Festus Keyamo To National Assembly: You Can’t Intimidate Me
Festus KeyamoMinister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has made it clear to members of the National Assembly that he would not allow them to intimidate him.
“All my life, I have fought for good governance and constitutional democracy. I will not come into government and be intimidated to abandon those principles. I will rather leave this assignment, if Mr. President so directs than compromise the jobs meant for ordinary Nigerians who have no Godfathers or who are not affiliated to any political party.”
Keyamo, who was stating his own side of the altercation he had with members of the Joint Committees on Labour of both the Senate and the House of Representatives today, June 30, asked state coordinators of jobs for less privileged Nigerians in the 774 local governments of the country not to listen to the suspension of the programme.
He submitted that during the meeting, the Senators and members of the House of Representatives in the committee sought to be briefed on the implementation of the Special Public Works Programme so far.
He said that along the line, there was a misunderstanding between the two of them when they questioned why he did not privately submit the program to them for vetting before taking certain steps. “They suggested that they ought to have an input on how the programme should be implemented. In other words, they sought to control the programme as to who gets what, where and how.
However, I insisted that I could not surrender the programme to their control since their powers under the constitution does not extend to that. They insisted on a closed door session.
“At this point, I remarked that it was only fair for me to respond to their position before the press, since their own position was also made public. In any case, I remarked that the Nigerian people deserve to know the details of the execution of this all-important programme.
“I was then asked to apologize for insisting on a public interaction and I said there was nothing to apologize about, because their powers to expose corruption provided for in section 88 of the Constitution cannot be exercised in private. As such, there was no need to apologize by insisting on a Constitutional provision. Even their Rules that may provide for private hearings on public matters cannot override the provisions of the Constitution. I was then permitted to leave. I took a bow and left. I NEVER walked out on the respected Committees as they may want to bend the narrative.
“After I left, I understand that the Joint Committees purportedly suspended the work of the Selection Committees nationwide until they decide how the programme should be run and who should be in those Committees. My opinion is that it is tantamount to challenging the powers of Mr. President.
“I regret to say that their powers under section 88 of the 1999 Constitution is only limited to investigations, but NOT TO GIVE ANY DIRECTIVE TO THE EXECUTIVE.
“A Committee or Committees of both Houses do not even have powers to pass binding Resolutions. They can only make recommendations to Plenary. In this case, even Plenary CANNOT give DIRECTIVES to the Executive.”
The minister insisted and directed all the Committees set up nationwide made up of CAN, NSCIA, NURTW, Market Women, CSOS, Youth Organisations, respected traditional rulers, etc to proceed with their work unhindered, adding that it is only the President that can stop their work.
President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ahmed Lawan has announced the intervention of the National Assembly in the planned hike in the electricity tariff, which is billed to begin from July 1st, 2020 by stopping the plan even as it is deferred to next year 2021.
The presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church International, popularly known as Winners’ Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, has described the continuous closure of churches by the government as anti-church.
Nami: Changing The Face Of FIRS, By Abdullahi Adamu
Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) is very critical to the operations of both the Service and the taxpayers. Once a taxpayer pays his tax the Service is required by law to issue him with a tax clearance certificate which is a clean bill of health for him to continue to do his business for the current year. Without this certification a taxpayer can not confidently seek and execute contract anywhere. On its part, the Service issues the certificate as a statutory duty without which it risks court litigation by a diligent taxpayer. So the tax clearance certificate engenders a symbiotic process that mutually benefits both sides. That is why the Management of FIRS ably led by Mr. Muhammad Nami, having understood the critical nature of the issuance of the TCC, did not waste time in putting machinery in place towards achieving effective issuance process.
Hitherto, the process was very slow making it difficult to issue TCC to taxpayers. This had compounded the ease of doing business. The platform on which the TCCs were generated before now had constituted some needless challenges. Despite the sluggish nature of the issuance process, the Service paid handsomely for poor service. Yet the platform has no means of validating information with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) resulting in de-linkage between the Service and the taxpayers. This means that the platform had a ratio of 1:10 problem solving solution which greatly impeded the operations of the Service. By this token, the Service suffered huge losses of taxes because it took taxpayers several months to get their TCCs processed. But because of personal interest it was allowed to run for so long in spite of complaints from staff and taxpayers alike.
It is as a result of this that Mr. Nami directed the ICT department to evolve an in-house alternative platform in line with his goal of harnessing internal human resources to achieve his mission. This was immediately put to effect as the ICT department rose to the challenge. The newly developed in-house solution is currently proving to be more effective in the issuance of TCCs. It was developed free of charge and patented by the staff. This novel platform is different from the former one in many respects. It includes taxpayer’s email address and other login credentials for seamless operations and control. It accommodates many login for one taxpayer; and it is also compliant with smartphones. It has the capacity to accommodate about 800 users concurrently. Two weeks after its deployment on 1st June, 2020, it processed 2,603 requests and issued 1,846 TCCs.
Given the in-house development and deployment of this platform, the Executive Chairman of FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami has made good his promise of returning the Service to staff. What this implies is that Mr. Nami is adept at utilising human resources for optimal benefit. Harnessing and putting to use the talent and knowledge of the staff is a huge boost to their morale. It is also a step towards enhancing staff productivity and value addition to the Service.
Another benefit is cost saving strategy that Mr. Nami has adopted since he assumed office. When Mr. Nami assumed office in December, he did not mince words to say that it would not be business as usual in FIRS in relation to how funds are used. No more wastage of financial resources on frivolous ventures such as indiscriminate engagement of consultants for jobs that the staff can do or organising concerts, parties, and sponsoring pleasure trips. For him there has to be probity and prudence in the utilisation of the hard-earned funds of the Service.
Mr. Nami is thus making good his promise to the staff that he would return the functions previously given to Consultants to them in all ramifications. He has embarked on this since he took over the mantle of leadership. In addition to giving the ICT department free hand to operate and muster internal resources to discharge its functions, Mr. Nami has also extended the same leeway to the Audit and Investigation department to achieve its core mandate. Hitherto, the Audit function like the ICT was ceded to greenhorn consultants who more often than not shortchanged the Service. In most cases these consultants ripped off the Service.
There is a huge relief throughout the Service and the taxpaying community now that the erstwhile encrusted platform has been replaced with a more effective and efficient platform that guarantees ease of doing business. This has the added advantage of restoring taxpayer confidence, boosting revenue collection, and enhancing productivity of the staff. The new platform is currently running efficiently while its capacity would continue to be expanded going forward to make it compatible with the increasing demand from taxpayers and field officers. As a committed tax man, Mr. Nami understands too well the importance of tax operation, its strategic importance to the country’s economy, and how not to mess up the process for personal gains.
It is for this reason that he is applying himself diligently to improving the processes in the Service through effective utilisation of men and technology. In line with this disposition he has, in relation to the proficiency of the staff, reverted certain authorizations that were centralized in the headquarters like the utilisation of credit notes, operational letters, issuance of TCCs, etc to staff. Equally examination of accounts has been restored. Similarly, proper segmentation in tax administration consistent with the global best practices has been reinstated.
The various automation solutions currently being deployed to cover revenue collection in all tax types have the imprint of local content and smack of the innovative leadership approach of Mr. Nami. Despite the dire need for the integration of technology he is not compelled to engage consultants to undertake the jobs that can be undertaken internally. To him that should be a last resort or based on very compelling reason. This Management strategy is working well for the Service and the staff are happier for it.
Abdullahi Adamu, a public analyst wrote from Abuja