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FG To Adopt Camping System to Nuture Skills Starlets into Olympians

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Joel Ajayi

The federal government has reaffirmed that,  the goals and objectives of the National Youth  Games and others event is to discover and  develop  young athletes into podium performances  at  future competitive both locally and internationally.

Based on this quest, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development under the able leadership of Honourable Minister Mr Sunday Dare has disclosed that the ministry will introduce the Camping System to nuture the skills of our under- 15 Athletes to attain our national aspirations for Youth and Sports Development.
Mr Sunday Dare gave this policy direction at a media interactive session at the  University of ILorin venue of the  ongoing 5th Edition of the National Youth Games.

While pouring encomiums on the Philosophy and vision  behind the National Youth Games, Mr Dare opined that the Games is a rennaisance of real grassroots sports development in the country, adding, it is the deliberate  plan of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to turn over the discovered talents of the Games to the Federations for subsequent and proper management through the Camping System.

Recalling the earlier meeting he had with the  State  Directors of Sports last week Monday,  the Minister praised their collaborative efforts, stressing that without them, the Games would not have been possible.

On this note, Mr Dare in line with the Federal Government’s avowed policy of taking Youth and Sports Development to a transformative level, proclaimed that he would have another productive interactive meeting with the State Directors of Sports, to know their challenges , and thereafter: he said ” Together, we can learn to take it as raw material to all the Governors”. He promised to present their recommendations on how to improve grassroot sport development to the National Economic Council on their behalf as the Federal Minister of Youth and Sports Development.

Also, Mr Dare said that the Ministry will in collaboration with the States strive to improve  the capacity of Athletic Coaches through enhanced capacity building programme to achieve our vision and objective  for high  performance in Athletics generally.

In the course of acknowledging the state and condition  of facilities in our   Stadia across the country, the  Minister reaffirmed that the administration of Presidential Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, is committed to increase the ante for effective management and upgrade of  facilities in our Stadia.

Present at the interactive session with the Media were the Director of Grassroot Sports Department of the Ministry, Dr Ademola Are;  Director of Sports, Kwara State; Deputy Directors of the Ministry,  Presidents of Federations and their Secretaries, Coaches from the States, Game Officials,  and our Sports Icons , Ambassadors Mary Onyali and Falilat Ogunkoya; including some  Under – 15 Athletes from different States.

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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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