Featured
NYSC DG Applauds UCH Management For Donating Clinic To Oyo Camp
….seeks replication in other states
Joel Ajayi
The Director General of National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier Gen
He said the clinic with sophisticated medical equipment would enhance the quality of healthcare services made available for the Corps Members, camp officials including residents of the host community.
He gave the commendation on Thursday during his working visit to NYSC Oyo State Orientation Camp in Iseyin.
He however appealed that such magnanimity should be replicated in other Orientation Camps across the country, adding that there is the need to provide conducive environment for all Corps Members wherever they are deployed to in order to contribute their quota to national development.
Fadah appealed to corporate organisations, well-meaning individuals and non-governmental organisations to emulate the gesture.
‘This is a laudable project and l commend the Management of UCH for this gesture. Meanwhile l am appealing to other organisations and corporate bodies to support the NYSC and emulate this. We need more of this in our Orientation Camps”, he said.
While addressing the Corps Members, Brigadier General Fadah urged them to be of good behaviour and serve their fatherland as good role models that can be emulated.
He also advised them to study their host communities after leaving the Orientation Camp and provide projects that would affect their lives positively which would also serve as good legacies after their service year.
“I urge you to abide by the rules and regulations of the Scheme and be of good behaviour.
NYSC would not condone any act of indiscipline, like cybercrime, cultism, hooliganism and other social vices, General Fadah said”.
The NYSC Oyo State Coordinator, Mrs Grace Ogbuogebe lauded the Oyo State Government for assisting the Scheme in the State.
She said the state of the art clinic that was donated by the UCH is fully stocked with drugs while it operates a 24 hour service with certified medical personnel from the donor hospital assisted by Corps medics and paramedics.
The Coordinator added that, “a total of 1,603 Corps Members comprising 498 males and 1,105 females deployed to Oyo State have been registered while their counterparts dislodged from Lagos State are 315 males and 392 females giving a total of 707, and the grand total of all Corps Members registered on Camp is 2,305”.
Also while addressing Corps Members in Ogun State Orientation Camp, Shagamu, Brigadier General Muhammad Fadah advised them to shun partisan politics, but strive to add value to themselves and be conscious of their security.
The NYSC Ogun State Coordinator, Mrs Winifred Shopeka stated that the Camp clinic is being manned by medical personnel from Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in Shagamu, which is also the Healthcare Provider for the camp.
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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