Human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), has said Nigerians are yet to come to terms with the level of corruption and injustice in the country, just as he noted that there can’t be any justice in the face of colossal diversion of public funds by politicians and public officials.
He also attributed the spate of insecurity and emergence of different militias dotting the nation’s landscape to lack of economic justice, explaining that the only justice available in the country was the one for the rich.
Mr Falana stated this at an international conference, entitled, “Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria”, organised by the Department of Philosophy, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, in honour of the former national president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Oladipo Fashina.
According to him, the figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that a lot of Nigerians live below the poverty line, saying despite this staggering revelation, some politicians are busied amassing wealth without considering how to improve the standards of living of their people.
“Though there is poverty in the land, the number of private jets in the country has increased from 25 to 137 in the last two years. Grand corruption has become a key component of President Jonathan’s transformation agenda. Yet, the president does not appreciate the enormity of the crises confronting the country.”
The former chairman of the West African Bar Association (WABA) disclosed that many Nigerians had found it difficult to become nationalists due to the level of injustice in the country, adding that politicians had also compounded the problem by promoting ethnicity over nationalism.
“How nationalist can Nigerians be? Can they be nationalists when there is no economic justice? Rather than nationalism, what we have are ethnicity and the exclusion of the poor, especially young people from the wealth of the nation. They now pick up arms against the state, and the state gradually drifts to the era of the unknown.”
Mr Falana, while criticising the neglect of the Section 2 of the Constitution by the ruling class, said this was deliberate, because they knew it safeguarded the socio-economic rights of Nigerians.
“There are many provisions safeguarding the rights of Nigerians in the constitution; UBE Act makes education compulsory for Nigerians from primary school to junior secondary school, there is Human Rights Act, and many others, but they deliberately make it impossible for Nigerians to ask for their rights,” he revealed.
source: http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/news/item/11682-falana-decries-level-of-corruption-injustice-in-nigeria-calls-for-economic-emancipation-of-citizens
Monday 13 May 2013
FIRS: Corruption, Enemy of Tax Administration
By Jude Okwe
Collecting taxes without remitting same into government coffers and evading tax are all corrupt practices which are hampering tax administration in the country, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said in Calabar.
Collecting taxes without remitting same into government coffers and evading tax are all corrupt practices which are hampering tax administration in the country, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said in Calabar.
At a workshop on the ‘Role of Women in Enhancing Revenue Generation and Tax Administration in Nigeria’, the acting chairman of FIRS, Mr. Kabiru Marshi, said so many Nigerians were evading tax; a development which was not helping government in its revenue drive.
He said women have critical roles to play in revenue generation and tax administration in Nigeria; hence women need to join in the crusade to fight tax corruption in Nigeria.
The acting chairman advised women to come out and vote during elections in order to elect those who will determine what becomes the tax law and who utilises the revenue so generated.
“Women also need to step up and go for elective posts while those in positions of authority need to join in the crusade of stamping out corruption which is the first enemy of progress in ensuring that the populace gets value for the taxes they have laboured to pay.
“They also need to ensure that taxation as a culture is impressed on our children and also encourage their husbands to live within the provisions of the law,” he said.
The chairman also advised the women to take the issue of taxation down to the grassroots, adding that the FIRS is currently working on a presumptive tax regime for the informal sector.
“As SWIT members, you have the moral responsibility to join in the campaign for voluntary compliance, such as religious organisations, professional bodies, associations and markets group,” he said.
“As SWIT members, you have the moral responsibility to join in the campaign for voluntary compliance, such as religious organisations, professional bodies, associations and markets group,” he said.
In her speech, Wife of Governor of Cross River, Mrs. Obioma Imoke said, it was remarkable to witness the quantitative and qualitative strength of women in taxation, normally viewed as a male-dominated industry.
Imoke described SWIT members as living proof of the magnitude and impact of women on the economic growth of the nation, adding ‘Gender in Nigeria Report 2012’ shows that Nigeria currently ranks 118 of 134 countries in the Gender Equality Index.
According to her, the research further show that women make up only 21 per cent of non-agricultural paid labour force, and Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of female entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa.
She said majority of Nigerian women were concentrated in casual, low-skilled, low paid informal sector employment and only 7.2 per cent of women own the land they farm.
She said majority of Nigerian women were concentrated in casual, low-skilled, low paid informal sector employment and only 7.2 per cent of women own the land they farm.
“This limits their access to credit and constraints entrepreneurship and business activity. We must all work collectively to remove all the factors that hinder their optimal participation in and contribution to economic activity. By creating an enabling environment that will enhance female productivity in both the formal and informal sectors of our economy,” she said.
Imoke called for a fairer, more inclusive and progressive tax structure in the country and that governments at all level and the respective agencies must work to create a more effective, efficient and economical system for tax collection and revenue generation.
