The N1000 development levy imposed on primary and secondary school students in Ekiti State by the government has been hit with protests as the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties and Coalition of Civil Society Groups on Wednesday took to the streets of Ado Ekiti to condemn Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose’s tax policy.
The group consisting of the Coalition of South-West Youths, Ekiti Youth Vanguard, Omoluabi Grassroots Coalition, Coalition of Progressive Youths, and Ekiti Progressive Women Alliance expressed their dissatisfaction with the N1,000 per pupil development levy the state government had imposed on primary and secondary school pupils.
Some of the placards they waved read, ‘Enough of Rudderless and Dictatorial Government in Ekiti’, ‘We are not happy with the image Fayose is giving Ekiti’ and ‘It is Wrong for Primary/Secondary Students to Pay Tax.’
Private schools in the state had on Monday declared a three-day strike to protest against the N1,000 levy.
The National Association of Proprietors and Proprietresses of Private Schools in Ekiti contended that the extension of the levy to private schools was contrary to the spirit and letter of Section 42(1) (a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution.
The CNPP Chairman in the state, Tunji Ogunlola, and spokesman for the group, Ayo Adelabu, during the protest march, kicked against Fayose’s tax policy and advised the governor to reverse the policy to prevent the crisis from affecting the education sector.
He added, “Governor Fayose and his people have been disgracing Ekiti. How can the 22 lawmakers go to Abuja to protest against the DSS at the American Embassy? This shows the level of indolence and anti-intellectual governance we have in Ekiti.”
Others who joined to condemn the tax policy of the state government include;
The coordinator of the Movement Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr Yomi Osho, said, “Fayose cannot coerce the private school owners into reopening their schools. They are fighting against multiple taxes prohibited by the 1999 Constitution. The governor is exploiting them, this is unacceptable.”
The coordinator of the Coalition of Progressives Youths, Damilare Bewaji, said, “We are opposed to the imposition of taxes everywhere, particularly on the pupils when their parents are also paying.
“Pupils are suffering, market men and women are displaced and crippled by various taxes. In the history of Ekiti, pupils in private schools had never been asked to pay and it is now happening under Fayose.”
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