Featured
Rivers Community Gets Free Medicare

The people of Elele town in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State have benefitted from an intense medical programme put together by the Medical Mission For Peace in conjunction with AMERICARES and Elele Health Association.
The programme which was held recently at the Rotimi Amaechi Center for Empowerment ( RACE) Elele, was targeted at providing free healthcare basically for residents of the area who are least likely to afford it.
The medical team which comprises of Physicians, Nurses, Pharmacists, Medical Laboratory Technicians, Medical Assistants and Crowd control Personels treated different degrees of ailments ranging from malaria, typhoid fever, arthritis, diabetes,high blood pressure as well as bacteria infections.
The two days programme which started at 9am to 4pm daily recorded 703 patients with visual problems, among which were children of 6 months old and adults in their nineties, just as patients under the age of 20yrs with high pressures were dilated.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the exercise, Dr. Welekwe Nnamdi, the optometrist said,
“We took intraocular pressures on the sight- saving glaucoma drops. Some of the cases we treated required foreign body removals and dry eyes due to meibomiam duct dysfunctions.
” The youngest patient with glaucoma was 22 yrs old. We had an ‘autorefractor reading of ‘ unable to read’ because, it exceeded the +/-10,00D limit. He was +10-00D in both eyes. We did not have any +10.00D glasses with us but we did have +8.50D with a bifocal.
“We also had a child with severe left eyelid ptosis. We found she had a corneal ulcer for over a week and we started her on a pulse dose of vigamox (antibiotic drop).
” sunglasses were a hit, especially the kids’ sunglasses, because patients under 20 years of age were all dilated. Patients loved receiving a new pair of glasses and were very grateful. The patients faces radiated with palpable joy as each of them had the eyeglasses stuck on their faces, discovering a new world around them”, he said.
While also identifying some challenges associated with the programme such as low workforce, recruitment of volunteers, due to limited geographic area targeted, insufficient drugs and short duration, Dr. Nnamdi said, ” we ran out of drugs and had to make purchases at retail in the open market. We also had to shut down and turn away patients due to short duration”, he said.
On his part, founder, Medical Vision for Peace, Dr. Ogu Emejuru expressed gratitude to AmeriCares for donating the medical supplies and drugs.
He thanked CHIMATEMS LLC for their support for providing additional drugs for the exercise and lauded the efforts of all the health volunteers from the community that gave up their time to help in the health care of the community. He particularly expressed appreciation to Dr. Ike Nlerem who is the President of Elele Health Association and Ms. Janet Obunwo, a prominent Nurse based in New York for their contributions to the success of the programme.
Dr. Emejuru also donated 600 readers myopic single-vision glasses and sunglasses for the programme.
Meanwhile, during the follow up debriefing, Medical Visions for Peace and Elele Health Association pledged a yearly free medical mission for the people, while also seeking support from members of the community.
Beneficiaries of the programme which includes older adults and children expressed happiness for the medical intervention. A total of 1,709 patients were treated during the exercise.
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.
-
Featured6 years ago
Lampard Names New Chelsea Manager
-
Featured5 years ago
FG To Extends Lockdown In FCT, Lagos Ogun states For 7days
-
Featured6 years ago
NYSC Dismisses Report Of DG’s Plan To Islamize Benue Orientation Camp
-
Featured5 years ago
Children Custody: Court Adjourns Mike Ezuruonye, Wife’s Case To April 7
-
Featured3 years ago
Transfer Saga: How Mikel Obi Refused to compensate me After I Linked Him Worth $4m Deal In Kuwait SC – Okafor
-
Sports2 years ago
TINUBU LAMBAST DELE MOMODU
-
News3 months ago
Zulu to Super Eagles B team, President Tinubu is happy with you
-
Featured5 years ago
Board urges FG to establish one-stop rehabilitation centres in 6 geopolitical zones