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My Mantra Has Always Been to Give Sports and Youth Same Attention – Hon. Sunday Dare

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Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Hon. Sunday Dare has stated that his administration will continue to pay attention of the affairs of the country’s youth in equal measure as it gives to sports in Nigeria.

Since the start of his tenure, Hon. Sunday Dare has initiated several programmes and schemes to support the dreams and aspirations of youth in Nigeria, recognizing that the youth remains the livewire of the country.

Dare said “when I assumed office, I realized that there was a gap that needed to be filled in the level of attention given to the youth in relation to sports. We had to develop a template for youth development and we swung into action”.

“We secured funds in the tune of 75 Billion Naira with approval from the Federal Government for the disbursement of 25 Billion Naira per year for the National Youth Investment Fund (NYIF). Over 3,000 youth across the country have benefitted from this scheme and disbursement is still ongoing and it is all in a bid to help provide an entrepreneurship base for our young, vibrant population. The concept behind the building of an entrepreneurial spirit was to facilitate economic prosperity amongst that age bracket.”

Working towards wealth creation, we leveraged on ICT to further build our digital economic profile, through the organizing of marketable digital skills programmes. We went on to put up scholarship schemes, as well.”

One of the achievements of Sunday Dare as the Youth Minister was the organizing and staging of the country’s first ever National Youth Convention, which was held in Abuja. It was a platform that brought the youth from all over Nigeria to one room and brainstorm on issue that concerned the population. The opportunity gave the youth a vista into their role as the future of the country and the need for youth participation in leadership.

On the area of employment, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development responded to the employment gap in the country by developing the National Youth Policy (NYP), Nigerian Youth Employment Action Plan (NIYEAP), as well as the National Youth Employment Template and the DEEL initiative.
Speaking on the acronym FEEL, which means, Digital Employability Entrepreneurship and Leadership, Sunday Dare said “the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development under my watch launched DEEL to give Nigerian youth a comparative advantage and a competitive edge in the global employment demand and supply”.

The DEEL initiative has equipped 200,000 youth with digital skills – basic, intermediate and advanced skills in areas such as Web design and management, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing etc. Nigeria’s e-commerce spending stands at $12b and is projected to reach $75b in 3 years.

The Ministry working closely with the Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari increased the monthly allowance of Corps Member under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from 19,800 Naira to 33,000 Naira.

Bi-lateral relationships have been signed in the area of youth development for the benefits of the Nigerian youth with countries like South Africa, Spain, Rwanda, Portugal. Japan, Turkey etc. These relationships have opened the doors of opportunities for Nigerian youths in different sectors such as tech, education, arts, entertainment, sports etc.
Within the country MoUs have been signed with organizations such as Google, Konga and a host of others all in a bid to open more doors for the youth.

Conclusively, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has pledged its commitment to youth development-focused initiatives, so as to fully harness the potentials of the youth towards achieving rapid socio-economic growth.

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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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