Featured
NFF Set To Support League Clubs For Next Season’s Campaign-Pinnick
Joel Ajayi
The Nigeria Football Federation will provide support for Clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and the Nigeria Nationwide League for next season’s football campaign, as a result of challenges that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic, says the Federation’s President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick.
During a live session on NFF’s official Instagram page on Thursday, Pinnick said the NFF is at the moment expecting a total sum of $1million from world football-governing body, FIFA, and another $500,000 from the African confederation, CAF. “We would take from these various monies and add also from monies that we are expecting from our corporate partners, and see what we can give to each of the Clubs in these four cadres.
“This financial support is for them to get their campaigns off the ground for the new season that we have set for September/October, depending on what signals we get from the Federal Government, through the Presidential Task Force on the COVID-19 and other relevant organs. We are also going to support the league organizing bodies financially.” Although he added that the football body has written to the Government to also support the cause, he admitted that the Government is presently burdened by so many challenges wrought by the COVID-19 and it could be a tall order.
On the issue of the Points-Per-Game (PPG) formula adopted to bring the beleaguered 2019/2020 Season to a close, the NFF supremo reiterated that it was the decision of the vast majority of the Clubs in the NPFL, which was also subjected to careful analyses and consultations.
“We did not just sit down and make a decision; we consulted widely even after the Clubs opted for PPG following the work of the NFF Football Committee. The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development was also brought into the picture.”
Pinnick assured that the NFF would prioritize, for now, the qualification of the U17 and U20 women national teams for their various FIFA World Cup competitions, as well as getting top-grade friendly matches for the Super Eagles and the Super Falcons.
“CAF has written to inform us that the qualifiers for the U17 and U20 FIFA Women World Cups will hold in September and October. We are determined to prepare our girls well to qualify for both championships. At the same time, we are working assiduously to see that the Super Eagles and Super Falcons get quality opponents for friendly matches within the next few months. For the Super Eagles, we have an African team and a South American team on the cards.
“First and foremost, we have to get the Super Falcons a Head Coach of the highest quality possible. We are working on that, as our consultants are already on it, and also working on the appointment of coaches for some other National Teams. On our part, we have ring-fenced a sum of money to pay the Head Coach of the Super Falcons for a number of years to come, so that challenge is taken care of.”
On the issue of continuous trailing of players of dual nationality with a view to getting them to represent Nigeria, Pinnick stated clearly that only players with the keen interest and resolve would be encouraged, as Nigeria would not beg any player to represent her. “It is about ardour and fervour. If a player has decided for Nigeria and only want to be assured that he would be much welcome, we will come in and provide that assurance.”
Pinnick said this year’s NFF/Zenith Bank Future Eagles Championship, which was already at the zonal stage before the disruption occasioned by COVID-19, would have to start all over again. “We have no choice. It is a programme so close to our hearts, knowing that it serves the important purpose of providing true youngsters for the National Teams. The pandemic has disrupted and certainly, some of the players would no longer be of the age that they were before the disruption. So, we have to start all over again.”
On a final note, the NFF President appealed to the media and other stakeholders of the game to shun the allure of negative sensation, with some misguided and mischievous members of the football family always bandying around fictitious and outlandish figures as having been misappropriated by the football body.
“I keep saying that you may not like Amaju Pinnick, but the bigger picture is Nigerian Football and its future. Negative stories about the game have a damaging impact on the brand and even when Pinnick leaves, the problem of the damaged brand will still be there.
“Those of us at the helm of the NFF presently are there because we have the passion to develop the game, do things differently, and take the Nigeria game to new heights. We came into office and brought gilt-edged corporations like PriceWaterHouseCoopers and Financial Derivatives Company on board because we are totally committed to transparency and accountability. There are legitimate claims that we forgo simply because we did not come into the Federation for the money. I appeal to everyone to consider the interests of Nigeria football and continue to shun the purveyors of half-truths and outright fiction.”
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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