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Solidarity Rally: CSOs hail Buhari, Emefiele – demand arrest of BDC operators

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Members of All Civil Society Groups led by Coalition of Civil Society Groups gave thumbs up to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, for ensuring that Nigeria’s economy continue to survive despite the unstable low price of crude oil in the International Market, Covid-19 pandemic and the multifaceted insecurity challenges facing the country.

The group praised the government and gave testimonial of achievements of the present government.

The Coalition of CSO stated this on Wednesday, in Abuja, in a mega solidarity rally held at the popular Unity fountain, in support of President Buhari and CBN Governor Emefiele in their effort to stabilize Nigeria’s economy.

Addressing the Journalists at the rally, the President of group, Etuk Bassey Williams, said the numerous achievements by the Government under the leadership of President Buhari cannot be possible without the support of the able lieutenants appointed to head the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the able leadership of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who has made efforts to turn around the negative indices of the economy as a result of good policies.

He said: “We applaud the recorded achievements in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the small Farm holders. We also appreciate his effort towards assisting our industries to meet up with international standards in the quality of goods produced for export.

“Today, many Nigerians have benefited from wonderful policies of the CBN such as the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP), Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS), the Agri-business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS). These policies have impacted positively the lives of many Nigerians. Jobs have been created and millions of Nigerians are happy and grateful.

“The Anchor Borrowers Programme that has increased yield per hectare and food security in the country is also a plus to the CBN. This policy, among others, is in support of the drive by the Government to diversify the economy and stimulate growth in the agriculture sector.

“It is without doubt that the effort of CBN in ensuring protection of Bank customers, effective supervision of Deposit Money Banks and Other Financial Institutions; and deepening of financial inclusion through an effective banking and payments system in recent times has yielded positive results.

” CBN Governor Emefiele’s support for the Creative Industries through the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI), which is being implemented in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, is a huge boost in the Creative Industry.”

The group expressed displeasure over some enemies of progress whose work is to sabotage the economy of Nigeria: “We frown at the economic sabotage going on in the Forex market. We condemn a situation where the disparity between the official banks exchange rates for dollar/naira will be too high, thereby creating inflation.

” We applaud the sincere effort to salvage the naira and the CBN stop of sales of Forealex to Bureau De Change (BDC) Operators who exploit and artificially inflate dollar/naira exchange. We applaud this move to discourage illicit financial flow, BDC racketeering and indiscriminate round tripping.

“We hereby call on the Governor to suspend the activities of the BDC operators in totality and supply money to the commercial banks

” We also demand that a monitoring committee that comprises of EFCC, CBN and NFIU be set up to check and arrest BDC operators who go to the Banks to buy off Dollars using fake application.

” Also, we applaud the CBN introduction of e-naira, we are confident that this policy will stimulate economic activities that will result into job and wealth creation.

” Based on the recorded achievements listed above, we thus call for more support to the leadership of the country and the leadership of CBN.”

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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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