Featured
How Nigeria Can Maximise e-government – Huawei

The Global Chief Public Services Industry Scientist, Enterprise Business Group of Huawei Technologies Co Limited, Mr Hong-Eng Koh, has said that the idea of eGovernance was to satisfy the unwilling customers.
Koh made the submission at the Nigeria eGovernment Summit 2021 in Lagos themed ‘eGovernment Adoption in Nigeria: Opportunities and Challenges’.
“Basically, eGovernment is to make the unwilling citizens willing,” Koh said, stressing the need for Nigeria to centralise government portal to achieve eGovernment.
While everyone is connecting to it for many different reasons, since 20 years ago that the Internet became pervasive, he said security threats and the waves of money were good reasons, but that being user-centric was the most important reason.
“What do I mean by user-centric? If you open a restaurant, when it is not user-centric, you would have to go to many departments: fire safety, registration of business name, environment history and others.
“All of us sitting here, whether Singapore or Nigeria, are all customers of the government,” Koh, known for evangelising collaborative eGovernment, said.
To achieve eGovernment, he explained, Nigeria needs a single portal, as eGovernment satisfies unwilling customers, and not just dreaming on wide imaginations without bringing it to pass.
Koh noted the United Nations’ standard on the stages of eGovernment to include having an Internet, enhancing eGovernment, interacting online, being transactional and citizen-centric, as well as collaborating to make unwilling customers willing.
“You need collaborations between the governments, privates and the citizens,” he emphasised.
Explaining that every government transaction is a means to an end, he said, “With digital transformation, the government can connect the means to an end.”
While emphasising on how eGovernment works in Singapore, Koh said there were many things Nigeria needed to do to transform eGovernment.
“You guys are all experts and professionals in your field. You must think of your own vision. You must think of your own services, how to make your unwilling customers to be willing,” Koh said.
He noted that digital transformation was not just about going online.
“It is not just improving Return on Investment; you have to do more. You have to redefine your vision. You have to redefine your organisations. To do that, you have to satisfy unwilling customers and improve the efficiency of current solutions.
“Data transformation is all about people, location, object, events and organisations. Most projects fail, not because of planning but people,” he said.
Noting that Huawei’s technology can support the Nigerian eGovernment drive, he added, “Technology is only a small part of any transformation. You need people to serve the people. You must be willing to drive change.”
The event was attended by stakeholders from different sectors, including the Nigerian Communications Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service, States Internal Revenue Services, Lagos State Government, Association of Licensed Operators of Nigeria, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria, National Information Technology Development Agency, Information Communications Technology companies and other agencies of government
Business
Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

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.
-
Featured6 years ago
Lampard Names New Chelsea Manager
-
Featured5 years ago
FG To Extends Lockdown In FCT, Lagos Ogun states For 7days
-
Featured6 years ago
NYSC Dismisses Report Of DG’s Plan To Islamize Benue Orientation Camp
-
Featured5 years ago
Children Custody: Court Adjourns Mike Ezuruonye, Wife’s Case To April 7
-
Featured3 years ago
Transfer Saga: How Mikel Obi Refused to compensate me After I Linked Him Worth $4m Deal In Kuwait SC – Okafor
-
Sports2 years ago
TINUBU LAMBAST DELE MOMODU
-
News3 months ago
Zulu to Super Eagles B team, President Tinubu is happy with you
-
Featured5 years ago
Board urges FG to establish one-stop rehabilitation centres in 6 geopolitical zones