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CSO Issues Ultimatum to NPA, Agura Hotel Abuja to Compensate H & H For Properties Destroyed by Fire

Published

6 years ago

April 10, 2019

CSO Issues Ultimatum to NPA, Agura Hotel Abuja to Compensate H & H For Properties Destroyed by Fire

The Empowerment for Unemployed Youths Initiative (EUYI) in collaboration with other sister civil society organizations in a press statement made available to the media by the spokesman Comrade Solomon Adodo on Tuesday 9th of April, 2019, called on the Nigerian Ports Authority and management of Agura Hotel, Abuja, issued seven days ultimatum to compensate the management of H & H Integrated Services Limited after its building within the hotel was engulfed by flames in February 2019.

The Initiative, through this medium, calls on the hotel’s management to recall that it entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with H & H Integrated Services Limited, – a company wholly owned by Comr. Humphrey Onyima, the publisher/CEO of Leadership Scorecard magazine, a member of the EUYI.

Without question, it is on record that Comr. Onyima had, through so much toil and strain, established a business, selling snacks and other FMCG while utilizing the same property as his personal office. Records further attest that aside the space provided; Onyima had to construct the said structure which housed his investments and this with the approval of Agura Hotel, at personal cost to himself. We were thus elated when his business took off in January 2018.

While we still rejoiced with him, we received with shock the mind-numbing news that his business structure, investments and properties within Agura hotel premises were gutted by fire, with nothing salvaged. We are further pained that the response of the security and emergency teams was slow and, at best; hence, the fire could not be stopped; an action that put not just the hotel but the lives of its guests in danger.

We are further made aware that, in accordance with the terms specified in the MoU signed by both parties, aside the rent rate of Six Hundred Thousand Naira (600,000.00) per annum, H & H was obliged to a monthly service charge of ten thousand naira (N10,000) which, ordinarily, should cater for such ancillary needs as security and emergency response. Howbeit, we are left perplexed as to why Agura Hotel’s team was unable to rally to save H & H property while it burned.

Information available to us shows that H & H had suspended its operations for sometime, owing to the fact that electricity supply to its business premises was disconnected by Agura Hotel. As at the time of the fire, no staff of H & H was around and the hotel management failed to even notify H & H prior to the reconnection of the structure to power supply which ostensibly led to the fire incidence.

On the heels of this and in consideration of the fact that no measures of respite were put in place for H & H, we herein call on the management of Agura Hotel to expedite measures for the compensation of H & H over the loss incurred as a result of negligence displayed by the management of Agura Hotels.

In addition, we have gathered that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has taking over the management of Agura Hotel prior to the time of entering contract with H & H, thus, making the D.G NPA the Chairman of the said Agura Hotel; we hereby humbly appeal that this measure of resolution be emplaced within seven (7) days of this notice.

Failure to do this would communicate to us that the management of Agura Hotel have only chosen to victimize a hitherto unemployed youth who sought a legitimate means to earn a living and, as such, we shall be left with no other option but to resume protests within Agura Hotel premises in Abuja

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

3 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

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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