The Anambra State Government has sealed off 15 buildings in Nnewi, a commercial city in the state, for tax evasion.
The buildings are three filling stations, two residential homes, one private school and one hospital.
The Anambra Property and Land Use Charge carried out the closure of the buildings following judgments it obtained from an Nnewi Magistrate’s Court against the owners of the property.
Speaking with Southern City News, the Head of Human Resources and Administration of APLUC, Mrs. Chinenye Okafor, said the affected buildings owed the state government heavily.
She said, “In ensuring that we boost the Internally Generated Revenue of the state, there is the need for property and land owners to pay their rates.”
She said the organization in 2014 and 2015 carried out similar enforcement in Awka and Onitsha on 85 buildings. She said, “We are advising property owners in those areas as well as in Onitsha, Awka, Ogidi and Nkpor to go and pay their property rates or face the wrath of the law.
“We had discussion with some of them and they had promised to pay since November 5, 2014, but up till now, we have not seen any positive response from them. “We are no longer interested in continuing with begging and sensitisation because we have tried it for more than two years now and nothing was coming out of it. The government is considering the second option of litigation and enforcement this time,” Okafor warned.