Laraba MUREY
In a concerted effort to combat revenue leakages, Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, Christopher Maikalangu, has issued warning to residents against paying taxes to fake agents.
Maikalangu who made the announcement during a press conference in Abuja, said that the taxpayers prefer to pay cash to fake agents and get a reduction, instead of paying to the council’s bank account for accountability.
Maikalangu emphasized that effective immediately, only payments made through bank transfers into designated AMAC accounts would be accepted, while stressing the importance of adhering to legitimate payment channels to prevent falling victim to fraudulent schemes orchestrated by unauthorized agents.
He said, “The collection of revenue is not as easy as many people imagine. That’s why I set up the taskforce upon assumption of office. In fact, we recorded good results in 2023, that’s why I am relying on the taskforce to help in arresting revenue leakages abetted by fake revenue agents.
“I don’t have the accurate figures, but we arrest the fake revenue agents everyday. Even yesterday, we arrested one of them. He had gone to a hotel to demand for payment. Luckily, the owner of the hotel knows me personally, so he called me and handed over the phone to the fake agent. Can you imagine that the fake agent was asking me who I am and who is my Oga? That’s how to know fake agents.
“Meanwhile, it’s only daily tickets sold to cars, motorcycles and traders in the market that’s exempted. Others are paid through banks. We checkmate even our taskforce. We checkmate even those checkmating others against excesses. We have the chairman of the taskforce and hold him responsible if anything goes wrong.
“We are repeating and appealing to our taxpayers, go to the bank and pay your tax. Don’t pay cash to anybody. Our problem is the taxpayers. They also prefer to go through shortcut by paying cash to fake agents for reduction. However, from now on, we won’t take that. We would like you to pay to AMAC account or pay twice.”
Chairman, AMAC Revenue and Security Taskforce, Comrade Yunusa Ahmadu Yusuf, said the taskforce has arrested 68 illegal revenue agents and will take steps to digitize revenue payment.
He said: “We have arrested 68 fake revenue agents so far. You are even free to make bank transfers to us. The chairman has engaged ICT consultants to digitize our activities. Very soon, you will sit and get demand notice. We will be monitoring those who have paid and those who haven’t paid.”
