By Azu Ishiekwene

hen the tenure of a chief executive is coming to an end, there’s usually a feverish outbreak of schemes to push him over the edge, for good or bad reasons. 

Lobbyists are masters of the game. They keep a diary of appointment and termination dates – including possible renewal where the law permits – and also keep a meticulous dossier of everything that happens in-between to sway public opinion and, possibly, the appointor.

If the chief executive under scrutiny is a tax collector, then he is despised with the venom reserved for Zacchaeus, the biblical tax collector.  Zacchaeus was the Israelite hired by the occupying Roman government to collect taxes and levies from his own people. 

Even though he appeared to be an honest guy, doing his job as best as he could, the system was so badly tainted that anyone who held that job was viewed with suspicion. Being a rich and short man only made things worse for Zacchaeus.

Many modern-day Zacchaeuses like the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Tunde Fowler, may be taller and therefore have no need to climb a sycamore tree to find salvation, but their professional perils have not changed much. 

As Fowler’s first term comes to an end, there has been heightened interest in whether or not he would be retained, with arguments flying on both sides. In a country so spoilt by oil rent that government is only just beginning to take taxation seriously against a wall of resentment by the public that considers paying taxes punishment, tax collectors are still as despised today as they were in the days of Zacchaeus. And their enemies are vocal and influential.

With oil revenues ever more precarious and politicians promising heaven on earth, tax collectors need the skills of Zacchaeus, if not his stature, to survive. 

On his appointment as the nation’s chief tax collector in 2015, Fowler was under pressure to live up to the hype following his accomplishments as the chairman of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), where he raised the internally generated revenue from N600m in 1999 to N20billion in 2015.

The challenges at FIRS were daunting, yet Fowler was also under pressure to meet the high standards set by his predecessor, Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru. With crude oil prices plunging as low as $30 per barrel at some point in the life of the Buhari administration, Fowler needed something beyond the precarious balancing act of Zacchaeus to raise revenue from taxes. The economic recession compounded his misery. 

But he took the plunge. Fowler plugged internal leakages and loopholes instigated by insiders; adopted more efficient tax collection methods; and enticed a large army of tax defaulters through the Voluntary Assets Income Declaration Scheme, which raked in N17billion within the first six months of introduction.

By 2016, FIRS had brought into the tax net 800,000 new corporate taxpayers and by the first half of 2018, tax revenue had increased by 42 per cent. Non-oil tax revenue in the same year was a record N2.852trillion, representing more than 50 per cent of N5.3trillion that year. 

By the end of 2018, he had almost doubled the revenue benchmark from N3.2trillion in 2015 to N5.3trillion. Also, the FIRS generated N1.5 trillion revenue in the first quarter of 2019, and revenue from non-oil taxes had increased to 11 percent compared to the previous year.

With more reforms, including but not limited to tackling multiple taxes/duties/levies; improvements in infrastructure; removal of red tape and better regulatory environment; reduction in corporate taxes; and possibly, introduction of flat rate tax, the revenue from the tax pie could grow beyond its present level. 

As things are now, the relatively narrow taxable base, comprising mainly distressed formal sector workers and struggling small business owners, is reaching its elastic limits. While going after the big-time dodgers, the government needs to grow the economy more aggressively and nurture small businesses to expand the tax base. 

Also, the challenge for countries like Nigeria is how to substantially fund their budgets from incomes not determined by the outside world, which include extractive resources, loans and grants. 

Collaboration and involvement, as well as deploying technology have been crucial to the changes at the FIRS in the last four years. The service signed a memorandum of understanding with the state revenue boards to exchange taxpayer information. 

It also broadened its VAT collection scope with the adoption of States Accountants General (SAG) collection platform, VAT Auto-Collect, integration of GIFMIS platform with ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and through e-Service payment option. Due to these efforts, FIRS and states have over 19 million taxpayers nationwide by 2018.

Through collaborative efforts, monitoring and compliance tracking have also improved. And because technology has been put to better use, it is easier to file tax obligations. 

By aggressively enforcing the Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN) registration exercise, 45 million taxpayers would be captured in the tax net by December 2019. The figure was less than half of that when Fowler took over in 2015. 

About 6,772 accounts with balances of between N1billion and N5billion were identified without their owners having TIN and did not file any tax returns. They are reportedly being engaged on what they should henceforth be paying to FIRS yearly at tax.

Some other measures Fowler introduced to grow FIRS tax returns in the last four years include automation and incentives for taxpayers: Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS); e-registration; e-Filing; e-Payment; e-Receipt; e-TCC (Electronic tax certificate). He is also focusing on big players in the property market who control big portfolios in key cities like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt and don’t pay tax on them. 

