The Nation Newspaper

Tag: burden

  • Abati: Burden of public office

    Abati: Burden of public office

    I have not been opportune to hold a public office, but I know a number of people who have and whose experience has not been as pleasant as imagined.

    There is a lot of assumption about public office that makes many to do anything possible to get political appointments. President Muhammadu Buhari and many state governors who are yet to appoint their commissioners will currently have more than enough curriculum vitae for consideration.

    The delay in making appointments by Buhari must be giving many sleepless nights as they had expected by now that they would have been rewarded with appointments for their contributions to the president’s election victory.

    While not many easily admit that they want public office to enrich themselves, it is the main attraction for most and not service as claimed.

    There are, indeed, legitimate and illegitimate money to be made in government. Beyond the normal salaries, there are numerous allowances and other pecuniary benefits which make political appointments attractive.

    However, beyond the financial gains, there are a lot of other hassles associated with government appointments which need to be understood by not only those who crave for appointments but members of the public who subject the appointees to what I regard as unfair criticisms.

    This piece is informed by the recent article by a former presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, titled: The phones no longer ring.

    “As spokesman to President Goodluck Jonathan, my phones rang endlessly and became more than personal navigators within the social space. They defined my entire life; dusk to dawn, all year-round. The phones buzzed non-stop, my email was permanently active; my twitter account received tons of messages per second.   The worst moments were those days when there was a Boko Haram attack virtually every Sunday.

    “The intrusion into my private life was total as my wife complained about her sleep being disrupted by phones that never seemed to stop ringing,” Abati wrote.

    Expectedly, his piece attracted some negative comments from those who felt that Abati does not deserve any pity or understanding based on the role he played in the Jonathan’s presidency. Abati was definitely not seeking any pity. All he sought to do as far as I am concerned was to give an insight about the life of a typical top government official occupying some sensitive positions.

    Despite his hectic schedule, his greatest crime for which some journalists who should sympathise with him but rather crucify him is that he didn’t pick their calls while he was in office. Yes, he should pick their calls since his job was that of a spokesperson for the government, but the truth is that there is a limit to how many he can, given the various assignments he had to juggle.

    I am not aware of any spokesperson, either at federal or state level, who has not been accused of not responding to calls as much as their former colleagues expect them. A former Press Secretary to a former Deputy Governor told me how difficult it was for her to cope with numerous calls because of meetings she had to attend, travels and other assignments.

    Much as spokesmen and other public office holders should try to maintain their pre-appointment relationships, they should not be expected to meet every demand that require their attention.

    Their stay in government office should not be regarded as an opportunity for them to meet some difficult expectations beyond their capacity. The inner workings of government can be very complicated and unless one is in, it may be difficult to appreciate what it takes to be a government official.

  • El-Rufai and burden of beggars

    IR: The recent report with the caption – “Beggars threaten to sue el-Rufai over ban of street begging,” captured my attention. It came as a surprise, especially coming from a class seeking charity from people and government. Isn’t it government’s responsibility to set the direction for empowerment of citizens anymore? How then –  therefore, does street begging empower people?* I admire idealism and statesmen who are willing to take on social issues. Though, I am not a  fan of Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, but Nigeria needs passionate people with the will to change the country and Nigeria doesn’t need people on the streets begging as a matter of course.

    * It was Richard Nixon who said and I believe it to be so that, “let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth, to see it like it is and to tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth and live with the truth. That is what we will do.”

    I asked my friends in the Gulf States if Arabs beg. They told me that this happens only in poor countries (present day Iraq but not under Saddam, Afghanistan etc.), and they do so (beg) – only because they are very poor.

    But why is our, ‘Almajiri’ model different in Nigeria, and how come begging is rapidly becoming a culture?

    In the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Countries), Oman, Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, UAE, there are no beggars. The states keep this class in special homes and little ones amongst them are given up for adoption but in Nigeria, our elites in the north are only interested in giving children nickels and dimes with no plans for adoption or grants for education.

    * In spite of democratic rule of many years, inequalities in the polity remain unresolved. The economy of the north is in shambles, and its educational facilities are comatose; the delivery of instructions in the classroom is poor, how then – is it possible to liberate people from a restricted vision of the mind?

    What kind of philosophy does Nigeria democracy work with – and with what guiding principles should this democracy be practiced for the benefit of all?

    These beggarly antics are snatching social media headlines for the wrong reasons. It is time very wealthy northerners (and they abound, especially the political elites, serving and retired) began to launch Charity Foundations, to rally support for homeless and extremely poor people in the north.,  It is a crying-shame that these wealthy northerners, do not bother to synchronize efforts with government and rid society of these menace.

    * These individuals need to put their self-interest on the sidelines and focus on helping the needy.,  After all, leadership does not stop on the table of those in elected offices only. The goal is to empower youngsters to take action and free themselves from poverty and, like children, elsewhere tackle local and global issues.

    According to Professor Dele Owolawi, “While over civilization could be detrimental,under-civilization is a curse.”

    State of Kaduna and Nigeria must do well to get out of the curse of begging.

     

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt.

  • Burden of N8b currency scam on CBN, economy

    Burden of N8b currency scam on CBN, economy

    The banking system is notorious for keeping worn-out and smelly banknotes. Poor monetary policy decisions and abuses by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) officials as seen in the ongoing N12billion currency scam trial involving 22 bankers are denting the regulator’s image, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

    Edith Okafor, a consumer goods distributor based in Lagos is worried that for the past four years, what she has been paid with worn-out banknotes from her customers. Some of the notes are so bad that her customers kept rejecting them as balance after transactions. In some of the occasions, the customers threw the banknotes back at her, saying they needed cleaner notes.

    Whenever Edith tried to reject the banknotes, the feedbacks from her customers are always the same: “I got this money from my bank or do you think I print money. Where do you want me to get cleaner notes?”

    Perhaps, the customers are right. Finding new banknotes is like finding a needle in a hay sack. Not until last week, when an alleged N8 billion fraud broke out did many people understood why there are much worn-out bank notes in circulation.

    Facing trial over what happened to the N8 billion are 22 bankers, including  six from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and 16 others from commercial banks.

    The CBN staff include: Patience Okoro Eye (Abuja), Afolabi Olufemi (Lagos), Kolawole Babalola (Ibadan), Olaniran Muniru Adeola (Ibadan), Fatai Yusuf Adekunle (Head, Security, CBN, (Ibadan) and Ilori Adekunle Sunday (Akure).

    The suspects, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged, stole and recirculated defaced and mutilated currencies, worth N8 billion. They are being tried at the Federal High Court, sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    The accused persons, according to the prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, instead of carrying out the statutory instruction to destroy the defaced currency notes as their duty demands, substituted the currency with newspapers neatly cut to naira sizes. The offence, as contained in a charge sheet read out to the accused persons is punishable under section 7(2) of the Bank Employees etc.(Declaration of Assets) Act, CAP. B1, Laws of the Federal Republic, Nigeria 2004.

    Former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, said he was not surprised at what the 22 bankers did because the ethics of the profession had gone down over the years.

    He said: “Why is it that Nigerians are spending dead notes but when you go to parties, you see crispy notes? It is because of corruption and the calibre of people managing the economy. The CBN is supposed to be managing the economy and ensuring that clean notes are made available to the people, but the reverse is the case. That tells you we are in a jungle country.”

    Unegbu said such unwholesome practices have made money management difficult.

