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NAFDAC supports 300 coys in Kano with waivers, others as palliatives

The National Agency For Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on Monday disclosed that it provided support to 300 enterprises in Kano State, under its COVID-19 palliative, to mitigate effects of the pandemic on businesses.
The State Coordinator of the Agency, Mr. Shaba Mohammed, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Kano on Wednesday.
Mohammed said the Agency had rolled out palliatives to support Small Medium and Small Scale Enterprises (SMEs) products, to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their operations.
He said part of the palliative was the granting of the waiver on registration fees, to enable the companies to maintain smooth operations in the face of economic disruption, occasioned by the pandemic.
Mohammed said: “We gave them 80 percent discount; what they need to pay is only 20 percent of what they are supposed to pay, if they were paying N100, 000 for instance, it means that they will now pay N20, 000, and go through the normal process.
“In addition; established cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies were given “Express Approval” for the production of hand sanitizers. Since its composition is alcohol and some other ingredients, they were given NAFDAC Registration numbers.
“We have 15 companies that are enjoying the facility in Kano State and those coming up are also being inspected, and some of them have gotten their numbers.”
The Coordinator said that the Agency also organized the companies and facilitated a donation of the hand sanitizers and other items to the state government, to curb further spread of the virus.
According to him, the Agency is also sensitizing bakers to encourage the use of local ingredients in bread processing, to guard against hike in prices of the commodity.
“The use of local alternatives is on the front burner for the past 10-years, particularly cassava, which has been promoted by the previous administrations, it has been tested for now.
“We have bread `improvers’ which are cheaper than some of the ingredients they use, we also tell the bakers when they come to register their products.
“I think it would not impact on the increase in price because the materials are locally sourced and cheap.”
Mohammed added that the Agency, in collaboration with the state government, security agencies, and other stakeholders, recorded modest achievements in its campaign against drug abuse in the state.
He added that the Agency had destroyed fake and counterfeit products worth over N3.2 billion in the past two years in the state.
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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