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THE CONCEPT OF POWER BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE: A REALITY IN ENUGU STATE UNDER GOV.IFEANYI UGWUANYI

Ifeanyi Ogenyi
Democracy has long been defined as the government of the people, by the people and for the people.
True democracy is premised on the immutable principle that power belongs to the people. It is also having the understanding that power is held on trust by the public office holders for the ultimate benefit of the people who are the owners and beneficiaries of such power.
In a truly democratic setting, the consent and/or approval of the people must always be sought before any major decision affecting the people is taken.
Many leaders especially in the developing countries have neglected, refused, and/or failed in the practical application of this principle.
Most leaders, once they assume office neglect or treat those that gave them power with utter disdain and they began to dish out executive orders; and further acts with impunity.
In Africa and all most in all the developing countries, there is a profound sense of disconnect from the halls of power. The distance between the people and the government is as wide and deep as the ocean separating Boston from London.
Understanding this sense of disconnect, Gov.Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on the assumption of office in 2015 decided to bridge this gap between the governed and the governor with his Midas touch.
His innovative approaches to governance premised on mutual respect, consultation, collaboration, and bipartisanship seamlessly returned power to the people of Enugu State.
His administrative and managerial characters have established principles guaranteeing the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Gov.Ugwuanyi’s message and ideology from the onset were sound and clear.
And his message and ideology are: “This is our government; Enugu belongs to all of us; and let everyone enjoy democracy dividend-‘ The Nrashi Concept”.
He has demonstrated in many ways that power has been returned to the people of Enugu State.
In the annals of history in Enugu State, no Governor before Ugwuanyi made a clear-cut policy of consulting the people before they took critical decision that would affect the people but Gov.Ugwuanyi makes consultation of the people as his cardinal administrative policy and rarely takes any critical decision without having recourse to the people.
He evolved and sustained the culture of consulting the people on issues affecting them before a final decision is taken.
Today in Enugu State, virtually everyone in the State is a Stakeholder and people have unrestricted access to the government house which has never been the case.
Constitutionally appointment of the members of the Executive Council is a prerogative right of the governor in the State as enshrined in Sec.192 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) but Gov.Ugwuanyi never exercised this power without having recourse to the people. Before he formed his cabinet upon his re-election in 2019, he reached out to the Stakeholders in the 17 LGAs and requested them to nominate for him a candidate to be appointed into his cabinet. This singular gesture endeared the Governor more to Ndi Enugu.
The same thing happened during the last LGA election in Enugu, every LGA was asked to agree on a consensus candidate to be filed by the ruling party in the State and it worked as a magic.
One thing in a democracy, is that it is a government by the majority. Of course, there is always dissenting opinions and voices on any issue but Ugwuanyi’s concern at every point in time is to ensure that the views of the majority prevail and this is the hallmark of a true democracy.
The truth is that people tend to withdraw when they feel powerless and also tend to live outside the political process when they stop believing that power belongs to them.
Gov.Ugwuanyi has practically changed the narrative and restored people’s confidence in the government.
Gov. Ugwuanyi has put in place collaborative governance which is often as a solution to the principal-agent dilemma and local knowledge problem.
By including a full range of stakeholders, collaborative arrangement brings stability, peace, and progress in the polity.
And today Enugu people are witnessing and enjoying enduring peace.
Gov. Ugwuanyi’s leadership styles have brought to bear an alternative to adversarial and interest group-driven approaches to governance which follows a more consensus-oriented mode of making decisions.
Though as earlier posited, consensus most time is difficult to achieve in practice, one good thing about Ugwuanyi’s approach is that the people are involved in taking decisions on issues affecting them.
Freedom of expression which is also another essential ingredient of democracy is not only guaranteed in Enugu State under Gov.Ugwuanyi but it is also inimically abused by some Enugu people especially the uninformed social media urchins.
Indeed, Gov. Ugwuanyi has given democracy its true meaning in Enugu State.
Our nation will be peaceful and a better place to live if all leaders in the country realize like Ugwuanyi that they hold power on trust for the people.
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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