    The ex-CIBN chief said the N16 million had been injected into in circulation as against the N8 billion that would have been added if the suspects had kept faith with the ethics of their profession in the discharge of their duty.

    According to him, every currency has a lifecycle which should be followed, and the expired notes must be destroyed, but the policy is being abused.  He said the suspect needed the support of bank staff to reintroduce the cash into the system adding that such temptations should be resisted by bankers.

    Unegbu said: “When I was in FirstBank, some fraudsters approached me to assist them circulate counterfeit currencies into the system. I was expected to mix the funds with genuine notes and circulate them into the market.

    “But I refused because we were taught not do such things. I don’t know how many bankers will resist such temptation today.”

    However, the scam never came as a surprise to Henry Boyo, who alleged that Nigerians take for granted even bigger fraud in the CBN.

    The economist said:  “It did not surprise me at all. It was expected. What is clear is that the CBN is fraught with fraud. Whether it is the intervention fund or monetary policy strategy, it is the more you look, the less you see,” he said.

    Boyo described as questionable the practice that allows the CBN to carry out regular mopping up of excess liquidity from the system, alleging that the apex bank mops up over N6 trillion every year and that the one for the first quarter has already been conducted, with N1.5 trillion taken off the system. Commercial banks were paid 10 to 15 per cent interests, leaving them with about N600 billion profit margin.

    Mr. Boyo alleged that the intervention funds, running into billions of naira, must also be investigated just like the Polymer notes scam.

    But, Brown Okorie, another economist, said the mopping up of excess liquidity in the system is the statutory function of the CBN, saying it’s a mechanism to bring down inflation and stabilise the exchange rate.

    Pointing out that the apex bank has several tools to control the inflation rate, he emphasised that the best option at the moment will be to reduce the excess liquidity in the system.

    “The CBN will look at the indicators and decide what tools to use to control the inflation rate, which will all be aimed at reducing excess liquidity in the system,” Okorie said.

    The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) also reacted to the development. It said it has written to the CBN and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) requesting to be updated on the scam.

    Head, GIABA Office in Nigeria, Timothy Melaye, told The Nation that the alleged fraud has dented the CBN image and that of the country, which is a signatory to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

    Melaye said: “Nigeria is a member of FATF and as a member, it should be above board in a matters regarding fraud, money laundering and illegitimate transactions.”

    The FATF is the global standard setting body for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).

    In its efforts to enforce greater compliance with acceptable international standards, the FATF, in collaboration with FATF Styled-Regional Bodies (FSRBs), undertake targeted review of countries/jurisdictions identified with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies with a view to protecting the international financial system from Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) risks arising from such deficiencies.

    The FATF had in October, 2013, removed Nigeria from the list of countries identified as jurisdictions with significant deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes.

    The global anti-money laundering body gave its countenance to Nigeria’s significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime and noted that the country had established the legal and regulatory framework to meet its commitments in its Action Plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF evaluators had identified previously.

    Melaye called for more effective international cooperation, including exchange of information between competent authorities, conduct of joint investigations, tracing, freezing and confiscation of illegal assets.

    Saying that GIABA has been supporting the EFCC in fight against corruption, he urged: “The EFCC is getting the needed support from GIABA and we want the Nigeria government to provide the necessary financial support for the body do carry out its work more efficiently.”

    What experts are not sure yet, is whether the alleged fraud uncovered at the CBN will prompt the FATF to delist Nigeria from list of countries with AML/CFT compliant regimes.

    Former Executive Director, BankPHB, Richard Obire, said as a regulator, the CBN should be above board when compared with banks’ adherence to ethical banking standards.

    Obire said: “The CBN has to keep a responsible behaviour. If the accusations are established, it will be so unfortunate for the CBN. It is not something to expect at all from a banker, let alone the CBN. The apex bank needs to quickly restore the confidence of banks in their operations.”

    According to him, besides the CBN being the custodian of banking integrity, it needs to come out and assure the public on what it stands for, by getting to the root of the crisis by reviewing its oversight functions on its employees.

    Obire said the same severe sanctions should be extended to the six banks whose workers are allegedly involved in the scam.

    “The banks need to take same steps because they are inexcusable,” he said.

    The former bank director, said that by injecting N8 billion into the financial system, the alleged perpetrators had boosted money supply.

    “And as an import-dependent country, the floating money will be driving up demand for forex, and weakening the naira. If it is not chasing forex, the fund will be targeting other goods, and raising inflation”.

    He recalled that inflation has been on the rise since December last year, from seven per cent to 7.6 per cent in May.

    At the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting mid-May, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele disclosed that the year-on-year headline inflation crept upwards for the fourth consecutive month in April 2015. The inflation rate rose from 8.2 per cent in January to 8.5 per cent in March and further to 8.7 per cent in April.

    According to him, the increase in headline inflation in April reflected increases in both the core and food components. Core inflation rose to 7.7 per cent in April from 7.5 per cent in March, while food inflation increased to 9.5 per cent from 9.4 per cent over the same period.

    The CBN chief noted that the uptick in inflationary pressures, year-to-date, was largely traceable to transient factors such as high demand for transportation, food and energy, especially in the period around the general elections as well as the Easter festivities. He also noted the roles played by system liquidity and the pass-through effects of the recent depreciation of the naira exchange rate.

    Reiterating CBN’s commitment to price stability, Emefiele noted that given the already tight stance of monetary policy and the transient nature of the incubators of the current inflationary trend, which are outside the direct control of monetary policy, the space for maneuver remains constrained, necessitating the intervention of fiscal and structural policies to stimulate output growth.

    Equally, broad money supply (M2) increased by 1.80 per cent in April, over December 2014 level. When annualised, M2 increased by 5.39 per cent, but it remained lower than the growth benchmark of 15.24 per cent for the year.

    Both Obire and Unaegbu agree that the impact of the N8 billion cash fraud cannot be ruled out in driving inflation to its new heights. They believe that since the funds were reprinted and ploughed back into the system, the additional N8 billion fraud cash will bring the total cash to N16 billion, instead of approved N8 billion.

    Within the banking industry, there have also been reactions to the alleged fraud, which has shaken the financial sector to its roots.

    Head of Media at FirstBank Babatunde Lasaki said the transactions were done basically by CBN staff in collaboration with five employees in his bank.

    He said two of the employees had been sacked while the remaining three are helping the EFCC on the ongoing investigation.

    Lasaki said that it is after the true picture unfolds that the remaining staff if culpable may be dismissed.

    Also speaking, Head, Corporate Communications, Wema Bank Plc, Onome Odili, said the affected workers in her bank had been sacked long ago. Like Lasaki, she said the fraud is a CBN show and that her bank officials were brought in to implement it.

    An insider in Ecobank said the two affected officials left the bank, when they suspected that the crime had uncovered.

    Another insider in Access Bank said the two officials of the bank are involved are legacy staff from the defunct Intercontinental Bank. The source said the CBN should be blamed because bad notes submitted for destruction are kept in long queues for years with no action taken on them, giving room for abuse by staff.

    He said the banknotes would have been destroyed immediately and the fraud averted if the unit involved had been effective.

    The source said that some of the notes marked for destruction were still pending, five years after with nothing done and thereby creating room for abuse.

    Imma Okocha, a principal partner in Messrs Imma Okocha & Associates, said members of the public should demand for the real identity of the suspects.

    He said: “Could they have acted alone, or there are other top CBN officials involved. Are they being used as sacrificial animals because they are lower cadre staff?