Earlier, the National Chairperson of SWIT, Mrs. Justina Okoror, said the event was part of effort to ensure that policies on taxation and national development impact positively on women, children and the less privileged.
“The idea is to ensure that tax revenue are collected very efficiently, fairly and justly and also ensure that tax revenues are used for the upliftment of the quality of life of our people,” she said.
Okoror said SWIT was working to ensure that women issues and women rights were being reflected in government tax policies in across the states of the federation.
Okoror said SWIT was working to ensure that women issues and women rights were being reflected in government tax policies in across the states of the federation.
“We are working hard to establish SWIT branches in every state of the federation. So, that through the activities of these branches, the ordinary market woman and the woman by the street clearly understands her tax rights,” she said.
Wednesday 8 May 2013
Allegation of N20,000 bribery against me laughable —NUC boss
Executive Secretary of the National Universities (NUC), Professor Julius Okojie, has described as a “sick joke” an allegation that he was bribed with N20,000 to grant “temporary approval” for the establishment of a purported Temple University, Orozo, Abuja.
Okojie, reacting to some media reports on the allegation on Tuesday in Abuja, said, “ordinarily, the National Universities Commission (NUC) would not want to comment on a case that is in court.”
Speaking through the Chief Information Officer of the commission, Mrs Bukola Olatunji, in a statement made available to newsmen, Okojie said he was left with no other choice, “going by the way the story of an alleged bribery of the Executive Secretary, NUC, Professor Julius A. Okojie OON has gone viral.
“The commission took one Pius Nwachukwu and his wife, Chika, to court for operating an illegal university in Orozo, a border town between the Federal Capital Territory and Nasarawa State, but in his defence, Nwachukwu claimed that he was issued a ‘temporary approval’ (a term that does not exist in NUC’s licensing regime) after giving Professor Okojie N20,000 to fuel his car. Infra dignitatem!,” the statement said.
According to online reports, Nwachukwu said: “I have a Ph.D certificate in Theology from Temple University International, my Alma Mata, and I am the representative of the school in Nigeria.”
Olatunji, in the statement, further said, “this man, who the Executive Secretary has never met, told the court that “Mr Okojie, who is the Director General (sic) of the National Universities Commission gave me the approval based on the existing relationship we had for long.”
She added: “Where is Temple University International? It is a story that all right-thinking individuals should dismiss with the wave of the hand as a sick joke, because that is exactly what it is.
“The painstaking requirements for establishing a private university are available on the NUC website.
“To imagine that anyone would claim that all these were waived for N20,000 and such a story would receive the kind of attention it has been given is as regrettable as it is laughable,” Olatunji said.
NUC spokesperson wondered where were those peddling Nwachukwu’s submissions in his defence when the authorised representative of NUC testified before the court, stating, on oath, that the so-called temporary approval was recovered by the NUC’s task force on illegal universities during a raid of the premises of the accused.
She said Mr and Mrs Nwachukwu had used the fake temporary approval, which is now before the court to support the charge of forgery against them, to deceive unsuspecting victims of their operations.
Nigerian police commissioner seeks journalists’ help in exposing extorting officers
Bold journalism is strategic to the ending Nigerian police excesses. Bauchi police commissioner sought that form of journalism when he visited journalists in the state.
Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ladan, on Monday called on journalists in the state to expose any police officer found collecting money at security check points.
Mr. Ladan made the call in Bauchi when he paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state, Dahiru Garba.
He said he had severally warned police officers against extortion on the highways and urged journalists to help the command in exposing such policemen.
Mr. Ladan said the media and the police must work closely to combat crime and criminality in the state.
The commissioner said that he would cooperate with the media, saying his doors would always be open for any inquiry on the operations of the command.
“The Press and the Police should work together as a team and there should also be an exchange of useful information between us.
“There is also the need for reciprocity between the police and the press, as we cannot work without contributions of journalists,” he said.
Responding, the NUJ chairman assured that the union would continue to cooperate with the police to ease peace and order in the state.
He said it is part of the civic responsibilities of journalists and all well-meaning people to aid security agencies with useful information to make the society safer to live in, especially as the nation was facing serious security challenges.
“Journalists are key stakeholders in the fight against crime and criminality.
“The police should enlighten its personnel in the lower ranks on how Journalists operate, so that they will appreciate our job and allow us to perform our duties,” he said.
Culled from Premium Times
Police detain 17 officers in Kano over extortion, bribery
The police in Kano has detained no fewer than 17 officers and men of its command over allegations of extortion and bribery.
Kano Police Public Relation Officer, Rilwanu Dutse, told newsmen yesterday, that the affected officers were arrested by X-squad team monitoring several duty posts in the ancient city.
