Featured
Sports To Become A Means Of Livelihood For Nigerian-Minister
Joel Ajayi
The Minister of Youth and Sports Mr. Sunday Dare has said that the desire of the present government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is to formulate a policy that will ensure sports becomes the means of livelihood for many Nigerian.
He stated this on Thursday in Abuja at the Inter-ministerial Technical Session on Sports industry development with the theme: “Positioning sports as an industry-from concept to action” address at the two-day Nigerian Economic Summit Group NESG.
The two-day event organized by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and The Nigerian Economic Summit Group NESG, the minister noted that sports are a key sectors in driving the nation’s economy.
He expressed that the summit is coming for the first time in 59 years with the aimed of looking at sports as a viable business in Nigeria saying that the focus is to develop sports as a viable industry.
According to him, Sports as a viable business and we want to build a business model around the sports in Nigerian
“At the beginning of the second stanza of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Mr. President laid out in clear terms, specific targets for every sector of the economy within the Next Level Agenda of his administration. Derivable for the Sports Sector, within the Agenda can be categorized in the twin goals of developing appropriate Public-Private Partnership model and delivering on the establishment of a private sector-driven Sports Development Fund to support, as well as, invest in various programs and Sports facilities.
“The overarching goals of these initiatives aside the creation of wealth and jobs are to ensure the delivery of the dividends of good governance to the citizens and promote greater private sector investment in the Sports Sector.
“In order to achieve these set targets, the Sports Industry Thematic Group was born through the Ministry’s interactions with the organized private sector using the platform of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).
“Our desire to pursue this vigorously is in line with the declaration in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which states that “…sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives” (UNGA 2015, para. 37, 10).
“With this, the NESG and the Ministry are working on a policy framework for achieving these goals. Commendable progress has been made in this regard as we have now thought it necessary to move to the next phase of sharing this vision and to solicit the cooperation and buy-in of sister agencies as a prelude to launching to the larger private sector groups.
“The global practice is for the Private sector to partner with the Public sector in tapping into the business potentials of the Sports Sector, which has economic potentials, to develop policies, strategies, and interventions in ensuring economic growth and prosperity, which in turn, guarantees social and community development across all spheres.
“This trend requires a framework for tapping into the business potentials of sports development and its commercialization and is generally achieved through a National Sports Policy as the guidepost for overall national sports development; the promotion of a healthier society and the strengthening of appropriate regulations and legislations that support and facilitate sporting initiatives and activities.
“It is imperative that the National Sports Policy Document is tailored to reach a mutual understanding, vision, policy, and targets in the field of sports. It will also provide coordination and cooperation in the services and activities of the relevant public institutions, organizations and non-governmental organizations as well as other stakeholders,” he said
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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