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NYSC To Sanction Institutions Involved in Fraudulent Mobilization Process

Published

3 years ago

May 10, 2022

By Joel Ajayi

The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, Major General Shuaibu Ibrahim has disclosed that the Scheme is now determined more than ever before to plug all the loopholes and prosecute anyone found complicit in the mobilisation of unqualified graduates for national service.

He stated this today during the maiden meeting of NYSC Management with Registrars of Corps Producing Institutions in Nigeria held in Abuja.

He said the meeting with the theme; “Appreciating the Role of Registrars as Fulcrum in the Mobilisation Process”, was conveyed to seek ways of eliminating flaws in the NYSC Mobilisation process.

“Gaps have already been identified with a number of resolutions reached on how to eradicate recurrent challenges, but implementation has remained elusive.

In schools where Registrars have abdicated their roles to subordinate officers, we have seen various forms of abuses and shortfalls.

This has given rise to occasional mobilisation of unqualified persons, many of whom have been detected by NYSC field officers”, he said.

General Ibrahim stated further that the meeting was part of enlightenment for the key officers to rise up to their responsibilities adding that ignorance is a stranger to the law.

The DG said that the establishment of NYSC Radio and Television Stations was part of the Scheme’s plan to give more enlightenment on NYSC issues including penalties and offences that attracts jail term, while the stations would also be used to disclose the identity of offenders after being declared guilty by the court.

He appealed to Nigerians to support the establishment of NYSC Trust Fund which has enjoyed tremendous goodwill of both the green and red chambers of the National Assembly.

He said upon actualization, NYSC media outfits would transparently show Nigerians the benefits and impacts of the on fund youth development.

In her introductory address, the Director, NYSC Corps Mobilisation Department, Mrs Victoria Ango said the mobilisation exercise was a joint function which must be free from all forms of defects to guarrantee the desired outcome.

She added that the desire of the Management to engage the Registrars of Corps Producing Institutions became manifest when most institutions, both local and foreign, sent people to NYSC programmes with little or no stake in the managerial interest of the schools.

“Such representatives have often been vulnerable to little temptations and perks of office which translate to seriius abuses”, Ango said.

The Special Guest of Honour at the meeting, the FCT Minister, Alhaji Muhammed Musa Bello, who was represented by the Mandate Secretary/Chairman, NYSC FCT Governing Board, Hajiya Hadiza M. Kabir said that the credibility of the NYSC Mobilisation process was crucial to the deployment of Corps Members into all sectors of the economy, which invariably translated to quality service delivery delivery for national development.

There were goodwill messages from the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) Prof Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, the Chairman, NYSC National Governing Board, Ambassador Fati Bala Abubakar, who was represented by Hajiya Binta Muazu.

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

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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