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SPORTS MINISTER’S BOLD PERSPECTIVES ON SPORTS

Published

7 months ago

August 19, 2024

FELICIA OBY NWOKORIE

The Minister of Sports Development, Sen. John Owan Enoh, who completes one year in office this August, has given a glimpse of his thoughts for better sports outings in future. This is germane, considering the pains expressed by Nigerians who had hoped and yearned for medals at the just concluded Olympics.

Nigerians were quick to recall the previous epic achievements of Nigeria in international outings such as athletics, boxing, football, wrestling, weightlifting etc, climaxed with two gold medals in Atlanta 96. Sports has always proved a panacea to stress situations and has brought enormous joy to Nigerians who relish our youths standing on the podium of Honour, our flag fluttering in the wind and having our National Anthem rendered.

Admitting that Nigeria should have done better, he gave bold indication of going the whole hog to find the causes of the poor performance of the athletes and promised that he would take a critical look at the configuration of the professional and operational systems that produce the sportsmen and women for Nigeria.

In an outstanding act of courage and responsibility, the Hon Minister admitted and apologized that the performances of our athletes were below expectation. He pleaded with sports loving Nigerians to give him time to restructure sports and to dispassionately X-ray the immediate and long time actions that affected the performances of the athletes.

The Hon Minister though not being a “sports professional” as some people say, he fully understands that sporting activities are purely technical. He knows too that for any administrator to be credited as expected, he needs time to really understand the most challenging areas that require urgent concentration, as well as have due support from stakeholders to enable him succeed. He has put his heart and soul in this and he is evidently succeeding.

Happily the Hon Minister is an astute, result-oriented administrator, and has pronounced his commitment to a reinvigorated sports sector. In that regard, one of the areas the Minister and the management of the Sports Sector should draw advantage from is the cesspool of welcome ideas of the Sports Writers Association (SWAN) which should be distilled.

Stakeholders and sports veterans should embrace the eagerness of the Hon Minister, and make contributions and suggestions that will help to change the negative assertions following the outing in Paris 2024 to a positive assertion that will lead to better performance which can supersede that of the glorious event of 1996.

Only a coalescing of honest postulations by formidable team players and stakeholders at a time like this can affect positive changes in the development of sports as well as correct the shortcomings or irregularities that hinder progress, before the commencement of next championship. The Hon Minister as usual, is open to all well meaning contributions.

On the budget of N12 billion attributed to the Olympics, the reactions are basically reactionary and have not actually been holistic, not reckoning with all aspects of the expenditure cost lines. Under the strict watch of the Minister, Nigeria had a glorious outing that showcased 88 athletes who indeed represented the country. Desirous as medals are, people should not lose sight of the financial implications of this money.

Even though no medal was brought to the country, not a single athlete has complained of not being paid his/her allowances as deserved, which is way ahead of what used to happen in the past. Commendably, none of the athletes got stranded or became unable to depart safely to their various destinations, as used to obtain in the past.

The write ups and hard knocks from most Nigerians, especially the media, is commendable showing that they have their eyes daily on the update of sporting activities and that they mean well for Nigeria. Meanwhile the situation has exposed to the Hon. Minister, critical areas that require him and the SWAN to forge a closer relationship.

As the Minister approaches the critical bend of one year in office, and his Permanent Secretary barely five months, what they need now is activate seasoned sectoral inputs as nations of the world start earnestly to prepare their teams for the next Olympics. Four years is only a number and is already knocking at the doors. Please Let us not allow misdirection and possibly wrong advice from any quarters destabilize us.

As we look forward to preparing for the forthcoming event slated to hold in Los Angeles, all eyes should now be focused on the Federations and all the stakeholders to ensure that they do not dissipate their energies in distractive squabbles that could harm Nigeria’s overall sporting interest and fortunes.

Those criticizing the Hon Minister should take a look back, and give him plaudits for frugality and keen financial management. His tenure has not recorded what critics used to call sports jamborees. But Sen. Enoh since assumption of duty has occupied himself with paying off debts that were part of the causes of instability in the Federations.

Certainly under this present sports administration, Nigeria will overcome whatever militating circumstances that affected sports management in recent times. A trip around the Abiola National Stadium is an eye witness to ongoing projects that are part of the mandate of the Minister to get all the staff to be domiciled in the stadium for easy management of both the staff and infrastructure therein.

Finally, as the Honorable Minister braces to take tough ameliorative actions, let the voices of Nigerians be loudly raised on the Athletic Federation of Nigeria ( AFN), the Federation Presidents, NOC and all who are given mandates, to embrace synergy for better coordination for the nation’s sporting victory rather than exhibiting the present greater interest in qualification more than of the podium finish.

Please Nigerians, let us be more focused on the Paralympic athletes as their games become imminent and wish them good luck. Let us congratulate the Basketball Female team whose coach was honoured as the best Female Coach in Olympic Games. The Paralympic Games have always brought us Honours in the past and hopefully would do so again.

FELICIA OBY NWOKORIE
PRESS OFFICER, SPORTS DEVELOPMENT.

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

1 week 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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