The Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue has begun enumeration and profiling of traders across markets in the state aimed at gathering data for effective planning and market development.

Greg Ezeilo, Chairman of the Board made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Awka.

The chairman said that the board had trained 100 staffers of the board for the programme and trainees are well prepared for the exercise as scheduled by the board.

Mr Ezeilo said that the trained personnel were equipped with digital tools and specialised software to carry out the enumeration seamlessly and efficiently.

“It is expected that the staffers will gather reliable data to plan with to enable the government budget and make adequate provisions for traders.

“We can only plan well if we have a number of traders or shops in our database and with a definite record, a great change in the markets architecture is achievable,”

The chairman assured the traders that the exercise was not aimed at increasing revenue, but primarily focused on gathering accurate data for effective planning and development of market infrastructure across key markets of the state.

He appealed to traders to cooperate with the enumerators, saying that 10 major markets had been selected for the initial take off.

The markets include Onitsha Main Market, Ose-Onitsha market, Relief Market, Bridge-head market, Ochanja market and Drug Market all in Onitsha.

Others are Obosi Old /New Spare parts market, Nkpor Old/New Spare parts markets, Nnewi markets and Ogidi building materials markets.