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Nigeria TEQBALL Federation General Secretary Ndudi Edede, Lauds Buhari On Liftng Ban On Non Contact Sports

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The General Secretary, Nigeria TEQBALL Federation, NIGTEQ, Mr Ndudi Edede has commended President Mohammadu Buhari for lifting ban on non contact sports.

 

Mr Ndudi who made the commendation in a press statement Friday said the unbanning of non contact sports is a welcome development.

 

“The Nigeria TEQBALL Federation wishes to use this medium to thank President Buhari on lifting the ban on non contact sports.

 

“This is a welcome development because we all have been very anxious over the fate of sports in the country,” he said.

 

Mr Ndudi however called on the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, PTF, to also look at lifting ban placed on sports generally.

 

The Director, Dreamland-Embassy of Hungary Cup tournament noted that for the past four months, the sporting industry has been in comatose due to the ban since March following outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.

 

He called on the President through the PTF to provide guidelines on total reopening of sports in the country adding that since other sectors of the national life are being reopened including schools, airports, with directive on COVID-19 measures; that sports should not be left behind.

 

He advocated for reopening of contact sports such as football, basketball, handball, volleyball, etc with conditions and guidelines so that clubs that are able to meet the measures should be allowed to play.

 

He commended President Buhari, PTF and all state governors as well as the FCT minister on how they have handled the pandemic so far.

 

“We call on the President to also look at reopening sports generally. The past four months has not been funny with sports in the country. In fact, sports generally have been in coma.

 

“But with gradual easing of lockdown and reopening of other sectors in the country such as schools, airports, and the rest, sports should not be left behind.

 

“The PTF should set out guidelines and conditions on reopening of sports totally such that clubs that meet up with the conditions should be made to play.

 

“The past four months have been dull, uninteresting in the sporting sector. That is not to downplay the impact of the virus but with conditions spelt out for reopening of other sectors, same measures should be given to sports.

 

“We want to also commend the President, Mohammad Buhari, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, PTF and all the state governors in the country including the minister of the Federal Capital Territory on how they have handled the pandemic so far.

 

“As at Wednesday, August 12, 2020, Nigeria has a total of 47,743 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 33,943 discharged patients and 956 deaths recorded. If you look at the number of recovered cases, compared to death with what is going on in other countries in the world especially in Europe, we commend the governments for doing a great job in curtailing this virus,” he concluded.

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Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

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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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