Featured
CMG Holds Cooperation Forum with African Media Partners
China Media Group (CMG) has set up a new collaboration platform with Africa. The “Our African Partners: CMG Media Cooperation Forum 2021” brings together under one umbrella CMG and African media.
The event culminated with the issuance by 36 partners of a joint declaration outlining the principles and aspirations of the forum, which include acting as responsible public information disseminators, strengthening and deepening cooperation, and amplifying Chinese and African voices on the global stage.
Commenting on China-Africa media cooperation amid unprecedented changes in the world, Gregoire Ndjaka, CEO of African Union of Broadcasting, said “it testifies the common desire to appreciate the efforts made in this vast project” and presents the opportunity to start over on a more solid basis.
Media representatives, policy makers, media and communication scholars from China and more than 40 African countries attended the event which was held both online and offline in Nairobi. CMG president Shen Haixiong and several other chief executives of African state broadcasters were present.
“From the ancient Maritime Silk Road to the Belt and Road Initiative today, China and Africa have been going in the same direction,” Mr. Shen observed in his remarks.
On his part, Iqbal Survé, the Chairman of South Africa’s Independent Media, said China’s experience in digital media can help African media bring about better news flow and benefit African people.
“China, we know, is a world leader in the space of online media and online technology. China has played a very important role in showing how technological advancement can work to the benefit of its people,” Survé said, adding:
“We in Africa are hungry to emulate that particular example of China and to see how we can use technology in order to bring about better news flow and meet the aspirations of the African people.”Dr Naim Bilal, the Managing Director of Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, said his organization was looking forward to more cooperation with CMG in technology, content sharing and training.On his part, Iqbal Survé, the Chairman of South Africa’s Independent Media, said China’s experience in digital media can help African media bring about better news flow and benefit African people.
“China, we know, is a world leader in the space of online media and online technology. China has played a very important role in showing how technological advancement can work to the benefit of its people,” Survé said, adding: “We in Africa are hungry to emulate that particular example of China and to see how we can use technology in order to bring about better news flow and meet the aspirations of the African people.”
Dr Naim Bilal, the Managing Director of Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, said his organization was looking forward to more cooperation with CMG in technology, content sharing and training.
Mallam Yakubu Ibn Mohammed, the Director General of Nigerian Television Authority proposed the setting up of a central video server maintained and funded in partnership for better information and content sharing.
“Chinese and African media should seize the opportunities of a time of change and tap into potential for cooperation in areas including exchange of content, exchange of staff, and co-production,” Dr Ayub Rioba, the Director General of Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, said.
In their speeches, Senegalese Minister of Culture and Communication, Abdoulaye Diop; Ambassador Erastus Mwencha, the former Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Amin Alhassan, the Director General of Ghana Broadcasting Corporationwere optimistic the forum will deepen collaboration between CMG and African media on the one hand and, relations between China and Africa on the other.
One lesson that we witnessed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is the lack of policy coordination, production and distribution of vaccines and vaccine nationalism. I salute the media for highlighting this serious lacuna. This should be extended to all other areas of human endeavor and must be based on facts and figures,” Mwencha observed.
The forum also showcased cooperation projects between CMG and its African media partners, including an agreement on broadcasting Chinese films and TV shows with select African state broadcasters; an agreement between CMG’s Hausa Service and Nigerian media companies setting up a common platform for Hausa-speaking media; and CMG French
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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