Revenue generation is very critical to the survival of a country or otherwise all over the world. It is non-debatable that most poor countries of the world are poor because they have a problem of revenue.
Author: Editor
Yesterday, I participated in the Annual Trust Dialogue on the theme of interrogating the 2023 Presidential Agenda. In his opening remarks, the Chair of the occasion, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, expressed the strong view that we must be optimistic that positive change is possible and that indeed the time has come to do things differently, with millions of young Nigerians ready to perform their civic duty. INEC and the State must ensure they do the needful to ensure that riggers are kept out of the ring and the choices of citizens are respected.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service as we know it is the federal government agency charged with mobilizing revenues through tax collections across the length and breadth of Nigeria for the development of the country. At a time when the country is witnessing a significant reduction in oil revenues (Nigeria’s major revenue earner) as a result of several factors, such as low levels of oil production, oil theft and the global oil glut, the Buhari administration has had to devise creative ways of generating revenues for the execution of numerous government projects.
My piece with the above caption generated multiple comments: several laudations and a few condemnations. This is normal considering the personality of Kwankwaso, who executes his political agenda with passion. He is among the few refined politicians with principle and discipline but may not be blameless in the Nigerian project. Only two edited reactions are presented. Happy reading. Thank you, Prof, for your well-articulated article on the above subject. Presently, Nigeria, a country of over 200 million citizens has been battling with incompetent leaders in positions of authority. Of the so-called political leaders, some were in the military, some were…
To the average Yobean, Buhari’s visit to Yobe State, where he commissioned excellent projects by the Mai Mala Buni administration, confirmed what they already knew: life in the state has improved a thousand-fold from what it used to be just less than four years ago. To the opposition party, it sets the standard for their campaign so high that they know they are not going to reach it, as the scent of victory becomes nigh impossible to smell. To you, my reader, watching from the outside in, wondering if life could be better for the indigenes of a state once ravaged by an insurgency that put them among the most terrorised in the world, well, it hasn’t been easy. Still, it is achievable for those who make hay while the sun shines.
Finally, the campaign is getting intense and exciting. Surprisingly, the current round is taking place in faraway Chattam House in London as key candidates and the INEC Chairman conduct political pilgrimages to a British Government policy centre in London to talk to Nigerians at home. Many Nigerians have correctly asked the question whether there is no policy think tank in Nigeria to receive politicians to air their campaign issues. The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies has been mentioned by many as being the leading public think tank to handle such a task. I absolutely agree that the National Institute could play that role creditably. Unfortunately, it would not succeed because of the character of our political class that has disdain for our institutions. In fact, for the past decade, the National Institute has established a whole department for training and engagement with political parties where I have often participated as a resource person. In most of the meetings there I have participated in; the leadership of the so-called big political parties have either sent low level officials to represent them or sent no one in many cases. They suffer from colonial mentality and believe that Nigerian institutions are of no consequence and are therefore not deserving of their time. When they seek publicity, they pay tens of millions of Naira to key television stations to carry their programmes live.
Sokoto POWA Chairperson, Aishatu Muhammed Gumel Aishatu Muhammed Gumel is the wife of the Commissioner of Police, Sokoto State Command. She is the Chairperson of the Police Officers’ Wives Association (POWA) in Sokoto. In this exclusive interview, she speaks on POWA and her dreams for a well-positioned association in the state. Excerpts: How did you meet POWA when you assumed office as the new chairperson in June 2022? Normally, there is no vacuum in POWA with the disengagement of any former POWA chairperson. Before I assumed office as the chairperson, the Secretary of the association was fully in charge…
Perhaps in the future, politicians, political analysts, strategists, scientists and consultants may want to look at one or two things here that make Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s campaign what it is, especially its tenacity, perseverance, astuteness and personal ties. Between 1993 and this year, that’s thirty years, Atiku Abubakar, former vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, would have contested the presidential election eight times. Twice – in 2007 and 2019 – he was a candidate on the platform of two different parties, and thrice – in 1993, 2011 and 2015 – he was stopped at the primaries level. He…
The drug problem must be confronted collectively with the entire will and resolve of the nation behind the effort. Failure to do so will indubitably mean that every effort made in isolation will defeat all our endeavours, and render our task the more difficult and futile. The spokesperson of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Abdulazeez Suleiman has described drug situation in the North as one of the most serious social and security challenges facing Nigeria today. He stated this at a sensitisation lecture on drug abuse and proliferation of dangerous substances among the youth, organised by the Zaria local…
The latest case of insurbodination related discipline meted on high profile traditional title holders in Northern Nigerian emirate system, is perhaps the sacking Alhaji Muhammadu Bello Kirfi by the Bauchi Emirate Council as a council member and Wazirin Bauchi.