    Okocha said the success of the case will depend on how well the evidence is gathered but believes that the police are likely to do a shoddy job.

    “You will find out that some principal witnesses may decide not to come to court because of their relationship with the accused persons. The Police are tactically known for spoiling cases, especially, where those in investigation are not additionally taken care of by the complaining party,” he stated.

    The lawyer said that until, further facts are released and people that took the case to court provide further evidence, otherwise the case may collapse.

    He said: “The boldness of this type of crime, shocks me. There is no doubt that this type of crime have been going on for a long time. They should look at what has been happening because they already have facts.”

    Okocha, however, admitted that an accused person, although knows he has committed the crime, do not necessarily need to plead guilty, but would want the prosecution to prove their case.

    CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Mu’azu, relived the events that led the management of the apex bank to hand over the suspects to the EFCC for prosecution.

    He said: “As soon as the bank’s internal investigations were concluded beyond reasonable doubt that some wrong doing had occurred, the affected members of staff who are middle-level officers were, depending on gravity of offence, either summarily dismissed or immediately placed on indefinite suspension on 21 October 2014, and all handed over to the EFCC for further investigation and prosecution.”

    Continuing, he said the CBN has also conducted a nationwide audit of all 37 branches of the bank and found that this was an isolated scheme at its Ibadan branch.

    He said the bank will continue to collaborate with the EFCC to ensure that affected CBN workers, as well as their accomplices in some commercial banks, is brought to justice.

    Mu’azu said the scam was discovered during a routine internal audit of the bank’s cash destruction activities in September 2014.

    He said the CBN Briquetting Panel, comprising of senior bank officials from the various branches, noticed some anomalies at the Ibadan branch and immediately reported this to the bank’s management.

    He said that on further investigation ordered by Emefiele, it was discovered that a systematic scheme, which had been on for several years, was being run in which mutilated higher denomination notes, originally meant for destruction, were swapped with lower denomination currencies. This practice known as interleafing, basically labels a box with a higher value than its true content.

    At the penultimate court hearings, it was discovered that the suspects acquired assets in Nigeria and Pretoria, South Africa.

    The EFCC arraigned the suspects on a 28-count charge, bordering on forgery, misrepresentation and self-enrichment before Justice Adeyinka Faji.

    In the charge, the EFFC said that the CBN staff conspired with the FirstBank employees to recycle the mutilated currency notes meant for destruction.

    The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge. The accused persons are facing a 15-count charge ranging from conspiracy, abuse of office and stealing to false declaration of actual amount.

    The others have been accused of concealing of property, fraudulently acquiring assets in excess of their legitimate and provable income and causing economic adversity to the country.

    The court was told how the suspects acquired assets worth several billions of naira through fraudulent means, in excess of their legitimate income.

    The assets said to have been acquired were allegedly gotten by stealing N1.25 billion supposed mutilated currencies meant to be destroyed and taken out of circulation.

    The EFCC told the court that one of the accused, persons, Mr. Ayodeji Alase, had N134 million in one of his bank accounts.

    It (anti-graft agency) told the trial judge, Justice A.O. Faaji, that Alase, a primary six certificate holder, started work at First Bank as a guard before he was promoted to the position of a cash assistant.

    The commission’s lead prosecution counsel (Jacob), a senior advocate, also told the court that the accused had property worth hundreds of millions of naira.

    Alase, according to the anti-graft agency, has a duplex at Oluyole Estate in Ibadan, a shopping complex, a warehouse at Podo, a fenced plot at Dugbe, a block of four flats at Apeye, two plots of land and five-bedroom flat in other parts of the state capital.

    He was alleged to have a credit balance of N132 million in one of his bank accounts. The commission also alleged that Alase possessed a block of five-bedroom flat at Apete area of Ibadan and a supermarket at New Garage, Apata area of Ibadan.

  • Presumptive tax: equalising the distribution of tax burden (11)

    Presumptive tax: equalising the distribution of tax burden (11)

    Presumptive taxation offers two additional benefits to both governments and taxpayers: it allows the government to tax its citizens in a more equitable fashion while rewarding efficient businesses with financial incentives. It is generally accepted that wages and salaries paid by corporations and governments are taxed more effectively than income earned by the self-employed due to the introduction of withholding taxes at source. Simplified presumptive taxation schemes increase the probability that the self-employed are also taxed effectively.

    At the same time, many presumptive taxation regimes entice SMEs into the tax net by discarding high tax rates and providing incentives rewarding efficiency. For example, methods such as taxing based on average ratios (profits to sales) and average income allow businesses to retain some profits without being taxed. Moreover, many developmental economists advocate a presumptive tax on the potential use of land (assuming it has been used as productively as possible) to encourage landowners to utilize land productively.

    Various methods of estimating income and assessing tax liability have been developed by countries that have employed the presumptive income taxation. Some of these methods include standard assessment, estimated assessment, value of land, net wealth and asset value, visible signs of wealth, and minimum taxes amongst others.

     

    Standard Assessment

    Standard assessments assign lump-sum taxes to taxpayers on the basis of occupation or business activity. Standard assessments have been shown to broaden the tax base with limited disincentives. Although this method is viewed as less equitable than estimated assessments, it is also less open to corruption.

    In the early 1960s, Ghana introduced a simple standard assessment system that fixed lump-sum payments for different economic activities. The payments were established by determining the average taxable income of a few taxpayers selected at random from each class of self-employed taxpayers.

    It is important to understand that standard assessments can be a poor revenue-mobilizing method of taxation unless the fixed payments are indexed to inflation (or increased regularly) and taxpayers are moved to categories as their taxable incomes increase over time. Furthermore, standard assessments do not take taxpayer-specific conditions, such as family size or losses in a particular year into account. As a result, it can be regressive by imposing equal tax on individuals in the same category even when they earn different incomes.

     

    Estimated Assessment

    In this assessment method, each taxpayer’s income is individually estimated based on indicators or proxies of wealth specific to a given profession or economic activity. Key indicators can range from location of property to numbers of skilled employees to seating capacity. France’s Forfait and Israel’s Tahshiv methods both utilized estimated assessments and are recognized as among the most highly developed presumptive tax regimes of their time.

    Israel’s Tahshiv method employed objective factors to estimate the income of taxpayers unable to keep records. The Tahshiv for each sector was prepared, often over several years, after extensive research and many visits to a sample of businesses. The average profitability of a particular sector and its relationship to specific factors and indexes were discussed with representatives of the sector before the official Tahshiv was issued. Examples of indicators employed included number of employees, location, seating capacity (for restaurants, cafes, barber shops, etc.), skill level of workers (for carpenter’s workshop or garages), nature of equipment used (for truck and taxi drivers), and water consumption (for ice-producing companies).

    The estimated assessment method of presumptive taxation employs a variety of techniques to derive taxpayer income, both simple and complex. Simple methods are based on single factors such as a taxpayer’s total assets, net wealth or value of business assets, gross receipts of business, and visible signs of wealth. Complex methods use factors and indices of profitability, which vary by economic activity.

     

    Net Wealth and Asset Value

    Factors such as net wealth and value of assets enable income estimation through the comparison of beginning of year with end of year net worth. As one can imagine, it is difficult to determine the amount at the beginning and end of the year with any precision, much less account for expenditures during year. Tax authorities in developing nations such as Argentina, Chile, and Colombia employ this method as a basis for presuming income during audits. However, they are faced with various technical problems when doing so. For example, since it is easy to identify owners of some assets versus others (agricultural land vs. foreign currency) equity issues arise. Moreover, valuation of assets is a problem and presumptions based on net wealth often encourage taxpayers to increase liabilities.

