Featured
Amaechi Refutes Knowledge Of Waiver On Foreign Vessels By NIMASA

Joel Ajayi
The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has refuted claims that he had knowledge of the waiver approved by the ministry for foreign vessel operators.
He made the rebuttal when he appeared before the Senate Joint Committee on Local Content, Downstream Petroleum, and Legislative Compliance on Thursday.
The committee is investigating the breach of Nigerian Laws by foreign vessels in coastal shipping of petroleum products in the downstream sector of the Nigerian Maritime Industry.
In his submission, the minister said that he was not aware of any waiver given to the vessels by the Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
The minister said that “I have never interfered with the process of governance of any structure that I superintend over. So if NIMASA says I know what they are doing, I don’t know.
“I just saw it when they wrote to me and said I should answer the Senate.
“I have not approved any. He (the Director-General) should run to me if he wants a waiver approved. This is nothing on my table from 2015 to today, I don’t have any waiver on my table.
“First they claimed that none had been issued; I do not even know until recently that you have to issue a waiver.
“For you to know as a minister, the director-general is supposed to write to the minister to request for approval, and now no request for approval is on my table or that has been on my table since 2015 till today.”
However, on whether there was such a request of waivers in the ministry before he became minister, Amaechi said that he had not checked that.
“I have not checked that, I have to confirm that by asking the Permanent Secretary to do a study to find out if there was any before we came.
“But from the day I assumed duty in 2016 till today, I have never sighted any request, in 2010, 168 persons applied for waivers it wasn’t before me; 2011, 208 applied not before me, 2012, 333 persons, 2013, 448, 2014, 377, 2015, 413 persons applied.
“I came in 2016, in that year, 374 persons applied but I didn’t see their application,” he said.
The minister pledged to work with the National Assembly Committee to ensure that Nigerians had the maximum benefits in such relationships.
“There is first the need to call NIMASA and see what is going on, what is the status of the vessels that are operating in Nigeria.
“The basic thing in Nigerian waterway is not even those foreigners. It is the level of insecurity and the fact that the National Assembly has refused to pass the law approving the setting up of coast guard which would have been the saving grace of all these.
“It is the coast guard that would have found who is operating and who is not,” he said.
Earlier, Chairman Senate Committee on Local Content Sen.Teslim Folarin recalled that in Dec. 2019, the Senate debated a motion.
“The motion was titled “Urgent need to investigate the breach of Nigerian laws by foreign vessels and coastal shipping of petroleum products in the downstream sector of the Nigerian Maritime industry which was sponsored by Sen. Olamilekan Mustapha.
He said that the committee was mandated to carry out an investigation with a view to unraveling the influx of foreign vessels in the coastal region and the level of patronage of Nigerian Shipping Companies.
Folarin said that another mandate of the committee was to Investigate the flagrant abuse of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010 and Cabotage Act 2003 respectively by the operators and stakeholders in the maritime industry ship to ship transfer of coastal foreign vessels.
“Investigate foreign freight associated with downstream activities repatriated overseas by NNPC to the detriment of the local economy or patronage.”
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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