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2023: Over 1000 CSOs condemn Gov Akeredolu, others over spurious attacks on CBN GOVERNOR

Published

3 years ago

May 7, 2022

…x-ray achievements of Emefiele, say he’s most qualified

Ahead of 2023 presidential election, over 1000 Civil Society Organisations under the auspices of Coalition of Civil Society Groups, CCSG, Saturday, threw weight behind the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emiefele, after purchase of presidential forms at the National Headquarters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abuja.

According to the coalition they are giving their support for Emefiele’s presidency, because of the unparalleled achievement based on his professionalism and patriotism he brought to bare on managing the various sectors of the economy on a solid sustainable path that has keep the nation afloat since he was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The coalition made the statement signed by the President, CCSG, Etuk Bassey Williams, and Secretary General, CCSG, Abubakar Ibrahim and several civil society organisations, while addressing a world press conference in Abuja.

The coalition said Emefiele can vie for any political position in Nigeria like any other Nigerian based on his constitutional rights.

They also cautioned gov Akeredolu and some politicians who have ganged up to malign and run down Emefiele, and they warned that the groups sponsored by the intimidated politicians should immediately desist from their cheap blackmail and calls for him to resign.

The coalition expressed dismay over the poor strategy some politicians aimed at overheating the polity, and said would be vehemently resisted if they still go ahead.

The statement reads in part, “It is really unfortunate that some politicians have nothing to offer because they have run out of steam and are only out to blackmail credible Nigerians who do not rest but keep economic working.

“We need to tell the ‘nay sayer’ and other paid agents that during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic, Emefiele was able to mobilize the private sectors and salvage the situation, despite the harsh financial state of the country, he also introduced several policies to support the poor; the farmer’s anchor borrower programme that just witnessed first of its kind of rice pyramid a few months ago.

“Given his pedigree, Emefiele was expected to bring on board novelties at the Bank and that he wasted no time in doing. While building on the policies of his predecessors, the core of Emefiele’s innovative stance at the CBN was development financing.

“To him, the CBN was to act as nancial catalyst by targeting strategic sectors that could create jobs on a mass scale and reduce the country’s import bills. He declared that the CBN would deploy developmental initiatives to create an enabling environment with appropriate incentives to empower innovative entrepreneurs to drive growth and development, and today we are seeing the impact and results.

“Statistics reveal that a total number of over 1 million farmers cultivating over a across 16 different commodities in the country’s 36 States, have so far benefited from the programme, which has also generated over three million direct and indirect jobs across agricultural value chains as at end 2019.

“In a bold move to contain rising inflation and to cushion the impact of the drop in the supply of foreign exchange to the Nigerian economy, he adopted unconventional monetary policies that he himself described as extraordinary measures needed to tackle extraordinary challenges.

“Interestingly, not only did the CBN tighten monetary policy rates over a period, the Bank introduced demand management approaches to conserve Nigeria’s reserves and support domestic production of certain goods. In a bid to encourage local manufacturers to consider local options in sourcing their raw materials, the CBN, under his leadership restricted access to foreign exchange on 41 items (now increased to 43). Four of these items alone, at the time, constituted over N1trillion of Nigeria’s annual import bill. In addition to this, the Bank also established an Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, which allowed investors and exporters to purchase and sell foreign exchange at the prevailing market rate.

“Then there was the further liberalization of the foreign ex change market through the operationalization of the Revised Guidelines for the Operation of the Nigerian Inter-bank Foreign Exchange Ma rket in June 2016. T he commencement of this policy guideline introduced the Naira Settled Foreign Exchange Futures Market.

“Due to the weakening of the Naira at the time, coupled with the exposure of several banks to the oil and gas sector, which squeezed the balance sheets of some domestic banks, the CBN intensified its risk-based supervision of the banks to guarantee financial stability.

“In spite of the effect of the recession that Nigeria experienced, her economy remained the largest in Africa by the size of its GDP.

“While bemoaning Nigeria’s high import bills, in excess of N1.3 trillion annually, particularly for items such as rice, fish, wheat and sugar, the Apex Bank’s boss said the Bank’s Interventions in the agricultural sector would be driven towards improving productivity in areas with high domestic demand, where opportunities exist to improve domestic supply, such as rice, fish, wheat and sugar and conservation of foreign exchange.

“We can go on and on about the great achievement he has recorded and surpassed his predecessors. He is qualified to be the President of Nigeria, and no wonder the issue of campaign banners of Emefiele is the handwork of Nigerians who are pleased with his effort and achievement as a CBN Governor.

“This also points his loyalty to Mr. President and his desire to make the APC government deliver on their promises to Nigeria.
“The call is a clarion demand for his service to the nation at large, having performed credibly well.

“We also pass Vote of Confidence on the workaholic and goal-getter game changer, Mr Godwin Emiefele, as we throw our weight behind him, and we promised to use our massive structures across the 36 States and FCT in all 744 local government areas to ensure we mobilize Nigerians to actualize the Emefiele Presidency come 2023.

“We are resolved and rooted to make this happen as we transverse Nigeria. Those who know they cannot stand out heat should join us to ensure a credible and vibrant leader take over and continue to build on the successes recorded by the Buhari-led administration.

However, they said nobody or groups can stamped Emefiele out of office, and warned that they would not sit down and watch some politicians threaten and intimidate a patriotic Nigerian like the CBN Governor.

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

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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