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AUXANO Foundation Bringing Hope To Hopeless

Published

4 years ago

February 22, 2021

…As Taka-Lafia Community In FCT Get First Graduate –

Joel Ajayi

Without mincing words, a non-governmental organization known as Auxano Foundation for Empowerment and Development AFED, based in the federal capital territory, is working around the clock to bring hope to the hopeless and give a voice to the needs of the ordinary citizen in the country and beyond.

Through its various programs, Auxano Foundation has indeed demonstrated a determination to put a smile on the faces of the needy.

Its campaigns are based on education, girl-child education, empowerment and eradication of human trafficking in the country.

Auxano Foundation, recently through its activities, has taken charity into the next level with investment in Human Capital Development, with the successful sponsorship of an indigent Nigerian, Mr. Jonathan Tumuyi, to aid in the pursuit of achieving his dreams of University education.

Mr. Jonathan, a Gbagyi indigene from Taka-Lafia, a suburb community that has been existing since the 16th century in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) of the Federal Capital Territory, successfully passed out of his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on Thursday, Feb. 18, being the first graduate from his community with the help and assistance of Auxano foundation.

A 30-year-old, graduate of Educational Administration and Planning defiled all odds to become the first graduate for the community. In an interview with THE GLEAMER NEWS, on Saturday in Abuja, the Director in the foundation, Dr. Grace Babajide, appreciated God on behalf of the organization for the inspiration and successfully completing Tumuyi’s University education.

She said the foundation took the sponsorship of Jonathan right from his 200 level when he was being confronted with too many challenges to cope with, one of which was finance. According to her, Tumuyi was about dropping-out from the University as a result of the challenges but fate drew him to the Charity foundation during one of their outreach to distribute food items to his community.

She said that as of today, Tumuyi is a graduate of`Educational Administration and Planning’, from the prestigious University of Abuja, he did not disappoint the foundation, neither did he disappoint himself. She called on the government to support the Taka-Lafia community who lacks basic amenities, adding that, in the modern-day 21st century, a community could only boost the first graduate without hope of producing any in the nearest future. She, however, urged the youth to borrow a leaf from Jonathan who was focused and determined in choosing his career. She also called on the Nigerian youth to be wary of human traffickers adding that, trafficking issue was on the rise in the country.

According to her, her foundation is working with rescue organizations by carrying out campaign against human trafficking in schools, both primary and secondary to know the dangers attracted to the menace.

Dr (Mrs) Babajide said that most of the funds used in carrying out all the humanitarian assistance were being raised from the pocket of members of the foundation, and called for partnership from well-meaning Nigerians.

“Funding is our major challenge, structure is another one. Currently, we are still a group of volunteers, we don’t really have much, we do things from our pocket, there is no single backing from anywhere,” she said.

**Behold the face of Mr Jonathan Tumuyi the Taka-Lafia community first graduate**

On his part, the beneficiary support, Tumuyi, was full of appreciation to the foundation and urged the government and other NGO’s to come to the aid of the poor masses by supporting them particularly the Taka-Lafia community.

Mr Tumuyi expressed: “Without Auxano Foundation, I wouldn’t have been what I am today.” According to him, in the community called Taka-Lafia when I was a child, I had a passion for education.

“I attended primary school in the village and I proceeded to the government secondary school, Airport where I covered kilometers before getting to school because as at the time, that was the nearest school and from there, I proceeded to Niger State College of Education Minna and after that, I stayed at home for some time, and that gave me more determination to further my education, because I am the only person in the community that have a passion for education and today I am so fulfilled.

“When Auxano foundation came to our community on the14th February 2017 on outreach, they have been a serious help to us, because in our community, I can say we have been marginalized in terms of government presence but when they came and they discovered that Taka-Lafia is under Abuja, they were shocked. “So, they started giving us necessary help to ensure the community comes to being.

“They didn’t help me alone, but they helped the entire community, they gave us basic amenities like bole-hole and organised some health outreach and for me, they made so many impact in my life, educationally, financially and in many other aspects of the community. And when I was in school, they assisted me with funds. “Since God has made them to be a loving organization, having passion for the poor, I want to solicit that government support them to do more.”

However, the Foundation visited the Kuchingoro IDP camp in Abuja in commemoration of the 2020 World Refugee Day, as a way of raising awareness to the plights of displaced persons in Nigeria.

The effort was in collaboration with Teach for Change Nigeria, Yudee Foundation and Healthy and Smart Children Foundation with support from the United Nations with the theme “Every Action Counts.

Also, the Foundation, whose aim is to empower and develop the girl-child in Nigeria, had in the past, as part of her enlightenment campaign, organized a career choice counseling to Government Girls Secondary School Dutse, Abuja, to support the girls to exploit their full potential.

This was part of the Foundations’ annual school and college programs since 2012, on Education Activism to help students, especially girls, to develop mental resilience, confidence and maximize their potentials in line with Sustainable Development Goal, (SDG)-4, among others.

Recall that Auxano Foundation for Empowerment and Development (AFED), a non-governmental organization had embarked on advocacy for greater global support for refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

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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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