     

    Visible Signs of Wealth

    Taxes on visible signs of wealth serve as an equity issue. It serves to ensure that wealthy citizens pay an appropriate amount of tax, even if they report all actual income. The taxes apply only to individuals and usually include main and secondary residences, the number of domestic servants, cars, yachts, private planes and race horses. In European countries such as France, Italy, and Spain (until 1978) signs of wealth qualified and how much income to attach was detailed in income tax ordinances. In practice, this method has proven to be difficult to apply. If the applicable tax law is general, it is hard to know which signs of wealth to choose, and what amount to assign. If the opposite is true, the laws are often inflexible and unfair. As a result, taxes on signs of wealth are applied cautiously and when there are no other means to assess income. They are often helpful in determining income on illegal activity such as racketeering or drug trafficking.

     

    Minimum Taxes

    Alternative minimum taxes come in many forms. Some schemes specify a tax burden or minimum tax irrespective of the taxpayer’s level of income or economic activity. Others levy the tax as a relatively low percentage of turnover or assets. Francophone Africa pioneered the establishment of minimum corporate income taxes by introducing fixed lump-sum amounts that were uniform for all corporations regardless of size or volume. Due to its regressive nature, this minimum tax was replaced in many countries by a tax based on a percentage of gross receipts. In countries with both types of minimum taxes, corporations pay the larger of the two. In others, the minimum tax is also applied to individuals. The practice of minimum taxes has spread beyond Africa to become the prevalent form of presumptive taxation in Latin America.

    CHALLENGES OF PRESUMPTIVE TAXATION

    Presumptive Tax Regime is no doubt gaining popularity, especially in developing nations. However, there are challenges and obstacles that tend to compromise its effectiveness. Governments that recognize the limitations of presumptive taxation often times include provisions in their tax codes that allow taxpayers the opportunity for a redress. Listed below are some of the challenges that affect the smooth administration of presumptive taxation.

     

    Crude Implementation

    Despite its streamlined requirements, presumptive taxation is not always effective because governments do not have sound tax administration systems in place at the federal, state or local levels to implement schemes as envisioned by policymakers. Countries in early stages of economic development tend to employ crude methods of estimating income because they lack sufficiently qualified resources to analyze the profitability of various economic activities and to define the indexes for effectively calculating presumptive incomes. As a result, small businesses in particular are routinely taxed unfairly and inefficiently.

     

    Systemic Corruption

    Arguably, presumptive taxation can help reduce corruption in tax administration. However, the success of presumptive taxation in reducing corruption will depend both on the structure of the scheme and the overall administrative environment and capacity of the tax administration institution. A presumptive taxation scheme can increase the discretionary power of tax officials and in a worst case scenario increase corrupt practices. A carefully designed presumptive taxation scheme can help reduce corruption, but can never be a substitute for the much needed capacity building and administrative reforms within the tax administration.

     

    Undermines Tax Base

    The primary goal of most governments that introduce presumptive taxation is to broaden the country’s tax base by preparing citizens and businesses in the informal sector to enter the formal tax net. However, presumptive taxation has proven to undermine this goal as taxpayers remain in presumptive taxation regimes indefinitely or regress from formal taxation programs to presumptive taxation schemes. This phenomenon tends to occur when sophisticated taxpayers earn above average income and recognize that standard assessments levy a lower tax burden. The result is that they either under report income or simply pretend not to keep accurate records of income, as is prevalent in Israel, in order to remain in the presumptive regime and enjoy its benefits.

    Overall, presumptive taxation is a form of assessing tax liabilities using indirect methods such as income reconstruction or by applying base-line taxation across the entire tax base. Presumptive methods of taxation are thought to be effective in reducing tax avoidance as well as equalizing the distribution of the tax burden. It is safe to say then, that the essence of Presumptive Tax as adopted by the FIRS is to suppress the burden of VAT on the informal sector especially micro and small businesses.

  • Buhari and burden of statecraft

    SIR: I really don’t envy Nigeria’s President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd). The huge responsibility destiny has placed on his shoulders, following his emergence in the March 28th presidential election, can only be carried by an extraordinary human being. It takes a man with spectacular attributes to accept such a task and deliver on the demands of such an exalted office.

    It is unusual to envy a man who is faced with a situation as complicated as presiding over the affairs of a nation of nearly 170 million people. You really can’t envy a man who many see as the long awaited messiah. A man so talked about and adored by countless number of people. A man whose name commands enormous respect. A man who has promised to put Nigeria on the path of prosperity and moral rectitude. GMB finds himself in a situation as difficult as drilling a borehole with a needle. Can he deliver? Only time will tell.

    Jokes apart, it is certainly not going to be as easy as anticipated by some Nigerians. It is an open secret that GMB will encounter countless battles in his quest to fix the system. Time indeed is of the essence. Typical of Nigerians, they will expect the President-elect to right all the wrongs perpetrated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the last sixteen years in one full swoop. All they would want to see are practical changes; both in actions and words. No room for rhetoric, just action.

    GMB is assuming leadership at a time most Nigerians have become politically enlightened and are very ready to ensure that leaders deliver on their campaign promises. Nigerians have resolved to take their destiny in their hands. The era of ‘siddon look’ is far gone. We are now at a stage in our chequered political history where voters know the power that the voters’ card confers on them. The Daura-born General is coming to power at a time the nation has been bruised, battered and inflicted with festering economic, political and social wounds. I am very sure he is not unaware of what the issues are. He should perish the thought of coming to offer any form of excuse on why Nigerians shouldn’t expect much from his government when inaugurated.

    Without doubts, expectations are incredibly high. Nigerians are all looking up to him for immediate answers to nagging national maladies. They would wish he could banish Boko Haram without necessarily deploying troops to the northeast. They would also wish that all unemployed Nigerians gain employment in choice government parastatals without appearing before any recruitment panel. All dilapidated infrastructure are fixed over-night. Bad roads fixed; hospitals equipped and supplied with modern state of the art equipment and corruption is killed and buried overnight. That is Nigerians for you.

    As he basks in the euphoria of his well-deserved victory, he needs to be reminded that Nigerians are naturally impatient people. This sweet honeymoon won’t last long. Very soon, yes, very soon, we, including this writer, will pick up pen to remind him of the many promises he dished out during his campaign tours. GMB should perish the idea of having a swell time in the next four years. Anyone saddled with the assignment as serious as administering Nigeria should not expect to be pampered.  We shall hold GMB and his cabinet to account. The very tool with which we opposed, engaged, assessed and criticized President Goodluck Jonathan’s anti-people policies and programmes shall be used in dealing with GMB’s government. Either ethnic or political interests won’t sway us. We shall be very critical of his government; especially on issues that pertain to good governance, rule of law, corruption and insecurity.

    Nigeria first, Nigeria always, should be his guiding principle. It is not about those who pooled resources together to inject life into your political aspirations. Your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) must accept the obvious fact that your loyalty is first and foremost to your country. Chieftains within your party should avoid the temptation of meddling into issues of national importance. Your new office forbids that you discriminate against those on the other side of the divide. Like you reassured in your acceptance speech recently, every Nigerian shall be treated equally, no matter the party he or she belongs. Let him be aware that he is about swimming in a shark-infested water where all he needs is rare courage and determination to succeed. He shall encounter hydra-headed political monsters. Let him know that he is about threading on a very slippery path, dotted with thorns, snakes and vipers. It really takes a courageous man to walk this path and return unhurt.

