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Humanitarian Ministry To Institutionalize Zero Hunger Round Table

Joel Ajayi
Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has revealed that the ministry will institutionalize the Zero Hunger Round Table.
The Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq made this known at the National Food Security Council Meeting held on Thursday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
In her presentation, Hajiya Sadiya stated that the initiative is being institutionalized as part of the Ministry’s response to the challenge of hunger, aggravated by the lockdown with focus on eliminating hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture by 2030 with relevant stakeholders.
According to her, this Ministry provides shock responsive social safety nets through immediate food relief and long term sustainability through the Zero Hunger.
“As part of the mandate of the Ministry to ensure strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness and response, the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIPs) complemented the mandate of the Ministry as delivery mechanisms to provide social interventions including food relief to targeted poor and vulnerable groups across the country,” the Minister said.
Hajiya Umar Farouq recalled that the modified National Home Grown School Feeding Programme and Take Home Rations (THRs) were provided for 127,589 vulnerable households during the lockdown with children in primaries 1 to 3 in public schools in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun states while 164 trucks of food items were also distributed to 36 states and the F.C.T. as palliatives through donations from the Nigerian Customs Service.
“As of today, over 41,000 metric tons of grains from the Strategic Grains Reserves expected to reach over 5 million households have been handed over to 19 State governments and the FCT. Distribution is ongoing through NEMA based on the presidential directive”.
The Minister stated that the Zero Hunger Roundtable is working in agreement with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and some top private sector executives like Tony Elumelu, Tonye Cole as well as Sahel Consulting, IFPRI, IITA, NESG, FAO, IMMAP, ECOWAS and others.
She enumerated data of Poor and Vulnerable Households, strategic partnerships, job creation and impacting the agricultural the sector as well as strengthening the food value chain by connecting farmers to markets, increased local production of nutritious food, strengthening strategic food reserves with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other critical stakeholders as long -term sustainability strategies to achieving Zero Hunger in Nigeria.
The Zero Hunger Roundtable was convened by the Minister on May 5, 2020, in conjunction with the World Food Programme to bridge the gaps in resources and pave new collaborations for lasting and sustainable change and progress
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.
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