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AfriTEX, smart cities initiative calls for accelerated digital economy
AFRITEX and Nigeria smart cities Initiative, an NGO has called for an accelerated wellness and accountability of the country’s digital economy.
The CEO of AFRITEX, Mr Oyesola Oworu made the call in his goodwill message at the 3rd edition conference of Sustainable Smart Cities and Digital Economy Forum held in Abuja on Tuesday with the theme “Accelerating the realisation of smart cities and Digital economy.”
Oworu said that the forum was committed to collective agenda for sustainable smart city and digital economy initiative for Nigeria.
“Taking a look at the preparedness, unique challenges, we need to identify substantial opportunities to build inclusive, sustainable smart economy through leadership and collaboration to maximise the intemperability of new technologies across different industry in Nigeria.”
He added that 50% of world population lives in urban areas adding that by 2050, it would be closer to 70%, saying that the 21 century economy has keyed into the smart cities.
He also stressed that the current model of urbanization was clearly not stable, hence the need to accelerate digital economy.
“We have to be smarter and our cities have to be smarter, because that’s where information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the capacity to make a real difference,” he said.
Also, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said that Smart City Agenda was directly correlated to driving increasing
socio-economic outcomes.
San would-Olu, who was represented by Olatunbosun Alake there was need to drive positive human capital development outcomes for high would translate Smart Agenda.
He stressed that forums like this usually facilitate some of the most important discussion on how to improve the living standards of Nigerians through smart city initiatives.
“It is safe to say that we are becoming well acquainted not just with the risks but the
negative outcomes of poor planning and the underinvestment in our most
important resource, the people’s mind.
” In our most recent Smart City
Implementation design with the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), the most important implementation tenet was capacity development and building a data enabled workforce.
“It is important that to accelerate the realisation of smart cities and the digital economy.” he said.
He also said that the Smart City and Digital economy development would
also require keeping pace with the adoption of effective urban governance ideologies that are dynamic and agile and leverage multiple technologies.
He said this would improve the performance of health service, transportation, education, implement intelligent and sustainable infrastructure, and drive effective monitoring and evaluation strategies to speak to the outcomes.
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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