    Achieving significant success is largely a question of those you intend to invite into your cabinet. The success or otherwise of any government is determined by the array of individuals that form the cabinet. You should be very thorough in your selection of ministers and other high-ranking appointees. Competence, capability and track records should be criteria for selecting those who should form your cabinet. Square pegs should be put in square-holes, not otherwise. Shelve the idea of assembling your team based on narrow considerations. The best should be given the opportunity to showcase their innate talents.

    The APC isn’t short of brilliant minds. I can reel out hundred names of tested and trusted APC members that can form a credible and serious Federal cabinet. I resist the temptation to mention names here. Let’s leave that for the APC to handle.  GMB should prepare his mind for the challenges ahead. We really have no time to waste. Upon inauguration the new government is expected to hit the ground running. Political honeymoon rarely lasts, only laudable achievements do. I wish the President-elect good luck as he prepares to assume office come May 29th, 2015.

     

    • Abdullahi Yunusa

     Imane, Kogi State.

  • Buhari and leadership burden

    President Goodluck Jonathan assumed the presidency in 2011 with overwhelming votes mostly in the three geo-political regions of the southsouth, southeast and the southwest. The singsong, most specifically in the latter zone then, was that they voted for Goodluck Jonathan and not his Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). The satisfaction that greeted the Jonathan presidential victory among those who voted for him was so palpable that it mattered very little—if at all—that some states recorded more votes for Jonathan than the actual number of registered voters.

    The electorate then, particularly those from the southern political divide, decided against Muhammadu Buhari largely because of the resentment they had haboured for so long about the hegemonic predilection of the northern dichotomy whence the General comes. Conversely, they saw Goodluck Jonathan as not belonging to the ruinous political class that had held them helplessly in the jugular for so long.

    So, when he told them his story about not having any shoes growing up during the campaign trail, it was as if that was the breath of fresh air they had been waiting to inhale. That statement further cemented his ‘outsider’ perception among voters and Jonathan’s fate as the next president of the republic was sealed.

    The ‘outsider’ status of Jonathan was also the proof-positive that the Nigerian electorates needed that their new and ‘unblemished’ president would fundamentally re-arrange the polity for sustainable growth and development, thereby giving them a new lease on life. They reasoned that he would be unencumbered and not tied to the apron strings of the deciders of who gets power in the country—military or civilian. But they misjudged; and very badly too.

    General Muhammadu Buhari, on the other hand, though not a stranger to these ‘kingmakers’, derived much, if not his entire support base from a critical mass of the poor from the north. The collective political class from both the north and the south had to be at the barricade against Buhari because, in their enlightened self-interests, a clueless and meek Jonathan was better than an unpredictable, no-nonsense Buhari who could turn off the spigot of the ‘milk and honey’ and haul them into jail because the taciturn general does not share their character traits of sleaze, primitive acquisition and plundering of the common patrimony.

    Thus, Buhari is a part of the political class without being a part of the political class. He seemed irredeemably sandwiched between a rock and a hard place. There is perhaps no time in the country’s history in which so much was expected of a chief of state—military or civilian—by the Nigerian populace than the March 28 polls that crowned Gen. Mohammadu Buhari as the president of the next political dispensation starting in May 29. While the bestowal of presidential victory to Jonathan in 2011 by the electorates was largely due to sentiments, Buhari’s assumption of the highest political seat in the land was brought about by the acute awareness of the same electorates that real change must take place in all aspects of national life, no thanks to Boko Haram that has become very significant non-state actors with a considerable chunk of the nation’s territory under their holsters, corruption of monumental proportion and an economy on a free fall, among others—all this on Jonathan’s watch. Thus, the crisis of expectation among both candidates is that while the electorates expected that Jonathan would do something upon becoming the president in 2011, the Nigerian electorates this time around are demanding that Gen. Buhari must do something about their collective national despair.

    Now that Buhari’s unflinching quest to situate Nigeria among the comity of nations, bound by universally acceptable moral and judicial precepts has finally been realized through the ballot box, it is extremely important that the next governing party and Buhari’s impending administration keep their eyes on this one-of-a-kind social contract with the Nigerian people. Just as the world was keenly interested in the election that gave him victory, the global community would also be watching Buhari’s every step from here on to see if we’re really serious about our desire to not only add values to ourselves and improve our living standards but positively contribute to humanity at large.

    Buhari’s emergence was unusual. Therefore, his government should be unusual if it must meet the people’s expectations in the shortest time possible as well as the long run. The Buhari government must find innovative and inventive ways to governance for the arduous tasks ahead. Once elected, Buhari is automatically conferred with the free rein and the latitude to construct his cabinet as he sees fit. Being made to work with people with very little or no antecedents of job accomplishments could be counter-productive and may be a recipe for failure.

    Just as Buhari’s win is akin to inheriting a house whose pillars are so weak that some low level wind gust could collapse the edifice anytime, so also is there a tremendous opportunity to build a new house with concretes that, although may be unfamiliar to the inhabitants, but guarantees a stronger house that will stand the test of time well into the future. Perhaps a good starting point of the Buhari government will be to put all but one or two of the presidential fleet of airplanes on the auction block immediately after it is sworn in and drastically reduce the workforce of the presidency.

    By this, the Nigerian people would get the signal that there would not be any sacred cow when it comes to confronting waste and the hydra-headed corruption monster. Reducing the size of the incoming presidency will not only save a considerable amount of money that is no longer available, no thanks to an epileptic economy that may not regain full consciousness anytime soon, but significantly reduce the recurrent expenditure which has always been the bane of growth in the polity.

    By extension, corruption will automatically reduce in this first tier of government bureaucracy. In the age of high and extreme automation, it makes no sense to retain, say, ten personnel when four would do the job just as effective. The Buhari/Osinbajo presidency should be so compact but highly effective that it should be able to fit in a suitcase.

    The mid-term approach in this fight against corruption and waste is for the Buhari transition committee to ask for the Steve Oronsaye’s committee report that has reportedly enunciated how the entire federal bureaucracy (MDAs) can be streamlined before that report grows some wings for swift implementation. The long-term component is the devolution of more powers to the states—which may not be more than two years—to be brought to fruition. When powers are devolved into the federating units, developments become fast-paced.

    States and their citizens will be able to make choices whether they want bloated bureaucracies or real growth. General Muhammadu Buhari may be the only one that knows the real reason(s)—except what was publicly stated—why he refused to give up after the first, second or third attempt, the least that Nigerians can do is to support the incoming administration to take this badly abused country to the enviable heights that she truly deserve. The challenges are no doubt daunting. But the opportunities, ironically, are also fantastic and the timing cannot be more auspicious.

    • Odere is a media practitioner.

  • Jega’s burden

    It would appear the controversy trailing the conduct of the 2015 elections will have no end. And no end seems in sight as its eventual outcome might present more challenges than what we are currently facing.

    Two basic considerations inform this seemingly damning conclusion. The first relates to the history of elections on these shores. Even at the best of times, hardly had there been elections whose outcome was not highly disputed.

    Our politicians find it difficult to accept defeat even when it is clear they had very slim chances. Matters are not helped by glaring cases of malpractices, irregularities and shortcomings that have become a recurring decimal in our electoral process. All these combine to whittle down the confidence of the people in the credibility of elections.

