The Rivers State Chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, says inspite of the unpopularity of the Social Services Levy signed into law recently by Gov Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and several litigations against it pending in court, the State Governor has gone ahead to complicate the bad law by giving it a retroactive effect.
The Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Jerry Needam, in a statement criticized Gov Amaechi for directing that deductions of the Social Services Levy be implemented from the August Salaries of all employees of the State workforce with effect from September 2010.
Condemning the official directive as inhuman, unjust and insensitive, the ACN Spokesman, Jerry Needam said though a bad, what any rational government is expected to do under this circumstance is to begin deductions from the date of passage of the law.
But in this case, he regretted, the Amaechi administration insists to start collecting the said levy from the date the law had not even been conceived, stressing that it was only last year (2011) that the Social Services Levy was passed into law amid public outcry.
To further show his brazen disregard for public feelings, Jerry Needam noted that the civil servants in the State were yet to be paid their arrears of the new minimum wage by Gov Chibuike Amaechi till date which ought to have been harmonized and paid before any deductions of any kind are made on their monthly take-home.
He also faulted the lump sum of 8 months deductions approved for August, September and October salaries and three months for November 2012 respectively in order to recover the 23 months arrears as too much and unfair.
Arguing that if a law is desired to be respected, it must first be made respectable. The ACN said the Amaechi administration should first convince the overtaxed Rivers people of judicious use of their hard earned resources through provision of good roads, water, constant light and security of lives and property, all of which are lacking in the State.
The ACN therefore called on Amaechi to put on hold the implementation of the Social Services Levy until all the Workers Salaries and Allowances are sorted out and cleared, and moreso, should cancel in its entirety the idea of backdating the collection of the levy to September 2010.
