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NYSC DG Bags Daily Sun’s Public Service Award

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Joel Ajayi

The Director-General of National Youth Service Corps will be conferred with Daily Sun’s Public Service Award.

In a press statement issued by  the Director, Press and Public Relations Adenike Adeyemi (Mrs) on Tuesday in Abuja, the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Daily Sun Newspaper, Mr Onuoha Ikeh disclosed this when he led some Members of the management team of the media outfit on a courtesy visit to present a formal letter to Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim at the NYSC National Directorate Headquarters in Abuja.

The MD who said the award was instituted in 2003 to honour Nigerians who have done well in different fileds of human endeavour added that many Distinguished Nigerians had been confered with the award in different categories over the years.

He said Brigadier General lbrahim was selected for the award by the Board of Editors of the media outfit based on his pedgree and laudable innovations since his assumption of office as the eighteenth Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps in May, 2019.

“Your selection for the award was based on merit because of your outstanding achievements in piloting the affairs of the NYSC as the eighteenth NYSC Director-General; you have made giant strides through your five point policy thrust.

We note that you have taken steps towards re-invigorating the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development, you have also renewed the commitment of Bank of Industry towards the resucitation of empowerment of Corps Members.

You have initiated and  sustained new collaboration with NIRSAL Microfinance Bank on empowerment of Corps Entrepreneurs, as well as opening of a new partnership with Unity Bank plc.

You have collaborated with British American Tobacco Foundation on the empowerment of Corps Members with agricultural skills and business trainings, farm internship, mentoring and farm input supply.

You have made a tremendous impact in the public service and by so doing contributing to good governance”, he said.

Onuoha also commended the Director-General for resuscitating the NYSC Water Factory and Bakery in Abuja and the on-going construction of the NYSC North-Cenral Skill Acquisition Centre in Keffi.

He listed the acquisition of modern farm implements for the NYSC Farms located at Kwali Abuja, Dungulbi Bauchi State, Samikaka in Kebbi State, and Iseyin in Oyo State, among other notable achievements as part of the criteria for the award.

He added that the prestigious Sun Award ceremony is slated for October this year and will be held in Lagos.

NYSC Director-General in his response thanked the Sun Newspaper for giving balanced reportage to NYSC activities and also sensitising the public on the Scheme’s programmes.

He said the award would spur him to add more impetus in his service to humanity.

He disclosed that up till date, there is no COVID-19 positive case in any of the NYSC Orientation Camps across the country.

Ibrahim said the NYSC/NCDC partnership has helped the NCDC and Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 with the analysis of NYSC operations especially on COVID-19.

He said NYSC was established for the promotion of national unity and integration, but the Scheme has added entrepreneurship training to its Orientation Course programme in order to enhance youth empowerment.

General lbrahim said the dearth of white collar jobs has made many graduates unemployed and in a bid to reduce graduate unemployment, “we decided to introduce Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development as an alternative to empower Corps Members with skills.

Ibrahim also reiterated his appeal for the establishment of NYSC Trust Fund that would make start-up capital available to interested Corps Members as they exit service in order to kick-start their businesses.

“We earnestly solicit the support of the Sun Newspaper to sensitize Nigerians in this regard”, General lbrahim said.

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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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