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UGWUANYI’S LEADERSHIP EXAMPLE ; A PANACEA TO NIGERIA’S LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

Published

3 years ago

September 28, 2021

By Jeff Ejiofor

Ugwuanyi’s enigmatic leadership style is a great asset to Nigeria’s political development as his capacity in handling complex political issues is fast making him indispensable in Nigerian politics.

He has exhibited rare competence in the area of crisis management especially as it affects party politics. It has become a tradition that anytime a difficult situation arises in the PDP, Governor Ugwuanyi comes to the rescue and never fails to deliver.

Recently, he has handled a lot of complex issues for the party and has successfully delivered on all of them.

When the party became turbulent in the South East and lost many of its members, Ugwuanyi was invited to salvage the situation. Immediately he assumed the position of the party’s leadership in the zone, sanity returned to the party and the mass exodus experienced ceased.

Since then, the party has witnessed unprecedented stability in the South Eastern part of the country with visible prospects of bouncing back to its original status as the most formidable political structure in the zone. People no longer desert the party as was the case before he became the leader. Ugwuanyi has brought his midas touch to bear on the party and the future looks bright again for the once troubled political vehicle.

Additionally, his heroic role in 2020 Ondo State Governorship primaries when the party was in a sort of dilemma was a clear manifestation of his diplomatic ingenuity. At a time the future of the party appeared very bleak in the state because of heavy factionalisation, Ugwuanyi was invited to reposition it with transparent primaries that would meet the expectations of the warring aspirants.

As a matter of fact, many pundits were very sceptical about the possibility of achieving rancour free gubernatorial primaries that would be acceptable to all the aspirants who then were in their political trenches with threats and counter threats.

At the end of it all, Ugwuanyi succeeded in calming all frayed nerves down by conducting one of the most transparent party primaries in the history of party politics in Nigeria. He employed deft and diplomatic political accountability to achieve that great feat to the surprise of Ondo people who had written the party off.

Currently, as a recognition of his capacity to fix difficult problems, his party has entrusted him with another hard nut to crack, chairman PDP’s zoning commitee. This is one assignment too many which requires deft political approach due to its sensitive nature to the party’s 2023 destiny.

The issue of zoning at the national level for PDP is very delicate and thorny right now considering the country’s current political atmosphere. It is a matter that requires an individual with high level of political maturity to handle hence, the invitation of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, a known political master strategist with a wealth of experience in crisis management.

The party is of the belief that his relationship savvy which he had employed in handling many knotty issues assigned to him in the past as well as his achievement of enduring political peace and stability in Enugu State would be replicated in the present circumstances. Of course he has taken up the responsibility and is facing it squarely irrespective of the enormity of its challenges.

From the foregoing, it is explicit that Governor Ugwuanyi’s leadership acumen is second to none having demonstrated consistent capacity in crisis management. Apart from his visibility in party affairs management through efficient discharge of national party assignments, he has institutionalised peace and stability in Enugu State.

For the first time in the history of politics in Enugu State, major political actors now see themselves as members of one big political family devoid of rancour and acrimony. Ugwuanyi has ensured even distribution of dividends of democracy across party lines and all spheres of the society against all odds.

Irrespective of the current prevailing economic downturn, he has spread development across all sectors of the economy carrying all segments of society along. On assumption of office, he resolved all nagging issues ranging from traffic and waste management crisis to poor salary structure for workers in Enugu State. In educational sector, he effectively handled a thorny issue of non graduation of students by some state owned tertiary institutions due to non accreditation of courses.

He further ended the convocation deadlock of IMT and facilitated its first convocation in over 10 years. The charismatic leader is also reputed to be the first modern Enugu Governor to focus on rural development with special attention on health and road infrastructure. All these point to the ability of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to provide purposeful leadership and profer solution to issues.

In conclusion, Governor Ugwuanyi is indeed a man of outstanding character, a political legend and a master in the art of political strategy, peace building and relationship management.

He has distinguished himself as a great leader with emotional savvy and an expert in human resource management. His gentle mien is a source of strength which immensely guards him against loquacious recklessness even in the face of obvious provocation.

He is undoubtedly a great leader who uses emotional stability and mature mien to handle difficult situations. His humility and canniness have impacted positively on the people of Enugu State and their political system under his watch as an Executive Governor. It is a welcome development that Nigeria and international community are beginning to recognise this discernible reality as demonstrated in Turkey on Saturday, 25th September, 2021 when he received multiple awards of excellence from Nigerian Turkish Community.

In no distant time definitely, he will play a prominent role in our political development both locally and internationally.

Enugu is in the safe hands of God

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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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