    The cycle of violence which sometimes leads to the destruction of lives and property in some volatile sections of the country is a logical consequence of loss of confidence in the electoral process. That feeling is still much with us.

    The second reason is that this election comes with very peculiar challenges. It is true that election periods by their very nature, are very trying times. But it is also no less correct to posit that the coming elections are potentially very explosive. The stakes are very high and no group will let go. There are genuine fears that its outcome could make or mar the country as the issues involved are at the very heart of our corporate existence.

    That perhaps, accounts for the unending controversy that has dogged the preparations of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC since the countdown to the elections commenced. The focus has been on the preparedness and credibility of INEC to conduct generally acceptable elections. The shoddy distribution of the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC’s) appears to have provided the platform for the plethora of attacks and criticisms that have trailed INEC’s activities in the last couple of months. The commission did not help matters when it claimed it was fully prepared to conduct the election in February as previously scheduled. A Council of State meeting was convened in which its Chairman Attahiru Jega insisted the commission was ready to go ahead with the polls.

    But Jega was later to inform the nation that though he was very ready for the election, he had to postpone it on the advice of Service Chiefs who said they had a major operation in the north-east that will not allow them offer the needed assistance to the body were the elections to proceed as scheduled. Going by the way Jega spoke, he left no one in doubt that he was only succumbing to security pressure by deferring the elections. In effect, he had a mission to exculpate the electoral body from any complicity in the events leading to that postponement.

    Not unexpectedly, the Jonathan administration was heavily lampooned for inadvertently simulating the chain of events that led to that pass. This was evident in the reactions of the international community and civil society groups among others.

    No less a person than former president Olusegun Obasanjo had in reaction, alleged that the postponement was to enable Jonathan buy time so as to win the election by hook and crook. He drew parallels with events in Cote d’voire when Laurent Gbagbo, faced with stiff opposition had to postpone elections until he was sure he was going to win. Such have been the level of suspicion and antagonism that followed the postponement.

    Curiously, events since then have been at variance with the electoral body’s claim that it was really prepared to go on with the election. On the contrary, the challenges of the poor distribution of the PVC’s have since put a lie to Jega’s claim that he was ready for the elections. At the time the Council of State met, the rate of collection was put at less then 40 per cent. Jonathan said that much in his last Media interview.

    If that was not enough evidence, the admission by Jega at the floor of the senate a week after the postponement that over one million PVCs were yet to be printed in far away China, is all one needed to substantiate the position.

    Since then, the date of collection has been shifted thrice and will now end six days to the presidential and national assembly elections.

    Now, if INEC was prepared for the elections as Jega claimed, how do we reconcile these developments? Could the body have gone ahead to conduct a free, fair and flawless election when millions of Nigerians stood to be disenfranchised? And what are the likely consequences of millions of registered voters denied their inalienable right to vote due to no fault of theirs. These are the moot questions. And they are at the center of the increasing suspicion trailing INEC’s activities.

    There is also the issue of card readers- an innovation the commission said is designed to increase the credibility of the election outcome. The device was just tested last week- a clear one month after the postponement of the elections. The question is whether the commission intended to use that device for the postponed elections? If the answer is in the affirmative, then it further complicates the situation. Some of the challenges that have just been dictated could have created problems that would detract substantially from the credibility of that election. These are some of the dangers that faced INEC if that election had proceeded as scheduled. Some of these issues topped the grouse of the PDP Governors’ Forum that met last week in Lagos. They seemed to have struck the right chord when they asked “Nigerians to reconcile the purported readiness of INEC for the February 14, elections with the testing of card readers more than a month after the postponement”

    This observation should not be ignored especially given the bad blood the postponement generated. The electoral body will regain the confidence of Nigerians by coming public on why it is so. It also has a responsibility to explain why it has continued to postpone the collection date for the PVC’s nearly five weeks after the election was rescheduled. This is necessary for Jega to regain the confidence of the electorate. The imperative of confidence building in ensuring the overall success of any election can only be discounted at a grave risk.

    Undoubtedly, Jega faces a big burden in the current elections. The challenges of the PVC’s have been considerably reduced by the postponement. He has tested the card readers with varying degrees of success. The matter is not all about the INEC’s right to deploy the device but how to ensure its efficacy during elections. If the electoral body feels sufficiently satisfied that the device will work and produce the desired result, it could go ahead and deploy them.

    But it stands the risk of being discredited if there is system failure either on account of network problems or other extraneous variables. These are some of the issues. It is a calculated risk. Jega and his group should be prepared to face the verdict of history for any acts of omission or commission. That appears to be the message the PDP governors are sending across.

    The buck stops at Jega’s table. He will rise and fall together with what he decides to do. But rational calculations instruct that faced with uncertain circumstances, the right option is to minimize ones losses in the event of the worst outcome. It is akin to laying landmines for the elections to introduce innovations whose reliability and efficacy cannot be guaranteed especially when prior suspicion was raised.

  • Jega : An electoral umpire’s burden

    When five years ago, President Goodluck Jonathan was planning to appoint Prof Attahiru Jega as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, he spoke glowingly about the activist academic. It was an appointment he kept close to his chest as the media kept speculating about who will get the job after the disastrous tenure of Prof Maurice Iwu. Having seen what happened under Iwu, who conducted the sham election which brought him and the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to office, the president knew that he had to pick a man of integrity for the job.

    So, as he kept the public guessing  on who his choice would be, Jonathan did not allow any opportunity go by without making it known that his man for the job is someone that cannot be pushed around. ”I have found the man for the job; we have contacted him and he is ready to take up the job. He is a man of integrity and Nigerians will be happy with our choice when we announce his name”. The president was virtually over the moon when he picked Jega for the INEC job. He knew very well that to continue to endear himself to Nigerians whoever he picked as electoral umpire must be above board.

    Jonathan made a statement with his choice of Jega, who he knew as an uncompromising figure, yet chose him for the highly sensitive INEC job.  Jega is not just an academic, he is a unionist to boot, having been president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the late 80s. He led ASUU during the military regime and he gave a good account of himself.

    A man like him is no doubt needed to head INEC, which under Iwu had become an appendage of government. Since his coming, Jega has tried his utmost to maintain the independence of INEC, despite coming under blistering  attacks from the parties sometimes for being impartial. This is expected. There is no way Jega could have satisfied all the parties, especially when it comes to elections. There is no party that wishes to lose an election; every party wants to win and where it does not, the next thing is to cry foul.

    It is understandable when a party challenges the competence of the electoral umpire after an election. If that happens, it is likely the party is crying because it lost. But when before an election everything is being done to rubbish the electoral umpire, then something must be amiss. It becomes more worrisome when those badmouthing the electoral umpire are members of the ruling party. In the past few months, Jega has been the butt of destructive criticisms by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its chieftains and the problem they have with him is because he never agreed with them  that the February 14 and 28 elections as initially scheduled should be postponed.

    Although the party gave the impression that it was not bothered one way or the other with  what INEC decides to do about the elections,  latter events showed that the party, its national leader, that is the president, and its leading lights were all for the postponement of the elections, but getting Jega to do their bidding without being seen as the ones pulling the string was their problem. They eventually got the security chiefs to force Jega’s hands to shift the polls to March 28 and April 11. Despite having their way, they are still after Jega. They are not ready to let him be until they push him out of office.

