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Service Improvement: HOS wants civil servants to embrace digital transformation

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The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, has called on civil servants to embrace digital transformation innovation to compete with their counterparts in the world.

Yemi-Esan made the call on Thursday, in Abuja at the Award Ceremony of the 2022 Civil Service Innovation Competition, organised by her office in collaboration with the Galaxy Backbone Limited.

The event is meant to award the outstanding civil servants across public service sector.

The initiative is part of the ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s public service through adoption of new technological knowledge to improve civil servants’ skills as well as reducing cost of governance in the country.

Speaking further, HOS explained that the future jobs as recorded by the world economy forum, which demand data analysts and scientists, software and application developers and social media specialists, information designers were sustained by the use of technology.

“The future jobs as recorded by the world economy forum says that the range of established roles in the global labour market which experienced rising demand include data analysts and scientists, software.

“And, application of developers and social media specialists, information designers among others are significantly based on the use of enhanced technology.

“This suggests that professionals who have the knowledge of technology and social sciences would be in high demand.”

She, therefore, used the occasion to appeal to civil servants to join in the quest for the transformation of global services in technology for improvement of the nation’s public service sector.

Earlier, Mr Faruk Yabo, Permanent Secretary-Special Duties Office, office of HOCSF, said the idea behind the initiative was centred on three thematic areas of securing a conducive working environment for civil servants.

Others he said included to identify new methods of promoting Public Private Partnership in service and also, to focus on the cost serving measures using modern technologies in public service delivery.

According to Yabo, recent time global events such as devastation caused by climate change, COVID-19 pandemic among other economic challenges has made it more urgent for government and particularly, the civil service to think outside the box and imbibe the culture of innovation.

He said the impact of today’s rapidly changing economic and technological landscape had made government’s task of delivering public service more complex.

“This is evident around the world, and Nigeria has not been spared from this challenge.”

Also, Prof. Muhammad Abubakar, Managing Director Galaxy Backbone Limited, expressed delight over successes recorded by Nigeria in recent times owning to the use of innovation both in private and Public sectors.

Abubakar commended the efforts by the HOS to transform the public service through application of technology, saying it has significantly improved the performance of service across board.

He said Galaxy Backbone was excited to be part of the success journey, adding that innovation has always being the aspiration of the company.

The highlight of the event was the award of the three set of civil servants with the first group with the prize of three million naira, the second category went home with one million, seven hundred and fifty naira, while the third category was awarded with one million naira.

Others were awarded with the consolation prizes of two hundred thousand naira each.

Mr Iluromi Olusegun, a staff of Ministry of Education and one of the beneficiaries, thanked the HOS and the organisers for the gesture, saying it will encourage civil servants more to venture into innovation in the course of their services to the nation.

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Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

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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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