Featured
Shippers’ Council Donates Sickbay Equipment To JSS Kurudu In Abuja

S
Joel Ajayi
In its determination to ameliorate the suffering of many Nigeria Nigerian especially students, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has donated sickbay equipment to the Government Junior Secondary School, Kurudu, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
The Executive Secretary of NSC, Barr. Hassan Bello, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Abuja Liaison Office of NSC, Hajia Rakiya Nuhu.while presenting the items to the school on Friday in Abuja said the gesture was to support and empower needy Nigerians.
Barr disclosed that the council’s commitment to its CSR, which he said was targeted at the grassroots with a view to touching lives at the base of society.
According to him, our gathering here today is to support and empower Nigerians in need in different ways, as part of our corporate social responsibility activities.
“Accordingly, the government JSS Kurudu was found qualified to attract the attention of NSC’s CSR intervention and was graciously chosen as one of the beneficiaries for the year 2020 CSR.
“The council is here today to deliver to the school’s the clinic, two hospital beds, two air mattresses, two electric Irons and two rechargeable lamps.
“We are delivering four blankets, four mosquito nets, four white bedsheets, four towels, and one Honda Generator.
“Other items include two hot water bottles, a rechargeable fan, one double door fridge, and four buckets.
He added that; “NSC’s joy will know no bounds when we find out that these items are judiciously used in touching the lives of the ordinary Nigerian citizen,” Bello said.
The NSC boss also promised to look into some of the challenges faced by the school and proffer assistance where applicable.
On her address, the elated principal of the school, Mrs. Talatu Isah appreciated the gesture of the NSC which it rendered to the school through the Queen Agnes Foundation.
Isah said the gesture was not just for the school but for the Kurudu community at large, adding that the items would be judiciously used for the benefit of the students.
She however said the school faced challenges of the hall, inadequate toilets, fallen fence, depleted library, and blocks of classrooms overtaken by termites among others.
She called on the shipper’s council and the school’s board to assist in any way possible to enable the school to attain greater heights.
Mrs. Thelma Akinduru, President, Queen Agnes Foundation (QAF) appreciated the NSC for responding to her request to provide the items for the school.
It was gathered that the Akinduru facilitated the construction of the sickbay and approached the NSC with the demand to provide the needed items.
Akinduru, however, said she realized the needs of the school and was burdened by the fact that the school had no sickbay.
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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