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Misplace Of Priority FG Budgets $12m to Monitor WhatsApp, Others

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Nigeria’s federal government has earmarked N4.8 billion for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to monitor WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging application, and Thuraya, a satellite telephone.

The provision seen by an online newspaper, TheCable, is contained in the supplementary 2021 budget passed by the National Assembly.

This is coming as the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has advised the 36 state Houses of Assembly not to cow minority leaders in their midst.

The National Assembly had approved the sum of N982 billion as the supplementary budget for 2021. While N123 billion was approved for recurrent expenditure, N895 billion was earmarked for capital expenditure.

The budget is meant to boost military operations and to facilitate the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine.

The line items of the budget showed that police “commands and formation” got N33.6 billion for some projects, including the fumigation of 19 training institutes at N200 million.

While N936 million was earmarked for the police to buy uniform and kits, N910 million was voted for allowances and salaries of trainees.

Under the Ministry of Defence, N1.6 billion was set aside for an “additional 2,700 troops.” The army also got N675 million for operation allowance for the troops.

The Nigeria Air Force got N239 billion, of which N266 million was budgeted for small arms and ammunition, N1.5 billion for upgrade of barracks “through direct labour” and N84 billion for the payment of “defence equipment.”

The Department of State Services (DSS) got N17.5 billion for the purchase of vehicles, arms and upgrading of its six training institutes nationwide, among other line items.

Under health, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) got N1.6 billion for a “treatment programme.”

While N20.6 billion was voted for the “delivery” of vaccines to every ward/primary health centre, N60.7 billion was earmarked for the purchase of COVID vaccines.

The sum of N6.7 billion was earmarked for the procurement and installation of oxygen plants nationwide.

Meanwhile, Abaribe has cautioned the 36 state Houses of Assembly against suppressing and intimidating opposition voices.

Abaribe, in a statement yesterday, expressed concern at recent happenings in some state legislatures in the country, where minority leaders and opposition party members are hounded as perceived enemies in the performance of their statutory functions to oversight the executive.

Most worrisome, according to Abaribe, was the recent incident in Imo State House of Assembly, where the Minority Leader, Hon. Anyadike Nwosu, and some other members were suspended without following due process.

He added that the beauty of democracy is in the checks and balances, accommodation of all shades of opinion and allowing free canvassing of viewpoints in the constitution.

He said: “Democracy does not stop at the national level. It must permeate all levels of government, that is, wards, local governments, state and other democratic institutions. In all of these, everybody must enjoy the freedom of expression and association as guaranteed by our constitution.

“So, it is undemocratic and smirks of dictatorship, any attempt by anybody, particularly a parliament for that matter to abhor minority functions and stifle opposition voices, just because you want to pander to executive whims. It is reprehensible to even contemplate suspension of a minority leader because he questions the executive on things that seems to be antithetical to democratic norms”.

Abaribe advised the state legislatures to always see every party represented on the floor as partners in progress, whose viewpoints are all geared towards achieving good governance.

“Without dissenting opinions, democracy loses its kernel. The essence of liberal democracy is the accommodation of different viewpoints, which is war

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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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