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Chioma Ajunwa Applauds Sports Minister For Remembering Ex Internationals

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Nigerian’s first and only individual Olympic Gold Medalist, Chioma Ajunwa-Opara has poured out great encomium on the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare for remembering and providing soccuor to the mothers of late ex internationals in the country.

The commendation was made known on Tuesday in a press Statement issued by the Media Manager Chioma Ajunwa (MON. ACP) Comrade Amaechi Agbo in Abuja

Chioma Ajunwa-Opara who is an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP commended the minister for his foresightedness in reaching out to the aged mothers of late football icons and legends Sam Okwaraji and Rashidi Yekini.

The Minister of Youths and Sports Development, few days ago reached out to the ex internationals’ mothers and offered them cash gifts and food items.

The Minister, on Wednesday, May 6th kicked off the campaign to reach out to these aged mothers when he sent representatives to late Rashidi Yekini’s mother, Alhaja Sikiratu, offered her Ramadan gifts of N50,000 and also put her on a monthly financial support of N10,000.

Yekini is considered Nigeria’s football legend after scoring the country’s first ever World Cup goal in 1994 World Cup fiesta, and also being the highest goalscorer in the country with 37 goals and winning the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations where he also went home with the Most Valuable Player accolade.

Four days later, the minister extended the gesture to reach late Samuel Okwaraji’s mother, Mrs Janet Okwaraji.

The minister who was also represented made a presentation of N50,000 as well as food items such as rice, semovita and beverages to the aged mother of Samuel Okwaraji.

Samuel Okwaraji died on August 12, 1989 while playing a World Cup qualifying match against Angola at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

Not yet done, the Minister on May 11th visited the mother of late Nigerian athlete, Sunday Bada, Mrs Fumilayo Bada.

Sunday Bada was a member of the 4×400 relay team that won silver for Nigeria at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

During the visit, the Minister presented N50,000 to Bada’s mother with some food items and beverages.

Reacting to these gestures, the First Black woman Olympic Gold medal winner commended the minister for his great strides and encouraged him not to lose track of best efforts at supporting past legends and heroes of Nigeria sports and further encouraging the up and coming for maximum perfo.

“I have said it before that the emergence of the current Honourable Minister of Sports, Mr Sunday Dare at this point in time in our sports is Messianic.

“His antecedents in the past 8 months have left no one in doubt as to his mission, trajection and vision for sports in Nigeria.

“Apart from remembering the ex internationals in the country, he has also engaged them along with bringing the private sector into sports management with a view to repositioning sports in Nigeria.

“The Minister reaching out to the families of these former sports men in the country is not only commendable but also the right way to go. When you give the retired or dead athletes desired National recognition for their service to our Motherland, you are not only encouraging the active athletes to put in their best, you are also indirectly motivating other young Nigerians on the need to take on and build a career in sports.

“The Minister has done well by bringing in everybody on board. Of course he cannot do everything at once but from what he has done so far, I have no doubt that in the near future our sports will return to its years of glory. Our men and women athletes will be given a sense of belonging and their patriotic disposition will lead to greater laurels in the country,” the former Super Falcons player 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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