    Why does PDP want Jega out of office? It is to ensure that it has its way at the polls.  His  integrity that counted in his favour when he was appointed in 2010 is now hanging around his neck as an albatross. The PDP can no longer stand the integrity of the man whose praise the president sang to high heavens when he was appointing him five years ago as INEC chairman. So, instead of getting set for the rescheduled elections, the party is busy fishing for reasons to get Jega out of the way to enable it rig its way back into power. So far, they have  not given any tangible reason why Jega should not conduct the forthcoming elections.

    Having succeeded in getting the elections postponed, one would have expected PDP to go back to the drawing board to plan and map out plans for the forthcoming elections. But no, it is not doing that; all it is after is to get Jega replaced by another professor, who it can manipulate to get its way at the polls. But removing Jega legally will not be easy. So, they will not take the legal route; they may give him the Lamido Sanusi treatment. Remember, the president went outside the enabling Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act to get Sanusi out of the way because he was too vocal for his liking. With Jega too independent-minded for his liking, Jonathan may devise a way of removing him without following the Constitution.

    According to Section 157 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, a person holding any of the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the president acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any cause) or for misconduct. By virtue of this provision, the president cannot on his own remove Jega nor can he send him on terminal leave whimsically. But then, this is Nigeria where anything goes.

    The cards are stacked against those who want Jega out of INEC.  They do not have a case against him; they are just afraid that with him at the helm, they cannot get INEC to rig the elections for PDP. They said the elections should be postponed because millions of eligible voters had not collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    Now that a substantial number has collected PVCs, their song is that the Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs), which have been exchanged for PVCs, should be used for the elections. Does this make sense? Does it not show that some people somewhere are afraid of contesting the elections? Jega conducted one of the best elections ever held in this country in 2011 and since then, INEC under his watch, has been improving with the series of staggered elections held in some states.

    Like every human being, Jega is not a saint. But, what sin has he committed to warrant the call for his removal by PDP chieftains and their cohorts. What do they know that we do not know that informed their call? Is it at this 11th hour that we should be talking of removing Jega or sending him on terminal leave when he is not sick nor involved in any misdemeanour? All these PDP chieftains are doing is to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. The president should not fall for their trick. It is heartening that the president has reassured the world that he won’t remove Jega.  But we hope that when push becomes shove, the president will not sing a different tune.

  • Our burden, by Northeast teachers

    Our burden, by Northeast teachers

    Theirs is an unenviable task. As teachers in the Northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe where the Boko Haram insurgency is rife, they are faced with the burden of keeping their schools running. With the schools virtually deserted, it is their lot to ensure that pupils keep coming. They share their experiences with KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE.

    In  the Southern part of the country, pupils go to school with ease. They do not have to worry about being harassed on the way.  In the Northeast, where insurgency is rife, it is not easy going to school.

    While other parts of the country enjoy an uninterrupted academic calendar, teachers and pupils in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, have to think of staying alive first, before any other thing.  In the past one year, primary and secondary schools in the states have been shut for up to nine months in some cases. However, despite the security challenge, states, teachers, pupils and parents have not given up on education.  Some teachers, who attended a school safety and security workshop in Abuja last Friday, said they have improvised ways to keep the schools opened, despite the Boko Haram threat.

    Mr Buka Modu, Principal of Government Science and Technical College, Gujba in Yobe State, misses his school but cannot go there for now because he said it has become Boko Haram base. The sect sacked the school and destroyed its facilities in July. Though the school has been merged with two others close to Damaturu, the State Capital, Modu said school life is not what it used to be before the insurgency. Many of the pupils have been separated from their parents.

    He said: “The insurgency has affected school activities greatly. My school has now relocated to another local government which is about 200 kilometres away from the children’s parents.  The school’s previous site is now captured by Boko haram. Even the school is now their abode; they have destroyed everything in the school. The pupils and their parents are far away now. Some are in Bauchi, Gombe and other states. Now, it is very difficult for those parents to send their children to the school.”

    Since relocating, Modu said only “40 percent or less” of his pupils have resumed. He also said many of those that have resumed find it difficult to study because of fear. He is concerned that performance in the 2015 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) may be poor.

    “They have to stay in a boarding school because there is nowhere to live. In normal days, there is evening prep, night prep, games.  But now, we don’t have such things because you don’t know who will come and bundle you, so you can’t come out and play. Now, may be 10 students play at a time, then, after that, another set would make a team and play.

    “Concerning the night prep, there is no light; almost everything is disconnected. And you cannot put on the generator because the sound would not allow you to hear if anything is happening in the environment.  So, we cannot even put it on for the pupils to read at night.  Students come to class only in the day time.  By 2 or 3pm, the school has closed, and the students go back to the hostel, take their bath and read two or three pages of their books and that’s all. So, you see, it is very difficult for them to pass the SSCE, because you have to read in the night to pass your exams. But, at night you don’t know what is happening. You can’t even sleep let alone read. The mind is just somewhere else. Even the sound of a balloon scares you,” he said.

    Modu urged the government to improve security so teachers and pupils could face the tasks of teaching and learning.  He said some parents actually wait for their wards throughout school hours, to take them home.

    “You know when this happens, at least, we expect the security details around. When you see them around, your mind would be at rest. Our minds, both the teachers’ and pupils’ are not at rest to pass the teaching and learning process. All the school needs is to have security. When something happens, they will come. But, sometimes, they will say they have come, we don’t even know the time they came,” he said.

    Mrs Aishatu Mohammed Bakare of Government Day Secondary School, Bungere in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, is also worried about performance in the 2015 WASSCE.

    “We are more than two steps backwards because we have not been operating schools in Adamawa State. We closed and resumed late due to the Ebola problem; then, we just started for about three weeks and we had to close schools again because of the insurgency. Now, everybody is at home – the public schools. Only the private schools are still on. Actually we do not know what will become of our pupils, this year, especially our SS3 pupils,” she said.

    She said even before the government ordered schools to close, parents had stopped their wards from coming to school.

    “Parents actually stopped their children from coming to school.  Then, finally, we just had to close. Every minute we hear different rumours that they are coming to Yola, so we had no options than to close temporarily,” she said.

    Alhaji Abubakar Hayatu, Principal of Government Secondary School, Mayo-Belwa, Adamawa State, said most schools have closed down.  But some of his pupils still attend school – thanks to hunters who provide security.  He said they are funded by the school’s Parents-Teachers’ Association.

    “Well with the help of our teachers, the PTA, and hunters, we are able to hold classes. In the night, they patrol within the school premises. The hunters are helping us. We are paying them with the meagre resources we get from the PTA,” he said.

    Though situated in the Borno State capital where there is relative safety, Mr Adamu Wakawa, Principal of Government Girls College, Maiduguri, has to cope with running a school that also serves as a camp for internally-displaced people.

    “In my school, particularly, we have displaced persons. Despite  that the school is rowdy, we still make effort that the students, if not all, at least the finalists, are kept in place for them to face their WAEC. Managing students and displaced persons is the greatest challenge that we are now facing. As far as I’m concerned, together with the government, effort is being made to see that students do not lose. Apparently, some schools have been opened. Students can now go to school to cover up what they had lost, so far,” he said.

    Mohammed Musa, Principal of Government College, Nguru, Yobe State, said the lack of perimeter fence around his school worsens the feeling of insecurity.

