By Abba Anwar

Part of the objective of this piece, is to look at the trending issue of Tax Reform as enunciated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, legislative innuendo and how, from the scratch, the Executive arm of government, confuses the process with little or no proper communication strategy for the needed engagement of the citizenry.

The piece does not intend to go into the nitty gritty areas of the document, Tax Reform Bill, for x-raying the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the document. A lot has been said by tax experts and celebrated economists. I believe such technicalities should be left to technical people. For honest and proper comprehension of the process.

I am not interested in discussing whether Senator Barau was trapped, or what he did was deliberate to give him access to other corridors come 2027. My major concern as a student of media and communication is, where is the missing communication link, that creates all hues and cries?

The approach to inform citizens about the Bill and other embedded explanations is highly elitist. Even at that, a significant percentage of our elites do not understand the document well.

My area of great concern is, how the communication aspect of the entire process was pushed down the ladder, not minding the far reaching consequences of the byproduct, if you wish. Whose fault? Those saddled with the responsibility of handling the project. By that I mean the gamut from abstract expressionism to realistic portraiture of the entire project. Not Presidency, in my view.

Even if the inputs from the public would not be regarded to be part of the process, but at least Nigerians deserve clearer understanding of the entire process. As per the content, direction, actions, responsibilities, historical position of the existing tax laws within the framework of the new Bill and specific roles of the stakeholders, among many other factors.

As loaded as it appears, the Bill has 4 parts or aspects. These are, Nigerian Tax Bill, Nigerian Tax Administration Bill, Nigerian Revenue Service Bill and Joint Revenue Board Bill. Which some commentators call four-in-one.

With good communication strategy and for the sake of gaining popular support from the public, I thought the Executive would have design some proactive media and communication interventions to tell Nigerians what has been in the offing.

Most of the critical commentaries are louder from the North. Which many see and believe that the script was made to further impoverish the North. I also observe that, some of the comments and commentaries hovering around in the last few days are critically objective, some quasi-critical and quasi-objective, some pseudo-critical and pseudo – objective, some critically subjective and some embedded on the premise of ignorance of the entire process.

But I also believe that, the Executive fueled that with their flagrant disregard to effective media and communication plan. That is why I said, in the caption of this piece “… Assisted Misconceptions.” Assisted by who? By the Executive themselves. Particularly the main actors playing the script to screen.

Nowhere in the North where I saw aggressive campaign for awareness creation of this Bill. Northern Nigeria, has listening audience when it comes to media usage. Yes, social media is also visible in youth. That is basic. So even at the level of the social media, the engagement in the North by the government is poor, poorer and poorest!

Nothing like aggressive radio programmes, phone-in programmes with experts sponsored by government. In Kano for example, where we have about 30 radio stations, I doubt very much if there are 5 radio stations that run either special bulletin or special programmes or documentaries on retainership basis, sponsored by the people handling this new Bill. Not to talk of other Northern states.

I therefore call on the National Assembly, not to repeat what the Executive entertains. Which could be by ommission or commission. Both Chambers, I suggest, should push for clearer understanding of this document to the public.

It is glaring to all of us that, the Executive was not able to employ scientific communication strategy in creating spaces for proper engagement for the newly introduced document.

That could be the explanation why, even legislators, some of them do not comprehend the document. As revealed by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, in the interview he granted to the BBC Hausa Service.

At the level of the Governors’ Forum, the new Bill is not a darling document to many. Reason for boxing it down. With this (mis)conception of the document among elites, what then can stop people from rejecting the entire process?

Right from day one, I thought the authors of the Bill, the Executive, would create amplified awareness creation strategy around the process and its content.

As Senator Ali Ndume was arguing that, he was not against the Bill, but his concern is the timing. It is therefore pertinent, for our legislators, to first an foremost, paint a picture of clearer understanding of the process and the content, before throwing it to Nigerians for public hearing.

From the way I see it, because of these heated debates there is every likelihood that, some adjustments may come into play. This is just an opinion, anyway.

