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BUHARI ASKED TO ISSUE EXECUTIVE ORDER ON WHISTLEBLOWER POLICY

Published

4 years ago

September 16, 2020

President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to protect whistleblowers in Nigeria by signing an Executive order on the whistleblower policy.

The call was made Wednesday by a senior lecturer and Head of Department, Public and International Law at Baze University, Dr. Sam Amadi, during a radio program, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG.

Amadi’s call came on the heels of an outcry by Nigerians who are persecuted for the revealing corrupt act in the public service.

It will be recalled that the Whistleblower Policy was launched in 2016, by the Buhari’s administration, with the aim of encouraging people to voluntarily disclose information about fraud, bribery, looted government funds, financial misconduct, government assets, and any other form of corruption or theft.

During the program, a whistleblower Joseph Ameh who lost his job after revealing a corrupt act at the College of Education (Technical), Asaba, Delta State, lamented that his life has been under threat and his means of livelihood taken away for exposing corruption in the institution.

Ameh, who spoke on phone from his base in Delta State, said the school authorities turned against him after he reported unsafe practices in the construction of structures in the school to the Architect Council of Nigeria and frauds to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

He added that in a bid to frustrate him, the institution refused to pay him three months’ salary in lieu which is statutory for a dismissed staff. “As a staff whose appointment was terminated, there are conditions which include three months’ salary in lieu, this was confiscated to ensure that I will be forced to hardship.”

Against the institution’s position, Ameh denied any wrongdoing prior to his dismissal, saying “I didn’t violate any lay down rules in the institution. Everything coming attempts to build up a case that led to my dismissal. While the ICPC was still around, one of the relatives of the Provost walked up to me and told me that I must be dismissed.

Reacting to the persecution whistleblowers are facing, Amadi faulted the foundation of the policy, stressing that the whistleblower policy is not a law, hence should have come as an executive order from the President.

“The policy should be at the level of the President. The President has the power to say all executive branches, whenever there is a whistleblower this is what you should do. It becomes a policy at the level of Executive Order.

Proffering solution to the persecution of whistleblowers, Amadi had these to say: “The first solution is to sign the bill. Secondly, the President should issue an Executive Order mandating all Ministers, anti-graft agencies, and Police to protect whistleblowers and in this Order set up procedures and processes for whistleblowers so that when someone blows the whistle and he will be secured.

“You can’t talk about whistleblowing without physical protection. You also have to guarantee them their job even if they’ve committed an offense, they shouldn’t be removed based on that premise,” he stated.

On his part, Igho Akeregha who is President of Civil Liberties Organisation and the Abuja Bureau Chief of Guardian Newspapers sympathized with the situation Ameh Joseph and his likes found themselves, while urging President Buhari and the National Assembly to institutionalize whistleblower policy to strengthen the nation’s fight against corruption.

PRIMORG also vowed to continue doing its best in drawing the needed attention of relevant authorities for urgent action to the plight of the dismissed whistleblower and others.

The syndicated radio program is produced by PRIMORG with the support from the MACARTHUR FOUNDATION.

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

1 week 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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