Connect with us

Featured

GAC Motor Tackles Unemployment With Assembly Plant

Published

on

…Extends Partnership To ICAN

CHIDI UGWU, ABUJA

The CIG Motors Company Limited, the sole distributors of GAC brand of vehicles in Nigeria on Wednesday declared that its coming factory would serve as a major employment creation for the Nigerian economy.

The General Manager, CIG Motors Company Limited, Mr. Arogundade Jubril, gave the hint while fielding questions from journalists on the company’s new partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to mark the Professional body’s 51st Annual Conference in Abuja.

CIG Motors donated a brand new GAC GS3 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) to the body of accountants as part of reciprocal support for their endorsement of the band and to mark their annual conference.

Mr. Jubril said the partnership with the professional body and indeed other similar partnerships in the past is a way of showing how the quickly the GAC is being accepted as a brand to look out for in Nigeria’s automobile market.

“We are here in Abuja again with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to celebrate their 51st Annual Conference and also to exhibit the GAC Motor brand as we usually do.

“This event is a big event and our presence here shows how GAC Motor is being accepted in the Nigerian market. In all the sectors, from the government to private sector you can see how the acceptance is coming.
“We recently showcased the brand at the recent Abuja International Motor Fair, this event has provided another opportunity to engage with Abuja people. We have about 3000 people attending this event live and about 2000 joining online and we have been able to reach all of them. So this partnership with ICAN is strategic for us. It is also a way of saying GAC Motor is the brand to look out for in the Nigerian automobile industry.

Jubril said the brand had also formed similar partnership with different organizations including Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) among others while calling on other institutions and organisations in both private and public sector to come for such arrangements.

“Nigeria cannot move forward without industrialization. Every organized nations in the world solved their issues of poverty through industrialization, the same thing must happen to Nigeria. If China could do it Nigeria can do better so we as GAC Motor are not only in the business of selling cars but we are interested in making sure that the environment in which we sell the cars is conducive enough for us to do business. So we create jobs everyday through our companies and sister companies.

“The SKD factory we have is currently run and managed by Nigerians. We have created a lot of employment already but we are moving forward with partnership with Lagos State government to go into real manufacturing of GAC Motor in Nigeria which will create a lot of employment” he said.

Some of the members of ICAN found at the stand of GAC Motor, were full of praise for the vehicles displayed at the event.

Istchay OJ, of the Nuel OJ Holdings, simply described the GAC brand as reliable stressing his company had already bought two vehicles from the Chinese firm.
“We bought two cars from them before. I think they are good brand because those cars have not broken down like most. We have been using them for more than a year, good customer service repairs, you know that is why I came and see which new models they have. Like I said I will definitely say ‘reliable'”.

Atolola Dayo, an ICAN member, said he was so impressed with the beauty of the vehicles that he decided to take pictures with all the vehicles on display.

“I like the aesthetic of the vehicles, the body is a total steel. It is a full masterpiece. And the leather seats are wow. I know their showroom in Lagos but I didn’t know they have something as beautiful as this”.

Continue Reading

Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

Trending

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)