It is common truth that no country on earth, including Nigeria, is able to tax all the taxables, or even bring all the untaxed into the tax net. Tax registers everywhere rarely contain all the untaxed as required by the tax laws.
Author: Editor
Last week, I commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for declaring a state of emergency on food security and for being the only President who had gone the extra mile to demonstrate his seriousness in tackling the monster of hunger. It is the hope and expectation of Nigerians that President Tinubu walks his talk to avoid the catastrophic consequences of food insecurity. I must also commend President Tinubu for answering the call I made two years ago in my column of 9th June 2021. I said “Nigeria must declare a state of emergency in Agriculture; the government at various levels (Fed, State, and LGA) must invest heavily in agriculture, if possible, through legislation to galvanize agricultural revolution through the use of improved technologies, equipment, and expertise”. Now the first part has been done and the second part is the complement of the “state of emergency”. What are the challenges and the way forward to achieving food security in Nigeria?
Before going to my topic, please allow me a little digression. I want to start by appealing to the federal government to please stop the charade and for the people to not take their eyes off the goalpost. Or where do you place the ongoing drama about the former Central Bank Governor’s arrest, arraignment, and re-arrest?
The girl hawking a sachet of water ran in pursuit of the bus, laying curses at the bus conductor, who had stretched out his hands and touched her breast before stealing one sachet from the plastic on her head.
The rising number of people dying from snakebites across the country has heightened the calls for local production of Anti-Snake Venom (ASV) vaccines.
Fuel subsidy removal by the present administration of President Bola Tinubu has come with a thunderous alarm. Although the intention may be good, pure and sincere, and in fact it is even noble but the reality now is that it is severely haunting everyone. Both the haves and haves-not are wailing. It is dealing a fatal knockout punch on teeming citizens, whose lives have since been made miserable and wretched. The Nigerian economy had almost strangulated them.
On Wednesday, 26th of July, 2023, I attended a programme organised by Ota Total Academy (OTA), Ota, Ogun State. It was done as a mini valedictory service for their junior students transiting to the senior classes. I was among the special guests invited to grace the occasion, given that it was not opened to everybody. The parents of the students were not part of the programme.
The Wednesday coup in Niger finally succeeded at midnight with soldiers announcing on national TV the dissolution of the Constitution, Parliament and Government. Sigh…. This makes it the sixth country in the West Africa region to experience a coup since August 2020. Adding Chad makes it the seventh. Early on Wednesday morning, it had been reported that President Mohammed Bazoum had been held in the presidential palace by his own presidential guard. It appeared the guard then had to negotiate with the regular army while shooting in the air to keep anti coup protesters at bay. President Bola Tinubu sent a strong message to the putschists warning them that West Africa was no longer willing to tolerate coups. He also consulted with President Patrice Talon of Benin Republic who is acting as mediator with the military. The US, France, UN, ECOWAS and African Union also condemned the coup calling for a return to status quo.
In Nigeria, the phrase has been over used, time-worn and cliched, but it still resonates with the media and some electorates. Usually, elected officials and sundry appointees promise to ‘hit the ground running’ upon assuming office. Indeed, this self-imposed covenant, often made at the hustings, puts them under a lot of pressure from the very beginning.
The meeting of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, was attended by the Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, along with the Commission’s members, and Leaders of Political Parties to Review the 2023 General Election.