The Centre for Human Rights and Accountability Network (CHRAN) has strongly opposed the Akwa Ibom Taxes Bill, also known as the Property Bill, describing it as “anti-people, draconian, monstrous, and oppressive.”
The group expressed its position during a public hearing on the bill held at Luton Park Hotel on February 4, 2026, and reiterated its stance in a briefing with members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State, in Uyo on Thursday.
Addressing journalists, CHRAN’s Executive Director, Mr. Franklyn Isong, said the rejection followed a critical scrutiny of the bill, warning that its passage into law would further impoverish already deprived citizens of the state.
He recalled that a similar bill was rejected in 2016 during the administration of former Governor Udom Emmanuel, urging members of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to “cast their names in the annals of history by standing down further consideration of the bill.”
The bill, formally titled “A Bill for a Law to Harmonise and Consolidate the Legal Frameworks Relating to Taxes in Akwa Ibom State and for Other Matters Connected Therein”, aims to overhaul the state’s taxation framework. Critics, however, argue that it could place undue financial burdens on residents, particularly homeowners.