It will be recalled that heavy presence of security forces has become the order of the day in the state since the January 20 attack by an Islamist sect, which led to proliferation of checkpoints to checkmate activities of criminals.
The spokesperson of the command explained that the action followed ‘bitter complaints’ from the general public bordering on act of misdemeanour against officers deployed in strategic places in the city, adding that the timely response paid off handsomely.
Mr. Rilwanu said orderly room trial had since commenced to ascertain the involvement of the arrested officers, adding “so far, the command has found five of such officer guilty of extortion, while robust investigations is on for 12 others in detention.”
He added that the command would apply the big stick to serve as deterrent to others still in the service, noting that “security business under the current dispensation in the country has outgrown extortion.”
He said that the X-Squad has been boosted by the posting of more personnel to enable them cover more areas, advising officers and men of the command to embrace the new order to safeguard their integrity.
Culled from ASCOLOGY NEWS
Police should save us from extorting officers in Ijebu-Ode
Police should save us from extorting officers in Ijebu-Ode
Please and please, the Nigerian Police should act fast. There are bad eggs in Nigeria Police in Ijebu-Ode metropolitan area. A trip to Ijebu-Ode will make you hate the entire police. They act under the pretense that they are looking for armed robbers but what they actually do is harras anybody with a nice car. Once they get any young boy in a car, they quickly label him a yahoo boy (a fraudster) and will then extort money from him.
This is being done by the likes of police officers Oba, Peter, Femi and so on, all of the Ijebu-Ode division. Please, the IG should do something fast on this. We did not say they should not work but the harassment is too much. Please save our soul.
To be double sure of what am saying, anyone can just go through Ejirin Road to Ijebu Ode. You will find at least not less than four roadblocks manned by corrupt plain clothe police officers.
Citizen Emmanuel Ojumiri
Jonathan urges African leaders to fight corruption, capital flight
The president asked his colleagues across the continent to make building strong economies and strengthening democratic governance their topmost priority.
President Goodluck Jonathan said on Tuesday in Cape Town that African leaders must fight corruption and money laundering for the continent to develop.
Mr. Jonathan said this when he addressed the South African Parliament as part of his state visit to South Africa.
“We must check the illicit transfer of huge sums of money to the developed world from Africa through sharp practices such as transfer pricing, tax evasion, and corruption, all of which contribute to Africa’s economic under-performance,” the Nigerian president said to the assembled members of parliament.
Addressing the South African Parliament during his state visit, Mr. Jonathan called on his colleagues across the continent to make building strong economies and strengthening democratic governance their topmost priority.
“On the 25th of this month, Africa will be celebrating the golden jubilee of the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union. As we take stock of the achievements of our continental organization, it is also appropriate that we reflect and decide where our continent should be in the next fifty years. That destination has to be a democratic and united Africa that is at peace with itself and can compete with the rest of the world,” he said.
Noting that Africa has emerged as the new frontier for trade and investment in the world, Mr. Jonathan said African leaders must rise to the challenge of managing the new opportunities presented by this situation for the benefit of their peoples and countries.
“There is certainly a lot more that we can do. We must work together to put an end to the exploitation and exploration of Africa’s resources for export without any value added. African countries must transform from being primary sources of raw material into producers to create jobs and opportunities for our people.
“We must check the loss of Africa’s trained manpower to already developed countries. We must work together to promote trade and investment among our countries and build trans-national infrastructure in such critical sectors as trade, telecommunications and transportation in order to fast-track the process of people-centered, continental integration.
Mr. Jonathan said that while there were positive developments in the area of governance in Africa, with the continent now having more democratic nations than at any other time in its history, democratic institutions were still weak in many African countries and needed to be strengthened. He said that African legislatures must see the need to insist on respect for the rule of law and accountability in the conduct of governmental affairs across the continent.
Noting that harmonious relationship between all the three arms of government, especially between the legislative and executive arms, is imperative for the objectives of good governance and national progress, he said that he was delighted that the Executive and the Legislature in South Africa have forged a strong partnership for the benefit of the country.
“It is an example that is worthy of emulation by some other countries where the doctrine of the separation of powers and cordial intra-governmental relations still remain a knotty challenge,” Mr. Jonathan said.
Recalling Nigeria’s partnership with the leaders of the African National Congress, ANC, to achieve the liberation of South Africa and ending of apartheid, Mr. Jonathan said that both countries must continue to work together in the interest of their people and the continent.
The President paid tribute to the “singular and collective heroism, as well as the inspirational examples” of former President Nelson Mandela, Albert Luthuli, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Thambo, Govan Mbeki, Steve Biko, Chris Hani, and other South African men and women of “valour and integrity who were imbued with the spirit of sacrifice, patriotism, and devotion to the common good.”
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