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Minister charges youth to take advantage of 3-days Entrepreneurship training.

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My heart radiates with happiness to see the number of participants under the various youth groups in Ogbomoso and environs that have turned up here today to take part in this capacity building. It is a testimony to the fact that there is a yearning among our youth to upskill themselves when the opportunity is presented to them. Furthermore, the number of participants here is an indication that the youth realize they need to acquire the added advantage, which is the additional skills, different from their original courses of study, to thrive in a world that has become increasingly more digital, entrepreneurship oriented and competitive.

It is in response to these realities that the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, which I oversee, has introduced the DEEL initiative, which is Digital Skills acquisition, Internship, Employability, and Leadership. Youth from across the country are already benefitting from pieces of a training run in conjunction with partners like IMB, Microsoft, and Google.

The Federal Government has taken the additional step of equipping youth to start and own their own businesses with the establishment of the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF). It is a ringfenced N75 billion naira for bankable youth ideas and businesses at a 5% interest rate with a moratorium of up to 12 months.

It is my desire to see the youth here in Ogbomoso, in Oyo state, and all over Nigeria key into these initiatives and turn themselves into employers of labor, wealth creators, and entrepreneurs. I, therefore, want you to take advantage of this three-day training to join those that will grow Nigeria’s economy to an enviable position in the years ahead.

I urge you to listen and learn for the duration of the training and thereafter. Use this crucial training as a launchpad that will ensure that you are able to set up small scale enterprise that can grow and expand into world brands.

No man that doesn’t have a story, the story of some of you have begun today in terms of owning your personal small scale business. That is why we are urging you to try and take the opportunities that have been brought to your doorsteps seriously. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a step.

You have already taken the bold steps already to have come and participated in this capacity building. I said this because some youth are still out there who doubt that this program is not true. They didn’t come to participate not because they are not interested but because they fail to believe in the reality of life.

It is my priority as the Minister of Youth development in this country to ensure that we empower the youth and equip you with the necessary facilities that would bring about betterment to your future.

This is one of the reasons why we have set up this program. And the first sets of youth to benefit from this program are the youth of this ancient city of Ogbomoso.

While wishing you a fruitful and successful training ahead, I wish to urge you all once again to take advantage of this important training. I know you are intelligent, I know you are innovative and hardworking, you are just waiting for this opportunity to come and the opportunity is right before you, kindly take advantage of it. It is my dream that you all would excel in the field you have chosen in this 3-days capacity building program, either in the Fishery, Piggery, or the confectionaries. I am very optimistic that some of you will start telling your stories of your journey to stardom soon.
Thank you all.

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Business

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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