{"id":176293,"date":"2025-08-27T12:35:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship"},"modified":"2025-08-27T13:43:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T12:43:53","slug":"aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship","title":{"rendered":"Aba Traders Can’t Pay N3.1bn Annually Amid Hardship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Prince Paul Ikonne, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, has criticised the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, for forcing Aba traders to pay N3.1 billion yearly as tax despite economic hardship.<\/p>\n

Ikonne disclosed this in a statement through his spokesperson, Ujo Justice, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

He said Otti\u2019s heavy tax policies have put Aba, the country\u2019s commercial hub, on the verge of collapse.<\/p>\n

According to him, traders in Aba who previously paid N18,000 per shop are now forced to pay over N36,000 yearly, amounting to N3.1 billion annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith more than 88,000 shops in Ariaria alone, this translates to an outrageous N3.1 billion annually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should Aba traders, the very heartbeat of commerce in southern Nigeria, be strangled by such reckless and selfish-driven taxation?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ikonne further reiterated the call for Otti\u2019s government to account for the whereabouts of the N54 billion spent on renovating 51 schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Otti, fear God and show us the 51 schools you claimed to have renovated with N54 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Prince Paul Ikonne, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, has criticised the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, for forcing Aba traders to pay N3.1 billion yearly as tax despite economic hardship. Ikonne disclosed this in a statement through his spokesperson, Ujo Justice, on Wednesday. He said Otti\u2019s heavy tax policies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":176292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[4295,9682,254,9936],"class_list":["post-176293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-aba","tag-ikonne","tag-nigeria","tag-otti"],"yoast_head":"\nAba Traders Can't Pay N3.1bn Annually Amid Hardship - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Prince Paul Ikonne, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, has criticised the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aba Traders Can't Pay N3.1bn Annually Amid Hardship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prince Paul Ikonne, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, has criticised the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-27T11:35:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-27T12:43:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1756286183.711898.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Aba Traders Can’t Pay N3.1bn Annually Amid Hardship\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-27T11:35:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-27T12:43:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship\"},\"wordCount\":187,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1756286183.711898.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aba\",\"Ikonne\",\"Nigeria\",\"otti\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/aba-traders-cant-pay-n3-1bn-annually-amid-hardship\",\"name\":\"Aba Traders Can't Pay N3.1bn Annually Amid Hardship - 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