Also worthy of note is that within the last four years, FIRS has helped facilitate the payment of N135.8b as outstanding Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax liabilities owed the states by Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from 2002 to 2016. 

The recent reclassification of Nigeria by the World Bank among the most improved countries with regards to the Ease of Doing Business, attributed substantially to the institutional reforms introduced by Fowler at FIRS, means that the future is not gloomy without oil.

With Nigeria’s 2020 national budget estimated at N10trillion and considered perhaps the most ambitious ever laid down by a Nigerian government, taxation becomes a core source of revenue projections, especially with unstable oil price. It is a reminder of the conveniently reminisced glorious past, particularly pre-Independence Nigeria, when regions funded their budgets from taxation, agriculture and real production, not oil rent.

Will the hawks in government allow Fowler to carry through the reforms required to further strengthen the FIRS or will the lobbyists’ pressure for change prove too hard to resist?

Whichever way the government decides, the peddling of the long knives that started with Zacchaeus in Jericho won’t end with Fowler. But the government’s answer will send an important message about how serious the government is with its reforms.

•Ishiekwene is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview

A 2018 report accused Nigerian security and law enforcement agencies of pocketing as much as N100 billion in roadside bribery and extortion in the South-eastern part of the country alone over the last three years. In a statement to PREMIUM TIMES, the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law said findings into the report began in August 2015.The report with pictures that seemed to show officers receiving bribes at checkpoints.

BusinessDay Newspaper captured it thus: “Welcome to Southeast Region: Nigeria’s Headquarters of Official Highway Robbery is the title of a 2018 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety), a non-governmental organisation. The research for the report was conducted between 2015 and 2016 in the south eastern states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and some parts of Delta States. It graphically indicted the Nigerian police and other security outfits of collecting about 100 billion naira in bribery and extortion from motorists in the region. This amounts to 12% of the regions’ 2019 budget estimate of 870 billion naira (according to a recent presentation by Ike Chioke of Afrinvest.)

Globally, the World Economic Forum estimates that corruption costs the world economy 5% of its combined gross domestic output. This percentage encompasses the various vintages of corruption as categorized in extant research. Of course, if we sum up total institutional corruption in the SE region of Nigeria alone, it would triple this 12% police-specific bribery and extortion in the region.“

According to Intersociety, “the report is also in response to the proposed military operations in Eastern Nigeria, code named: “Operation Python Dance IV” and “Operation Crocodile Smile IV”, scheduled for 1st Nov to Christmas Eve of Dec 2019 as well as planned flooding of the two regions particularly the Southeast with alleged greater number of “Federal Road Tollgates”.

“This is even as it is found that 70% of all Federal Roads in Eastern
Nigeria are a death trap.”

But Tony Onyima, a former managing Director of The Sun newspapers went a bit further. Here is his story.

Concerned by the increasing complaints about the pains of Nigerians plying the Lagos-Onitsha route, I decided to seize an opportunity on Wednesday, November 27, 2019 to find out the real situation. For complete experience, I traveled with one of the transporters at Jibowu. After an excruciating traffic along Redeemed Church corridor, we finally commenced the journey to Onitsha at 10:30am. By the time we arrived the Niger Bridge, I had counted 60 checkpoints. I was painstakingly taking notes and few shots. These checkpoints were manned by either soldiers, police, customs, SARS, FRSC or a combination. Below are the locations of the checkpoints to guide your next trip to Onitsha.

LAGOS TO ORE:

