Suspicious Payments: Presidential Tax Committee Received N5bn From FIRS -Chairman

The Chairman, Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele has confirmed that the committee got the sum of N5 billion from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). In a statement on his official X handle, the Chairman, Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele said the statement became necessary due to a report by the Cable Newspaper that the immediate past FIRS Chairman, Muhammad Nami, approved the sum of N11 billion after he left office. But in a statement Thursday, Nami explained that the Cable report was out to tarnish his hard-earned reputation. In the statement, Nami took time to explain the approvals he carried out before he left the revenue agency. “The N5 billion paid to the Joint Tax Board was paid to fund the activities of the Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy Reforms two months before I left office. It was paid after we received a letter to that effect from the office of Mr. President signed by Zacch Adedeji himself.  “The report maliciously attempts to portray a picture that I hurriedly left the country on September 16th after these so-called “suspicious approvals” were made. Again, nothing can be further from the truth. If I traveled out of the country on the 16th of September, how then did I attend the handover ceremony with Mr. Zacch on the afternoon of Monday 18th September 2023? That handover ceremony was covered by the media, and can be cross-checked.  “It is disappointing to see the Cable, a revered online newspaper attempt to sensationalise events that took place in the ordinary course of work in office, making them seem as if they were done in bad faith,” Nami said. Oyedele said, “We are aware of a recent story regarding some funds transferred by the FIRS to the Joint Tax Board (JTB) for the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee.   “The Committee’s budget includes provisions for a national “Data for Tax” project which the JTB has been championing for over 2 years. The project was presented to the National Economic Council in 2022 and was meant to be funded by the federal government and the 36 states. However, it stalled due to lack of funds. Given the importance of the project to the effective reform of our tax system, it was included in the Committee’s budget.  “Other expenses included in the Committee’s budget, which has the approval of the National Assembly, include setting up of offices for the Committee in Lagos and Abuja, payment of salaries for the full time staff engaged by the Committee, travels and other logistics for over 70 members representing more than 40 institutions and stakeholder groups mapped to 6 different Subcommittees, more than 30 Secretariat personnel and over 40 students across the country. In addition, the budget covers planned stakeholder engagements with various sectors and interest groups, as well as international engagements and understudy of some leading tax regimes around the world, and so on. The budget covers a period of one year being the lifespan of the Committee. “It should be noted that the Committee was not set up simply to produce reports and recommendations, we are also charged with the implementation of recommended and approved proposals which need to be funded.  “The Committee’s mandate includes ensuring prudence and accountability in the management of our national resources. It will therefore be a contradiction for the same Committee to be wasteful or reckless in its own affairs. Members of the Committee work on a volunteering basis and are only paid reasonable allowances to cover their out-of-pocket expenses as we cannot afford to pay the commercial value for their time, skills and experience. As the Chairman of the Committee, despite working full time on the assignment, I do not receive a salary. “All the expenses of the Committee are properly documented and available for audit. We collect receipts for fuel, stationeries, and virtually every Naira that we spend to the extent possible. Over N4 billion of the said funds transferred by the FIRS to the JTB for the Committee’s work is yet to be spent and very much intact in the JTB account.” He assured that the Committee will be responsible, prudent and accountable with every Naira of public funds that it will be entrusted with. 

Gov Inuwa rounds-off 1st phase palliative distribution to 420,000 vulnerable persons

*Acknowledges receipt of N2bn from FG Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, CON says Gombe State has received N2 billion out of the N5 billion relief funds that the Federal Government allocated to states for the purchase of food items for distribution to vulnerable members of the public to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal. He however stated that the government awaits the receipt of the balance as well as the 1 billion Naira worth of maize which the Central Bank of Nigeria is selling to each state from the national strategic reserve. The governor disclosed this while speaking at round-off of the first phase of statewide palliatives distribution exercise embarked upon by his administration.  He applauded the Federal Government for providing the relief funds to each state of the federation out of which 48% is a loan that will be paid back over a period of 20 months at N120,000,000.00 monthly starting from November this year.  Assuring that his administration will ensure effective and judicious use of the funds, the Governor revealed that “We will set up a special committee under the Deputy Governor, Dr Manassah Daniel Jatau to ensure effective distribution of the FG’s palliatives to the deserving people of Gombe State”. Governor Inuwa also assured of his administration’s continued commitment towards addressing the plights of the people. “This exercise will continue, we will not relent in our efforts until our people are taken out of this difficult situation”, he stressed. He said the palliative distribution exercise was the 8th in the series of interventions carried out by his administration, adding that he will not relent in attending to the plight of his people. “I am not happy distributing palliatives to the people, I will rather be happy if every household in Gombe State would be able to meet their basic needs”, he added. “Our intention is to make sure that the palliatives we have provided reach the most-deserving people at the grassroots. We have provided an effective and efficient framework to achieve this by taking the exercise to the polling unit level. In every polling unit, 10 beneficiaries have been selected from making up the 30 thousand beneficiaries for this phase”, he noted. “Our ultimate target is to help not fewer than four hundred and twenty thousand (420,000) people in in this phase”, he added. He decried the lingering food crisis in the country, describing the ugly trend as a complex problem that calls for comprehensive solutions from all stakeholders, cautioning that distribution of palliatives from the government will only provide a temporary relief. “Despite series of palliatives distribution from the government, the problem of rising cost of food commodities persists, because that is not the way to go. Palliatives will not provide permanent solution to the problem. It is therefore pertinent on all stakeholders to find a permanent solution to the problem. He enjoined the beneficiaries to use the items judiciously, cautioning them about selling the items as this will defeat the intent of the exercise. “Use the fertilisers and insecticides on your farms to cultivate what can sustain your families and avoid selling them out. Look for potential places suitable for dry season farming and venture into irrigation agriculture. This is the way to go as we cannot continue to rely on handouts from the government”, he said. He used the occasion to call on famers in the state to avoid selling their farm produce during harvest period as the practice afflicts more hardships to the farmers and their families in the near future. Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Secretary to the Gombe State Government, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi thanked Governor Inuwa for his magnanimity in attending to the plight of his people at this difficult time. “It is out of his sympathy and magnanimity that Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya moved to rescue his people from the grab of economic difficulties”, he said, calling on people to continue supporting the polices and programmes of the government. In his address, the Executive Secretary, Gombe State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, who is also the chairman state distribution committee, Abdullahi Haruna Abdullahi said the committee has succeeded in inaugurating the LG level teams and flagging off of the distribution exercise in all the 11 Local Governments Areas of the state. Mr Haruna promised to uphold the trust and confidence reposed in them by ensuring judicious distribution of the item across the state, explaining that the exercise will commence in earnest in every LGA that finished setting up its ward level committees. The chairman said, the Items distributed include bags of Fertilizer, insecticides, rice and spaghetti and will draw 10 beneficiaries from each polling unit in the state.