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Cross River North Senatorial District Stakeholders Endorses Stephen Odey

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Dickson Pat

Sons and daughters of Northern Cross-River State in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have unanimously endorsed, the candidature of Barr. Stephen Adi Odey for the forthcoming North Senatorial District by-election.

The stakeholders cut across different party divides, and is said to be informed by the need of the Senatorial District to send the best to represent them at the Red Chamber.

Rising from a meeting on Wednesday in Abuja, where soon to be Senator Barr. Odey in attendance where hundreds of stakeholders endorsed him.

The group, however, urges the people of the Senatorial District to support and massively vote for the candidacy of the former aide to Incumbent Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross-River State Barr Odey as he is clearly the best man for the job.

While addressing the gathering Barr. Odey commended the support from the stakeholders and promised to work very hard for the interest of the Northern Senatorial District.

According to him, I am overwhelmed by the love you demonstrated here, I am also overwhelmed by the sacrifices you made to come down this afternoon to see me that alone is a plus.

“I just want to briefly state that, a lot of persons that are here have met with me before but a lot don’t know the person of Stephen Odey. I am Iyache man, from Yala LG, a minority group but with majority brain.

“The reason is this, I have taken the pains to look at the problem bedeviling our people, I grew up in the villages, I school in the village, up to my P.hD level, up to my law degree all in the village. So, I know the problem of the people I leaved around them.
I know how it takes our parent to sell Groundnut, Garri, Rice to train us so, I know the pain, if there is any reason that prompted me to go to school today, it’s because of the background I came from.

“So, when I found myself working with His excellency Governor of Cross River State Prof. Ben Ayade the man who didn’t know me from anywhere, we only met at the Nigerian law school in Bwari Abuja that where I know him, I am telling you this story because it’s not only your blood brother that can make you to become somebody.

“If Gov. Ayade has made me, I have the potential to also made some of you because we are all one united family, a lot of persons don’t know me when they write about me, making comments, the annoying part of it is I do Iyache, I always very sad when I see such comment, but I think I was waiting for a day like this and it has come. According to him, out of the 486 employment generated, core Yala speaking got 270 the records are there, so what is the Yache for? I just want to debunk that it’s not so. I built many schools in Yala LG.”

Speaking further, Barr. Odey sad: “I Worked with Governor Ayade for four years in that office, I have participated in drafting some of its motion, I participated in drafting some of its bills, he had the highest bills when he was there, all his constituency projects I was the one that was following it up, he descripte himself as a man who already know the road.

“If you like to kill me, I will never surrender my loyalty to Governor Ben Ayade, people said Ayade made me, tell me who something in life without support of somebody becomes?

“So, I am here to urged you to support me, and time has come when you wouldn’t have difficulty in assessing that National Assembly, the time has come for someone to give you a recommendation letter and I will not mind to drive to that Minister’s office to get it done.

“I am a practical man, I am not a storyteller, give me the supports, give me one year and you will see that the record will never be the same, I will do my best toward the development and growth of Northern Senatorial district and Cross River at large.” He pledged.

It will be recalled that former Sen. Rose Oko, representing Cross River North Senatorial District of Cross River is dead in March 2020 and election need to be conducted to elect a new representative.

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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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