Featured

CSOs Throw Weight Behind Pinnick’s CAF Presidency Ambition

Published

4 years ago

October 14, 2020

…Commence fundraise to support the campaign

Joel Ajayi

A coalition of 87 civil society organizations known as Civil Society Network for Good Governance working in diverse thematic areas to advocate for delivering of public goods and services to the Nigerian populace have thrown their weight behind the president of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Mr. Amaju Pinnick’s ambition to run for Confederation of African Football, CAF, presidency come March 2021.

To this end, the coalition has equally vowed to embark on a fundraising drive to support the campaign of Amaju Pinnick for the CAF Presidency.

The group, in a world press conference on the state of the nation: Football Management and National Interest, Wednesday, October 14, in Abuja expressed that conspiracy against Nigerian football will meet resistance from citizens.

Speaking at the conference, the president of the Civil Society Network for Good Governance, Barrister Adefila Kamal, appealed to some unpatriotic elements to derail from their plan against Nigeria’s interests or they face the wrath of Nigerian.

According to him, this briefing is aimed at declaring their resolve to back the candidature of the NFF President for the continental’s top sports job, calling on all Nigerians to unite around this patriotic cause.

“We have noticed a worrying trend of excluding Nigerians from leadership positions in African multilateral organizations and in the world indeed. Even more worrying is the fact that Nigerians have been recruited to be a part of this dangerous conspiracy.

We were all witnesses to the opposition to Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina’s Presidency of the African Development Bank, in the quest to prevent him from securing a second term in an office he was duly qualified to occupy and which he has delivered unprecedented reforms and achievements. The travails of our own Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in her bid for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organization are also still fresh in mind as well as the attempts by some sister African countries and their agents to derail that quest.

“It appears that Africa is trying to tell Nigeria that, despite being big and having no history of exerting her will unduly on other countries, Nigerians cannot aspire to play at the highest levels in the decision making institutions.

“Today a very well qualified Nigerian (Amaju Pinnick) has an opportunity to become President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), a position never before occupied by a Nigerian despite Nigeria being a footballing giant even at the world stage and being the only country that participates in all FIFA & CAF competitions for all age groups and genders.

“The Pinnick led board has made unprecedented strides in making Nigerian football the beautiful bride it ought to have been all these years, attracting sponsorship and partnership suitors on a scale never before seen in football management in Nigeria.

“Nigeria can ill afford to have a group of “has-been” and “wanna-be” football leaders derail this progress and return football to the era of sole dependence on government funding, considering the fact that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking to diversify our economy and strengthen the revenue base of Nigeria.”

Adefila while itemizing the group resolution said; “87 member organizations of the Network shall be embarking on a fundraising drive to support the campaign of Amaju Pinnick for CAF Presidency, as we shall be doing for other suitably qualified Nigerians for international offices.

“Following the declarations of courts of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria, the continued persecution of the institution and leadership of the NFF is born out of malice and as consumers of the final product of football, we shall be taking these faceless cowards on inappropriate courts of law.

“The conspiracy against Nigerian football will be met with vigilance and confronted where malice is found to be a driving force behind the perpetrators.”

However, CSO then called on some unpatriotic elements trying to pull the country down to retrace their steps for the growth and development of football in the country: “We urge those who have been casting aspersions on the NFF, under the leadership of Amaju Pinnick, to retrace their steps and unite around national interests for the strengthening of that institution for sustainability over the long term.”

Speaking further, Bar. Adefila equally regretted how Amaju Melvin Pinnick led the board of the NFF has consistently been confronted with challenges ever since it came on stream from court cases questioning their legitimacy to series of spurious petitions alleging corruption which ordinarily ought to derail less determined or less patriotic people.

“NFF has in the last 20years been bedeviled with series of crises over the leadership that culminated in a number of leadership changes, with threats by the international body to ban the country on a number of occasions

“To date, the cabal that has been going around casting aspersions on the person of Amaju Pinnick, and spreading blatant falsehoods against the board and management of the NFF has never been able to present undeniable proof of their claims and yet they continue to throw stones at the very glass house they seek to occupy.

“Their scorch earth tactics have done enough damage and it is time they explore the legal means of getting the leadership of that institution, so as to preserve its integrity and sustain it on the path of development that Pinnick and his team have set it on.” The group said.

Share on Facebook

Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

1 week 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.

Share on Facebook