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COVID-19: NMA Calls for collaboration between Nigeria and China On Vaccine development

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John Okeke

The President of the Nigeria Medical Association Professor Innocent Ujah has called for greater collaboration between Nigerian doctors and their Chinese counterparts in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Professor Ujah who spoke in Abuja, noted that Chinese doctors have shown capacity in containing the virus after the outbreak was first reported Wuhan, China. He however noted that Nigeria has not have a huge success in containing the virus.
“unlike China who within 72 hours of the outbreak of the virus, constructed a huge isolation/treatment centre for containment of the virus. In Nigeria, I would say we neglected the magnitude of the problem covid-19 could pose to us and were therefore slow in our response. The effect is a current trend of increasing cases of community spread”
He said that although, isolation centres now exist in all states of the federation for containment of the virus more need to be done to foster the joint collaboration between China and Nigeria.
He recalled that on the 17th of June, a video conference was held on a Special Summit on China-Africa solidarity Against Covid-19 in which China pledged to provide more medical supplies to Africa noting that the NMA and China Medical Association need to work together, share ideas and scientific experiences in order to contain covid-19 and other health challenges.
“Through this healthy bilateral relationship, our medical personnel can travel down to China to learn from China’s handling of covid-19 and other infectious diseases. In turn, China Medical Personnel can as well come to Nigeria to learn from our handling of infectious diseases. We all know the professionalism and success Nigeria showed in the handling of Ebola and it shows that our medical personnel are equal to any medical challenge and willing to learn as well” He said.
Speaking on his plans for the NMA, he said the health status of Nigerians was his priority through provision of facility and capacity development.
” As head of this association, we would also push for improved budget allocated to Health care as the health care system has received one of the lowest allocations in recent times and the outbreak of covid-19 exposed the status of our health care system. The NMA in my tenure as president would also push for the creation of a Bank of Health to support Health care just as the Banks of Industry and Agriculture supports Trade and Agriculture respectively. He said.
Reeling out recent achievements of the association he said more women are being incorporated into leadership positions in the association and the laying of a foundation for the NMA house which should be completed in 2 years.
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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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