Members of the Association of Scrap Metals in Rivers — the Blessed Scrap Dealers , Mile 3 Diobu, Port Harcourt and Scrap Dealers Association, Eleme Junction have since July been in a long drawn battle with the sate Task force on the removal of metal over what the association termed illegal revenue demand and harassment with police
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi
According to the members of the Association led by their leader Mr. Ernest Durum ,” on july1, our members of our were served with an undated demand notice from some persons who identified themselves as a Taskforce for the Removal of Scrap Metals constituted by the Rivers State ministry of environment.
The agency stipulated three categories: Category A: Major Scrap Metals Dealers/Merchant, to register with N250, 000; Category B: Scrap Metals Vendor/ Consultant/Scrap Metals Spare Parts Dealers, to register with N150, 000; and Category C: Scrap Metal Hawkers, to register with N50, 000.
The conditions attached for the return of the application are: two passport photographs and necessary particulars; evidence of previous supply of scraps job done; tax clearance certificate for the past three years and evidence of payment for registration form”.
The demand notice inspired repeated visits from operatives of the taskforce to the premises of scrap dealers in Port Harcourt. Uncomfortable with the demands of the taskforce, Duru and other scrap dealers briefed their lawyer, Cosmas Enweluzo, who, on Wednesday, July 9, proceeded to petition the taskforce to the commissioner of environment and the commissioner of police.
Enweluzo also addressed a petition on the matter to the Rivers State Commissioner of Environment, Dr. Nyema Weli, Enweluzo copied Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Worgu Boms. In the petition Barrister Enweluzo sent to the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Tunde Ogusakin, he copied the minster of police affairs, Alhaji Abduljelili Adesiyan and the inspector-general of police, Muhammed Abubakar.
According to him “Our clients are associations incorporated in accordance with Part C. of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAP C20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and our clients’ members are into the business of gathering of scrap materials which include metal scrap and aluminum materials out of the streets where they are littered and evacuate them to places where some are thrown away and the useful ones and/or transformed into valuable metal sheets and rods”
“Precisely july1, members of our clients were served with an undated demand notice from some persons who identified themselves as a Taskforce for the Removal of Scrap Metals constituted by the Rivers State ministry of environment. Just barely two days after, members of our clients were served notice, the said Tax Force started harassing, arresting and impounding the goods and trucks of our members of clients as well as arresting them to police stations where huge sums of money are extorted from them before they are released”
“Of particular interest, among other incidences of intimidation and harassment, occurred on July 3, when two of our clients’ members, Basil Oguegbu and Peter Arihalam bought some scrap materials and loaded same in a Vanagon Truck. On their way to their dump site at Mile 3, Diobu, Port Harcourt, they were accosted by some men in company of some policemen and were arrested alongside two of their loaders and their truck impounded and taken away to somewhere at a dump site at Eliozu, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, where same is still being detained
“The same fate also befell another of our clients’ members, Ifeanyi Ezeji, whose fork-light machine which he uses in loading and offloading scrap materials was impounded on July 4, 2014, by the same men of the Tax Force with the aid of some men of the Nigeria Police Force
“We know that no good government the world over would want to deny its citizen the dynamics of life to wit: Life, Liberty and Property which the government on its own cannot solely provide for the people as a result of numerous needs calling for attention at any given point in time. Thus, every reasonable government encourages its citizens to engage in meaningful project geared towards personal sustenance and survival. The action of the Taskforce- to say the least – is a direct antithesis of life, liberty and property which is the hallmark of every democratic society and setting”, he posited.
But Ogunsakin while speaking with newsmen in his office at the Rivers State Police Command Headquarters, along Moscow Road, Thursday, July 10, maintained that he has not deployed policemen from the state command to accompany operatives of the Rivers State Taskforce on the Removal of Scrap Metals during their monitoring operations.
He promised to contact the area commander of MOPOL 19, Port Harcourt, if he had sanctioned the deployment of armed mobile policemen to the Taskforce on the Removal of Scrap Metals.
“I have not approved the deployment of our men to accompany any taskforce. I have resisted repeated pleas from the Rivers State Traffic Management Agency, TIMARIF, because I am aware that such opportunity can be exploited to perpetrate all sorts of atrocities.”
On His part, Chief Solomon Chuku , Chairman of the Task Force, Maintained that his agency had the force of law and expressed surprise when he was intimated of the position of the commissioner of police that no policeman from the Rivers State police command is on deployment to any government Task force. He maintained that his agency duly applied for armed policemen to the command to enable operatives of the taskforce carry out their official duties without molestation from scrap dealers whom, he remarked, have not shown any friendly disposition towards his agency.
Chuku explained that the Taskforce on the Removal of Scrap Metals come into force when On Tuesday, March 25, the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Weli, announced the appointment of Chief Solomon Chuku as the Chairman of the newly formed outfit . The other members are: Vera Bipialaka; Chukwuma Ajoku; Bright Omunakwe; Roland Ozie Asonye; Anthony Wosu and Godswill Dorgoroh as secretary.
According to Chuku, the establishment of the Removal of Scrap Metals is empowered by the law s of Rivers State, and flashed a copy of the “policy statement on scrap metals” signed by the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Weli.
The document states: “Pursuant to Section 9 (c) (f) (g) of the Rivers State Environmental Protection Agency Law Cap 53, Laws of Rivers State & Section 5 (m) & 20 of the Public Health Cap 106 Laws of Rivers State and in line with the provisions of other relevant laws, particularly Environmental Protection Agency Law Section 6. (4) (a) & (i) which authorizes the ministry to study and recommend management and recycling all waste generated in the state, including but not limited to solid waste where necessary, monitor and control the discharge and disposal of all waste, the ministry has in this regard established the scrap to wealth Recycling Plant to ensure proper management, disposal and recycling of metal waste in Rivers State”.
The policy statement further stated that henceforth, the Taskforce on the Removal of Scrap Metal inaugurated on Tuesday, March 25, “is the only body in the state mandated to manage collection and evacuate scrap metals in the state where ever they are found; all industries operating in the state that generate waste metals/scrap metals must procure permits from the ministry of environment for environment-friendly disposal of same in government approved sites”.
It further stated in part: “Anyone wishing to operate a business as a scrap dealer in the state will require a license to collect and evacuate scrap metals to/at approved sites; all companies within the state must ensure that only authorized and licensed scrap metal dealers/vendors that are registered with the ministry of environment’s Taskforce on Removal of Scrap Metals handle the evacuation of scrap metals generated in their daily operations”.
In essence, the Taskforce on the Removal of Scrap Metals in Rivers State is a creation of the Rivers State Environmental Protection Agency Law, Cap 53, by virtue of a subsidiary legislation which flowed from Section 9 (C) (f) and (g). However, Section 9, subsection (f) appears to be the legal foundation for the establishment of the Taskforce on the Removal of Scrap Metals.
But Enweluzo, counsel to the scrap dealers, disagreed insisting that “the powers of government at all levels to impose and demand payment of taxes from individuals and bodies are derivable from enabling laws such as the 1999 constitution (as altered); taxes and levies (approved list for collection) Act, Cap-Laws of the Federation of Nigeria”.
He posited that in tandem with Section 1 (3) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) “if any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this constitution, this constitution shall prevail, and that other law is null and void .
The Task force and the Scrap Metal dealers await the end of the on-going judicial impasse in Rivers State Judiciary that has put the courts out of action for them to engage in what promises to be a legal fireworks.