1. Ilisan – Police checkpoint just in front of Babcock University
2. Ilisan 2 – Another police check less than 300 meters after Babcock
3. Ijebu Ode toll gate – Customs
4. Ijebu Ife – Police
5. Ijebu Itele – Customs, FRSC and Army
6. Ijebu Itele 2 – Police and FRSC
7. Ijebu Itele 3 – Police
8. Ajebandele – Police
9. Ajebandele 2 – Police
10. Ajebandele 3 – Police and FRSC
11. Ajebandele 4 – Army, Police
12. Ajebandele 5; less than 100 meters – Police
13. Ajebandele 6; less than 40 meters – Police
14. Ajebandele 7 – Police
15. Ajebandele 8 – Police
16. Ajebandele 9 – Police
17. Akinfosile – Police
18. Omotosho – Army
19. Omotosho 2 – Police
20. Obatedo – Police
21. Orilewo – Police
22. Orilewo 2 – Customs
23. Orilewo 3 – Police
24. Orilewo 4 – Police
    ORE TO BENIN:
25. Ore 1 – Police
26. Ore 2 – Customs and Police
27. Ofosu – Army
28. Ofosu 2 – Police
29. Ofosu 3 – FRSC and Police
30. Ugbogui Town – Police
31. Okada – Customs and Police
32. Okada 2 – Police
33. Okada 3 – SARS
34. Okada 4 – Police
35. Okada 5 – Police
36. Okada 6 – SARS
37. Okada 7 – Army
38. Okada 8 – SARS
39. Okada 9 – SARS
40. Okada 10 – Police
41. Okada 11 – Police
42. Okada 12 – Police
43. Iwinosa – SARS
44. Benin toll gate – Customs, FRSC, SARS
45. Benin By-Pass – Police
46. Benin By-Pass 2 – SARS
47. Benin By-Pass 3 – Army
48. Ugoneki – Police
49. Ugoneki 2 – Police
50. Abudu – Customs
51. Abudu 2 – Army
52. Omumu-Agbor – Army, FRSC, Police and Customs
53. Agbor – Police
54. Ekwuoma – Police
55. Issele Uku – SARS
56. Issele Uku 2 – Police
57. Akwa Ukwu – Customs and Army
58. Ogwashi – Customs
59. Okpanam – Customs and Police
60. Onitsha Bridge head – Mopol

You can imagine what will happen in the next two weeks when my brothers and sisters begin their Christmas migration.

We at Law & Society conclude with Bongo Adi‘s words in BusinessDay Newspapers.

“There is no gainsaying that the extortion of transporters increases the cost of doing business in the east. Every naira extorted from the taxis and buses is directly passed on to passengers which increases the cost of living.

Beyond cost of living adjustments necessitated by this brazen menace of daylight banditry by the police, it needs to be stated that it is this sort of maltreatment that breeds disillusion with the government of the day and the system of governance and can be found at the root of current political dysfunction and social disunity in this country. One of the reasons Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB flag as the justification for their protest is this victimization of the SE citizens of Nigeria by the nation’s security apparatus.

While acknowledging the rising spate of insecurity in Nigeria — not just the south east — that has necessitated increasing police presence, we cannot fail to condemn the increasing militarization of the state and the employment of intimidation as a governance tool. The economic consequences far outweigh any political gains — if there were any.”

By O. G. Chukkol

The Law seems to be bias against ladies and in favour of men. A man can impregnate a lady and still go free by merely denying responsibility.

Ladies you see, the Law says, he who asserts must prove. In other words, if you allege that a man is responsible for your pregnancy, you must prove it. Mere assertion is not enough. Lawyers in this situation would refer you to sections 131 and 132 of the Evidence Act, 2011 and to many decided cases. Though the burden of proof may be light if you have several witnesses to give oral testimony in support of your case, but even at that, I just hope they can stand cross examination in matters of this nature.

And if you think after giving birth to the child you will sue your man and ask court to conduct DNA test on him, forget it. The reason is because though in the case of Olayinka Vs Adeparusi & Anor (2011) LPELR 8691 CA it was held that our laws permit DNA test in proof of paternity, the same court recently held in the case of Anozia Vs. Nnani & Anor. (2015) 8 NWLR (pt.1461) 241 that such test can be conducted only with the permission of the man if the man is above the age of 18 (an adult).

Furthermore, it was held in that same Anozia Vs. Nnani that conducting DNA test on a party to a case on the application of the other party would amount to resort to the coercive powers of the court to compel her adversary to supply her with the possible evidence she needs to prove her case. In other words, if the court is to embark on this exercise (of ordering a man to be subjected to a DNA test to prove that he was responsible for the pregnancy that resulted in the birth of a child), the court will be leaving its role of adjudication to play the role of inquisition. The court is a trial court and not an investigative agency or body. It would mean a lady is asking the court to assist her to procure the evidence which she requires to prove her case against a man.

The court added in Anozia’s case that it would amount to breach of an adult’s constitutional right to privacy for him to be subjected to DNA test.

Funny and Ironically enough, it is easier for a man to claim paternity of a child if the paternity is attributed to a different person. In other words, a man can sue a lady to claim a child if the lady mentions a different person’s name as the father of her child. Interestingly, he can apply for DNA test to be conducted on himself and the child for paternity of the child to be determined. The reason why law will agree with the man and conduct the DNA test is because the child he is claiming is not an adult yet.

I find the law very funny and quite illogical. What the courts seem to be suggesting is that a child does not have the right to privacy. This reasoning to my mind goes contrary to section 37 of the constitution which gives every citizen the right to privacy irrespective of his age or maturity. However, the position of the courts may be premised on the need to always protect the best interest of the child. But generally I would have preferred the law to allow men to be subjected to DNA test with or without their consent in that such is also in the best interest of the child. Though some men may disagree with my opinion by saying that ladies can abuse it and subject many guys to unnecessary DNA tests which would lead to embarrassment to innocent men.

