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NGO Donates Sickbay To JSS Kurudu In FCT

Joel Ajayi
Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) has inaugurated a sickbay donated by Queen Agnes Foundation, (QAF) a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) for Junior Secondary School (JSS) Kurudu, Abuja.
Mr. Bashir Abubarka, Deputy Director in charge of Academic Support Services, UBEB, while inaugurating the sickbay, commended the efforts of the NGO to provide the sickbay.
Abubarka urged other NGOs as well as well-meaning Nigerians to take a cue from QAF and support other schools within the FCT.
“I represent the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB). We sincerely appreciate the NGO for equipping the sickbay for our children.
“We are very happy and we welcome many more NGOs who are ready to partner with us, to ensure that our children get what they deserve.
“We appreciate the NGO, may Almighty Allah reward her and give her more to do more for the entire humanity.”
Responding to a plea by the school’s principal for a professional to handle the sickbay, Abubakar pledged to facilitate the process for personnel that would run the clinic.
“Just Like the Principal requested for the board to assist in getting somebody to man the sickbay, I will do my best to facilitate the posting of someone who can man this sickbay for our children.”
He however urged the school management to maintain and use the sickbay for the benefit of the children and the community.
“We do not pray for anybody to be sick but it is an opportunity because if somebody has one challenge or the other he will be able to use the sickbay. So please, protect it.
The School Principal, Hajia Talatu Isah thanked the UBEB, the school board, staff, and most especially the foundation and the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) for donating the equipment.
Isah reiterated other challenges faced by the school and urged the NGO and other well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the school.
She listed some of the challenges as a school hall, library, toilets, renovation of some classmates among others.
Mrs. Thelma Akinduru, president of QAF, thanked God for making the sickbay a reality.
Akinduru appreciated the NSC for supporting the realization of the project through donations of equipment needed for the sickbay.
She said the sickbay was a pilot project adding that the foundation planned to support other government primary and secondary schools within the FCT.
“Passion for humanity and love for children motivated me to take up the project and the renovation and the entire project cost almost N2million.”
Business
Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D
The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.
The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.
In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”
The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.
The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.
Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.
In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.
Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.
Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.
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