Connect with us

Featured

Do Your Work Or Be Kick Out FCT Minister Warn Staff

Published

on

…Promises to focus on the provision of fund for SDAs

Joel Ajayi

The Minister, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has admonished staff and management of the FCT Administration to live up expectation toward discharging their duties or be shown way out.

Malam Bello gave the warning Monday, in Abuja when he received hand-over notes from the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa assured that his second term will not be wasted in cajoling staff to do their duties.

According to him, every agency will be expected to do its work and every head of the agency will be held responsible and accountable and this time around.

“I will not be cajoling, lobbying, and pushing you, begging you to do your work. Anybody that does his work will be part of the team and anyone that does not do his or her work will be kicked out”.

He also said attention will be placed on proper information dissemination which he said was inadequate in his first tenure.

Minister also said ministry will need to monitor all Secretariats, Departments, and Agencies (SDAs), saying that every Minister has targets to achieve and all heads of SDAs must do their part to ensure that those targets were achieved within stated timeframes.

He also said that he will focus on the provision of funding for the successful execution of projects that have direct bearing to the upliftment of residents of the territory and the development of the nation’s capital.

The Minister, who said he was humbled by his reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari, said he will ensure that all (SDAs) get the necessary funds to carry out their duties effectively, adding that every head of SDA must be alive to their responsibilities or be kicked out.

He stressed that “There is going to be enforcement of extant rules and regulations and this is going to cut across boards, including in the SDAs, Area Councils and traditional institutions in the FCT”.

Earlier in his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa expressed the delight of the entire staff of the FCTA over the re-appointment of Malam Bello as FCT Minister and the appointment of Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu as Minister of State.

While highlighting issues that were still on-going and in public domain in the last three months, the Permanent secretary assured the Minister that all SDAs have been alive to their duties and have given the maximum cooperation and support required for the administration to function effectively.

The Permanent Secretary also pledged the cooperation and support of the entire staff of the FCTA for both Ministers to achieve their mandate of taking the FCT to the next level.

 

 

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

Trending

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)