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ITF Boss, Joseph Ari, Bags traditional title, wins multiple awards

Published

2 years ago

January 3, 2023

Joel Ajayi

The Director General and Chief Executive of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, Miskoom Joseph Ari, was on Saturday, December 31, 2022 honoured with a chieftaincy title of the Kurnajam (Minister of Defence) of Gamai land by Long Gamai of Gamai Nation, HRH Miskoom Martin Muduutrie Shaldas III.

At the prestigious Gamai cultural festival, Bit Gamai 2022, the Long Gamai acknowledged the existence of similar title on the recipient from Kwo Chiefdom, but said Ari deserves more, given his services and contributions to his people and Nigeria in general.

In a similar vein, the ITF boss was confirmed with the LEADERSHIP Public Service Person of the Year 2022 as well as a Fellowship Award by a United Kingdom-based Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSH Association UK) for his outstanding qualities in uplifting the Fund to enviable height.

A citation read in honour of Ari said: “For his home-grown initiatives that expanded existing skills acquisition programmes leading to the training and empowerment, in four years, of over 500,000 Nigerians who are today earning sustainable livelihood as paid employers and entrepreneurs, Sir Joseph Ari is the LEADERSHIP Public Servant of the Year 2022.

“As Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph Ari has made his mark as an outstanding public officeholder. Most remarkable of his achievements is the unveiling of the ITF Reviewed Vision: Strategies for Mandate Actualisation. The plan, which was initially slated to terminate in 2022, was, however, reviewed in 2020 to address gaps identified in the course of its implementation, and to appropriately respond to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on numerous clients.

The plan enabled the ITF to aggressively address service challenges by computerising its operations and tackling infrastructural challenges to expand access to Nigerians desirous of acquiring skills, and generally address a gamut of other structures that were impinging on its ability to effectively discharge its mandate for national economic growth and development and to meet the skills requirement of the nation in line with global best practices”.

Ari was appointed Director- General/chief executive of the Industrial Training Fund in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari, with the mandate to develop a vast pool of skilled manpower sufficient to meet the needs of the public and private sectors of the national economy.

Ari said he believes that until most Nigerians are equipped with competitive technical skills, Nigeria as a nation will continue to fight a losing battle against the blights of poverty and unemployment and their attendant consequences. This belief was inspired by success stories from countries like Japan, Germany, Vietnam, Singapore and Brazil which transformed into industrial power-houses using technical and vocational skills acquisition.

In a related development, Sir Joseph Ntung Ari was voted ‘Plateau Man of the Year 2022’ by Plateau people both within and outside the State.

He emerged first place following his online nomination and voting by members of the general public as monitored and confirmed by the Plateau Man of the Year Awards panel of jury which lasted from the 21st to 31st of December, 2022.

Consequently, this prestigious Award will be presented by the COA Media Group, organizers of the Plateau Man of the Year Awards at a ceremony slated for February 5, 2023 at the Tamarald Event Center, Jos Plateau State.

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

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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