Anwar writes from Kano and can be reached at fatimanbaba1@gmail.com
2nd December, 2024

A Director of Accounts in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity has continued to stay in the Ministry despite approval of his Posting to the Ministry of Defence.

POLITICS DIGEST exclusively gathered that the said Treasury Officer who doubles as Director of  Accounts has continued to approve the release of funds despite his posting to another Ministry which is a breach of the civil service rules under the watch of the Permanent Secretary who is aware of what the civil service rules.

In a letter dated 12th November, the Accountant General of the Federation Oluwatosoyin Mudsin approved the Posting of the said Treasury officers with immediate effect but the officer in question Bala Saleh has continued to serve in the Ministry of Labour instead of Defence where he was posted to with immediate effect.

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A staff of the Ministry who pleaded for anonymity told this paper that he abandoned his new posting because of the support of a retired permanent secretary while both the Minister and that of State were not aware of the said letter which is totally against the civil service rules.

However, some staff of the Ministry have confided to this paper their readiness to petition the Director in question to the ICPC.

When contacted over the matter, the spokesperson of the Ministry declined to comment and promised to call our reporter back after his findings on the matter.

Open Letter To His Excellency The Executive Governor Of Kano State:Need For A Balanced Composition Of Kano State Executive Council

Ismail Abdu Garba

Your Excellency sir, I want to use this opportunity to call your kind attention regarding the trend followed by your predecessors to form a composition of the state executive council that is not an all-inclusive which fails to address the need for every local government to be well represented in line with the principle of federal character establishment. The negligence or oversight of this administrative arrangement has become a typical set back that led to marginalization of Warawa L.G.A since its establishment by law in 1991, undermining not only its human capacity development but also the general welfare of its indigenes as evident in the few development projects so far executed by the state.
Sir, none of your predecessors on record has ever given us fair representation or equal opportunity through appointment to serve as a member of the state executive council either as Commissioner or Special Adviser since the establishment of Warawa Local Government. Adopting a similar trend by your administration Your Excellency is a great set back to your performance indicators for good governance towards fulfilling your campaign promises.
Among all of the twenty-four (24) Commissioners and about thirty-two (32) Special Advisers whom you appointed, and were cleared before the State Assembly, none is an indigene of Warawa L.G.A. Not only that Your Excellency Sir, so far all of your political appointment for the various position of heads of respective Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) ranging from about (7) Director General DGs, ( 44) Managing Directors MDs and Deputies, Executive Directors EDs, (5) Executive Secretary ES, and even Project Coordinators none is an indigene of Warawa L.G.A.

Your Excellency Sir only if you imagine having a similar composition of Federal Executive Council members at the Federal level without Kano State having any ministerial position designated (not even minister of state) while another state gets two or more, then it appears how disheartening is this recurring marginalization to the extent that a ward from another L.G.A will end up having two or more appointees and even an additional appointment as head of some MDAs while Warawa as a constitutionally recognized L.G.A end up with none.

Ismail Madari

With the exception of state constituency allocation and the ongoing 5 km entrance road projects, no presence of road developmental projects sponsored by the state as obtainable in other L.G.A that are well represented in the Council and beyond. Warawa L.G.A is autonomous like every other Local Government Area. Both the constitution and electoral act made it mandatory no single election into the office of the executive governor of Kano state will be declared conclusive without the votes of this administratively neglected local government area.
For this reason and beyond, in the principle of justice, fairness and equity we call upon you to kindly address the issue by giving us fair and equal opportunity to develop this resourceful Local Government Area. Our interest is to be part of the history to be written in gold by this administration, as we are part of the struggle that brought it on board.
Thank You.

Yours Sincerely,

Engr. Ismail Abdu Garba
Lecturer / Research scholar
Member, Kwankwasiyya Scholars Assembly KSA
Chairman, Warawa Education Election Campaign Committee (2019&2023)
Email – madaarie@gmail.com

Phone Number:08032868665