    “Any time there is an attack close to the school, you see children and teachers disturbed. Most of the schools are vulnerable because they don’t have fences. But it is not all about fencing; whether there is fence, it cannot stop these people.  Government ought to provide security. If security personnel are posted to schools, at least students and teachers will feel secure because somebody is around – at least there is somebody to confront them.  But as teachers and students, we cannot confront any insurgent using just your hand and your biro and whatever, but the presence of security personnel on the school premises is very necessary. And to cap it all the school ought to be fenced, not just this bare fencing; the fencing has to be a little bit high with barb wire on top so that it will prevent anybody scaling thorough,” he said.

    To encourage pupils to go back to school, Suleiman Maina, the state national representative of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Borno State, said the union has partnered with the government and other stakeholders to keep as many schools as possible open in and around the state capital.

    “Our state governor has formed a high-powered committee by name Primary School Resuscitation Commitee. The committee has sat down with NUT, head masters and stakeholders and now our primary schools have been opened. Out of about 1,000 primary schools now 400 in maiduguri and outskirts are running.  It is so encouraging because now in schools, teachers are performing their jobs,” he said.

    Mrs Jebu Babe of Government Girls Secondary School, Buni Gari in Yobe State, said her school was relocated to Government Girls Unity College, Damaturu, after it was attacked about the same time that Boko Haram killed about 40 pupils of the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi.

    “Our administrative block was totally burnt down in February 2014. Presently, where my school is located is the most dangerous area of Yobe State.  Most of the students are from that area and were also affected personally.  Currently, the school is in Damaturu because the state government has moved it from that area to safety,” she said.

    However, since it reopened at its new location, she said not all the pupils have resumed.  To encourage the pupils to return to school, Mrs Babe said the government has mounted a publicity campaign for them to resume and continue their education.

    “Not all the students have reported to that school because of that thing. Parents have left their homes, and gone to other places, especially Gombe State, because we are bordering them. But three-quarters of the students are back because the government is making everything possible to see that the students are back.  They announce over the radio, television, telling them to come back to school, and by whatever means. I personally as the principal, and other teachers communicate to them through the phone and we tell them to come back; ‘that it is safe here’, ‘come and continue your schooling’. The government is trying by making the parents aware that it is very important for them to send their children; continue their  education because of tomorrow. ”

    She added that the reopening of schools, despite the insurgency is important so the insurgents do not achieve their goal of stopping the education of the citizenry.

    “They should not close our schools because this is one of the things they (insurgents) want. So, let us stand our ground and make sure that we follow the truth. Once the parents feel secure enough, feel that the government is on their side, the students will come,” she said.

  • FRESH and the burden on INEC

    In all honesty, can anyone expect the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be truly independent, going by the obvious lack of impartiality on the part of its head? To say no is to state the obvious. And the reasons are not far-fetched: First, it is a contraption created, bankrolled, sustained and regulated by the sitting government. And if the adage that he who pays the piper dictates the tune is anything to go by, then it must as of necessity do the bidding of its benefactors.

    Secondly, this is Nigeria; a country where executive meddling, undue influence and tinkering with the system are the stock-in-trade of our political aristocracy. It will be counter-productive to the agenda and perpetuity of the ruling class to allow such a strategic agency to run free of its reins on the tenets of autonomy and independence. Thirdly is the political pathogen called the PDP, a party that has exhibited Nigeria’s worst tenures of governance, whether military or civilian, and is yet intoxicated with its self-belief, and aims to perpetuate itself for at least 60 years! After 15 years at the helm, Nigerians are to expect another 45 years of abject poverty, diminishing returns of their lives, misery and insecurity, which the PDP symbolises.

    So, to ensure that PDP’s reign is not truncated, organisations like INEC are doing their utmost to dismantle all forms of opposition. The commission is also leaving no stone unturned in fulfilling its mandate, which saw it de-registering some parties in 2012, protracting the course of justice by unduly delaying the trumped up appeal of the Fresh Democratic Party’s victory in the judgment delivered by Justice Gabriel Kolawole at the Federal High Court 5, Abuja Division, which quashed its de-registration on July 29, 2013. This cannot be allowed.

    If public morality still counts, no member of the Uwais Committee on Electoral reform set up by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua should get involved with INEC. Why? One of the key recommendations of that committee is that for INEC to be truly independent; the President should not appoint its chairman. Sadly, Prof. Attahiru Jega was a member of that panel, and a signatory to its recommendations. When he was offered the chairmanship of INEC by President Goodluck Jonathan, he grabbed it with both hands. This obvious infidelity to principles is symptomatic of the degeneration of our ethical and moral ethos.

    Jega was a distinguished unionist, whose exemplary leadership of ASUU is still a reference point because he fought the military dictatorship to a standstill. As a university teacher, he rose meritoriously to become a professor. He was the sitting Vice Chancellor of the Bayero University, Kano when he was appointed INEC chairman. He certainly was not jobless, poor or hungry—key factors that inspire lust for public office by political touts in the corridors of power in Nigeria. Prof. Jega would have received my vote if he had run for public office, because of his pedigree in the human rights community. Was the allure of the lofty offer of INEC chairman simply too much for him to reject that he forgot the unwritten rule that you cannot benefit from a wrong you help to right. This sudden change of attitude by this crusader is hard to comprehend. The arrogance of INEC under his watch now seems to fire off wildly in dozens of different directions.

    To affirm his strong moral credentials, he ought to have rejected Jonathan’s offer of the INEC job, since the President refused to implement the recommendations of the Uwais panel which his boss, late Yar’Adua, set up, obviously with his full knowledge as the then vice president. No wonder he now he finds himself in the eye of the storm with the controversial de-registration of political parties, and the subsequent calls for his removal from the helm of the electoral agency.

    Now, the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA) has called for his resignation, following the agency’s decision to create additional polling units. The bone of contention, according to them, is the basis for the skewed allocation of more units to the north, especially the war-torn North-eastern part of the country where droves are fleeing from the insidious Boko-Haram insurgency. Even a lone voice that spoke against SNPA’s demand agreed that “if indeed Jega deserves to be sacked, he should have been a long time ago…” The capricious de-registration of political parties and his snub of the FRESH court verdict is the reason why.

    It will be recalled that in the heat of his December 2012 de-registration exercise, and after the Rev. Chris Okotie- led party won its landmark judgment upturning the de-registration, a league of 20 deregistered political parties called the Coalition of Concerned Political Parties demanded his immediate dismissal for deliberately flouting the ruling of the court on party de-registration. The National Chairman of Peoples Progressive Party, Damian Ogbonna, who read the position of the coalition, said: “We state for the avoidance of doubt that we have lost faith in Professor Attahiru Jega as an unbiased umpire in the political process. Having publicly exhibited his partiality and disdain for many political parties in the country, we believe he is no longer in a position to honourably superintend in elections where the same parties are participants. Accordingly, we demand that Professor Jega be dismissed immediately as the chairman of INEC.”

    One thing is certain: the piper’s payer is dictating the tune here. INEC is playing deity, because when the story of the Commission (2007 – 2014) is written, Jega, who responded to the SNPA by saying “I will be there in 2015”, should not expect to receive accolades if he persists in dragging his own name in the mud for whatever reasons. He is unwittingly etching himself on the list of names which conjure failure and are synonymous with the breakdown of developmental aspirations and dreams of the nation. It is without equivocation that only a truly independent INEC, operated with forensic checks and balances, can ensure a truly free and fair electoral environment.

    • Ojekwe wrote in from Owerri, Imo State.