law portrays so). The law is made up of of 24 sections and a schedule to the said act, it contains its objectives, items and modus operandi of the the said law
*section 1* categorically states that the said law *shall be cited as the Edo state local governments uniform and harmonised levies, levies, rates,fees and charges law and shall come into effect on..........day of..........2017*
Time and common sense would not advice i state categorically all the provisions of the said law, however i believe it is of every moment or rather imperative that some major sections and provisions are dealt with to in order to achieve the objective of this write up.
On August 16th 2017 the deputy Governor of Edo state in the person of Rt.Hon Comrade Phillip Shaibu approached the park of the uniben shuttle drivers in ring road and made an announce or rather made a proclamation that uniben shuttle drivers should pay the sum of 200 naira as levies or charges backing up this said proclamation with the said Edo state local government uniform and harmonised taxes, levies, rates and charges law, hence each local government area plied by the uniben shuttle drivers collected the sum of 200 naira from them on a daily bases as tax, revenue or charges( and at this juncture it is imperative to note that uniben shuttle ply three local government which include OREDO from ring road or new benin to five junction, EGOR from five junction to adolor junction and finally OVIA NORTH EAST from Adolor junction to Main gate, hence they were made to pay 600naira daily. Immediately the members of the student union government swung into action and on the 19th of august there was a little briefing on the issue by some members of the executive council stating categorically its position to resist every form of hike or increment in the said charges payable by the shuttle drivers as before now the only rates payable by them was 200 naira to the school authorities, 200 naira to the owner of the park for the maintenance of the park and 50 naira to the state government hence the new charges or levy rate was alien to the shuttle drivers and the students in general. The state government haven received the news of the briefing invited some representatives of the student Union Government of the university of Benin for a diplomatic dialogue and the way forward on the said issue, and this was done on monday the 21st of august when the state deputy governor headed the said meeting and highlighted the imperative nature of the tax and however stated that he did not call for the meeting to create an understanding or a dialogue but to let the students know that, that is the current position of the state government and there happen to be a law to that effect. The student leaders in turn aired their view and position, however it was not welcomed by the deputy governor hence there was not positive or enticing result at the end of the meeting however the deputy governor was captured to have said that it was an ordinary levy that should not affect the price of the shuttle services, that the shuttle drivers are only mandated to pay for the parks they operate at new benin and ring road, stating further that if the price of shuttle service is increased the deputy governor will join us in a solidarity protest and go as far as proscribing the said shuttle service and provide new buses for uniben student (this was captured by the VANGUARD NEWSPAPER check august 25th). A subsequent meeting was called upon and the president of the sug represented the union alone and still there was no productive result.
While negotiations were still on going and the way forward was been negotiated upon, a mind blowing news came from the shuttle drivers that the shuttle levies had been increased from the said 600naira to 1200 with a break down of the said 1200 as follows
-200 naira for oredo
-200 naira for ovia north east
-200 naira for egor
-200 naira for NURTW
-200 naira for another drivers association
-200 to the state government

Seriously!!!
This was really mind blowing and outrageous, but still very unfortunate that the state government decided to eat or pluck from the sweat tree of students, this emanated the campaign tagged *edostategovt.VS.unibenstudent and for the third time the SUG in its full capacity approached the deputy governor alongside the head of uniben shuttle committee(after the deputy's governor's request for a meeting' and the deputy Governor told us that all he could do was to remove the 400 meant for the two drivers association/union and maintain the position of the other levies which now amounted to 800 naira daily
The state government even went as far as requesting the SUG to sign a document portraying their assent to the said position of the state government on the shuttle levy, this was outrightly denied by the president and the secretary general alongside the head of uniben shuttle committee.
Haven given a summary on the said issues, it is now imperative that we analyse the said law
*section 4* categorically states (as earlier) stated the objective of the said law
*'to eradicate multiplicity of levies, rates, fees and charges on persons, households and business enterprises operating in the local government areas of edo state for uniform and consistency of revenue types as provided for in the taxes and levies(approved list collection) Act of 1998.as amended)'* this is not the only section in the said act but it is most imperative to us, that the purpose of the law is to eradicate multiple taxation and illegality in taxation, this now forces me to ask *'collecting levies for three local government isn't multiple taxation ?'* when the only park we operate is at oredo and the law is stated categorically for local government and we are yet to know where the state govt levy emanated from since ab initio it was the said law that the state govt based their levy and tax on
At this juncture it become Germaine to also state another sacrosanct position in the said law which is *item no. 10 on the schedule to the said law* it categorically states *MOTOR PARK*and article no.6 gives provision for *BUSES* with a levy rate or tag affixed to it which is *200* naira
I believe this provision makes my position clearer, hence for motor parks, bus drivers are expected to pay 200 naira only and the only park we operate is at ringroad for those who ply that route and at new benin for those that ply that route
However some may argue that the word park in the real sense does not imply where buses are kept, some have also argued (most especially egor and ovia north east local govt council) that as far as the shuttle drivers pass through their route and even stop passengers there, then they have a duty to pay such levies, then at this point i have no other option than to invoke the definition of MOTOR PARK
the OXFORD DICTIONARY defines a Motor park as
*a space in which to leave a car, a parking space*
*to bring something such as a vehicle to a halt or store in a specified place*
OXFORD LEARNERS DICTIONARY
defines it as *a station for passengers to get on or off buses or taxis*
according to Mariam Webster
It is defined as *an area or a building where people can leave their cars for a short time*
With this dictionary definitions i plead with you all to arrest my case and accept my position on this
Hence it is important to state that the whole issues and series of taxes had led to a mockery of their own law according to *section 4(2)* of the said act which is to eradicate multiple taxation
This is my own legal perspective of it and i can safely say that the collection of levy by egor and ovia north east local government amounts to a breach of section 4 of the said law, as an addendum the law in itself is meant to protect the weak ad vulnerable and not to extort them, and *Ex injuria jus non oritur* 'the law does not arise from injustice', this said law can't make a good law if its implementation is to extort the poor or destroy a friendly social service.

*I* *AM* *HON.* *IRENEN* *RAPHEAL* *EFE* *THE* *HONOURABLE* *ATTORNEY* *GENERAL* *OF* *THE* *SUG*
*THIS IS MY LEGAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EDO STATE HARMONISED, UNIFORM LEVIES, RATES, FEES, CHARGES LAW, 2017

*THANK U

let Edo state government leave uniben alone.. f

characteristics of apc ,they only bring bad news...