Just when we thought the peak in tax collection was attained, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) brought forward another harvest of revenue collection, peaking any collection in our nation’s history. The tax agency recently announced a total tax revenue collection of N5.5 trillion for the half-year period of January to June 2023 signifying the highest tax revenue collection ever recorded by the Service in any first six months of a fiscal year.
Browsing: Viewpoint
Carved out of the defunct Sokoto State on the 27th of August, 1991, Kebbi has undergone transformation from military era to the current democratic governance.
The mid-20th century brought with it the height of independence-related agitations and clamouring in many African countries. Rising nationalists who had gotten their education and the attendant exposure that came with it ultimately believed that African states were ready to govern themselves in the newly introduced democratic system. From that period till now, several African states have gone through turbulent moments of shapeshifting — a democratic state today, a military-junta-ruled state tomorrow. More often than not, military interventions in the democratic running of African states are touted as the Messianic way out of the corruption practices of the democratically elected leaders in these countries. As altruistic and patriotic as these military interventions seem at the outset, historical precedents in Africa show that the Messiahs often end up as or worse than the oppressors they initially wanted to save the people from. Africa does not need coups and military leaders.
As one of several victims affected by the high-handedness, unprofessionalism, impunity, blackmail and intimidation carried out by officers of the Garki branch of Abuja Electricity Development Company (AEDC), I am disheartened.
One of the ethics of journalism, as taught in schools of journalism, is for a writer to give equal space to all parties involved in a storyline before its broadcast or publication and when a journalist, perhaps for a deliberate act, becomes a prosecutor and a judge in its case, ignoring ethics of its profession, one is free to question his certification and his mindset when his write-up brims with hatred, vengeance, character assassination and names calling. One is left to say he has a devilish intention and a premeditated action to discredit a perceived enemy, who in this case is the Management of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
Anybody who knew the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) before the advent of the administration of Muhammad Nami would in all fairness concede that he has remarkably used his salient administrative skills to improve the operations of the apex tax body. His dexterity in achieving an upward swing in revenue generation has much to do with his administrative skills than the deployment of technology.
I watched in horror as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at his inauguration on 29th May 2023, rather flippantly, announced the removal of fuel subsidy without having any plans that would mitigate the resultant pain on citizens. One would have expected that before taking such serious policy decisions, he would study the financial status report of the country, assemble his cabinet and consult widely particularly with his national security team on the policy’s national security implications.
Democracy is a very evocative notion. In the name of restoring or defending it, presidents have wielded bayonets, levied war, and executed coups. On 10 August, 2023 a summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rose from its convening in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, with an explicit order for “the deployment of the ECOWAS Standby Force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.”
There appears no end in sight to the raging crisis gripping the West African sub-region in view of the military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Niger Republic and the resolve of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) heads of governments to restore the country’s constitutional order through military activation if all diplomatic measures to force the Nigerien junta into total compliance fail.
A visible feature in every developed society is a high degree of accountability in governance in which every public operative is held accountable for any task he is mandated to implement. The corollary is the case in underdeveloped societies where accountability is weak. Nigeria is a good example of where accounting for leadership actions or decisions is virtually non-existent despite ample evidence that the nation’s constitution places premium on the concept of accountability.