Concerned indigenes of Ogun State under the auspices of the Egba Economic Summit have lamented that multiple taxations by the state government arms and its agencies resulted in a dearth of Small and Medium Enterprises across the state.
They also expressed displeasure over the difficulties in procuring title documents on landed property in the state.
Speaking on behalf of the concerned group, the director of finance for EES, Gbenga Adeoye, lamented that the inability of private investors to procure title documents for their properties made it impossible for intending investors to obtain loan facilities.
Adeoye, who spoke shortly after the 9th Annual General Meeting of the Egba Economic Summit, blamed the government’s strict conditions for procuring official title documents as a factor responsible for the relocation of many investors to other states.
He urged the state government to eliminate multiple taxations for small business owners to thrive.
He said, “Sometimes, you can process a title document for a decade and you won’t get it. It appears that there is no specific procedure that people adhere to, you go around, pay, and at the end of the day, you don’t get what you want.
“So, title document is key; when people don’t have title to their documents they cannot take loan facility. We want to appeal to the government to see what they can do by eliminating multiple taxations, especially for small-scale businesses that ordinarily don’t need to be stressed up.”
Meanwhile, the EES President, Adeshina Luwoye revealed that the group would embark on inter-school debates among secondary school pupils in the Egba zone to inculcate moral values among the youths.
Luwoye who spoke on the theme of this year’s AGM: “The Future Is Now”, stressed that the group would strengthen the reading culture and instil moral discipline among the youths through academic interventions.
He said, “We have programmes that the AGM has approved that have to be implemented this year. One of them is the inter-school debate among secondary schools in Egbaland.
“Who are the icons that our youths are looking up to? They are musicians and area boys that have been promoted to active roles in the political area. But rather, that is not in the character of the Egba people. So, the inter-school debate is to bring back those eras where you are recognised and rewarded for your intellectual capacity.
“You see our youths today become glorified Okada riders; we see our children doing Yahoo; that’s not the future we want for our people. That’s why we want to bring back that culture where children can be on the radio, and television to show that they really got talent and they can also be rewarded for engaging in intellectual activity.”