Whatever perspective one may look at the whole situation from, the law is always the law irrespective of its harshness. It always stands until it is changed either by the legislature or the judiciary through judicial activism. Since the law doesn’t seem to favour ladies and ladies are always at the receiving end of “unwanted pregnancies”, that is, stigma and frustration among others, they need to shine their eyes.

I know the write up is too long but permit me to make a quick and short remark on the controversial statement of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of Ukeje v. Ukeje (2014) 11 NWLR Part 1418 Page 384 to the effect that where a certificate of birth has been issued, evidencing the father of a person, the content of the certificate is conclusive proof that the person named therein (in the absence of proof that the certificate was not genuine) is the father of such a person. It does not matter who gives the information before it was recorded in the birth certificate. Should ladies then adopt this as a device of attributing paternity of children to stubborn guys? With profound respect to the learned justices this statement is too sweeping. I should not be misunderstood as disagreeing with the learned justices, I am only of the view that the statement is too general. I wouldn’t advise any lady to rely on this Supreme Court decision. This decision was based on its peculiar circumstance, so to my mind, adopting it may only lead to embarrassments to ladies.

O. G. Chukkol is a final year student, Faculty of Law, ABU, Zaria and may be reached via [email protected] or 08032470318

By Oladimeji Ramon

There was jubilation, particularly among media practitioners and civil society organisations, when in May 2011 former President Goodluck Jonathan gave his assent to the Freedom of Information Act.

The then new law was “to make public records and information more freely available and provide public access to public records and information.”

Its signing into law was to mark the end of a long battle for transparency and accountability in government institutions by the media and CSOs.

But eight years after the FOI Act was passed, the victory scored by the media and CSOs may have become pyrrhic, as the dream of free access to information is still far from being realised.

Speaking recently at a public hearing on the FOI Act organised by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, the Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Prof. Ayo Atsenuwa, named the failure of government to repeal the Official Secrets Act as one of the major setbacks for the FOI Act.

The law professor also listed “tedious administrative processes of application for information” and widespread disobedience to court orders for FOI Act request enforcement as other factors frustrating citizens.

Atsenuwa added that despite the provision of the FOI Act mandating governmental institutions to be transparent by making information available on their websites, many such websites were “maintained more for public relations goals than to serve FOI standards.”

She said the FOI Act had not worked because after it was passed, the government failed or neglected to “retrain and structure a programme of debriefing of public officers to internalise a paradigm shift to make for more willingness to make information available to citizens.”

Atsenuwa said whereas the FOI Act was a beautiful law, the identified obstacles had hamstrung it.

“The FOI Act can particularly benefit citizens advocacy for good governance in provision of education, health care and water to citizens in the following ways — Expose and fight corruption; gain access to information needed to engage in informed advocacy with institutions of government; and enforce compliance with FOI standards by reporting on failure to comply,” Atsenuwa said in the paper she presented at the SERAP’s public hearing with the theme, “Building the Capacity of Citizens in Use of Freedom of Information Act as a Tool for Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Nigeria’s Health Sector.”

But for the obstacles, Atsenuwa said with the FOI Act, citizens ought to be able to “request allocation, procurement and projects implementation.”

“This information will enable them to track information or documents relating to budgets and finance and what is being done.

“If citizens identify impropriety through the search of records, such findings can be forwarded to the police, the EFCC or the ICPC for further Investigation,” she said.

The law professor explained that any citizen can request information under the FOI Act irrespective of age and notwithstanding any physical disability.

She said all public institutions had been mandated to make such information available within seven days of the formal request.

She said the law mandated all public institutions to oblige all requests for information except if the disclosure of such information will be “injurious to the conduct of international affairs or the defence of the Federal Public of Nigeria.”

She said even at that such information may be made available to the applicant if the public benefit of disclosure outweighs the injury that may be caused.

Atsenuwa said though the FOI Act gives citizens the right to sue any government institution which fails to oblige their requests for information, the enforcement of court orders had been difficult due to widespread disobedience to court orders.

Also speaking at the SERAP public hearing, Dr Fassy Yusuf, a Senior Fellow at UNILAG, said it was regrettable that despite the euphoria that greeted the signing of the FOI Act in 2011, “its implementation has been Herculean and quite challenging.”

He said, “Some of the issues bedevilling its implementation include: unwillingness by public officials to release information to the media, civil society groups and citizens; corruption in low and high places; cumbersome and expensive legal processes; unnecessary bureaucracy/red tape; absence of transparency and accountability in our body polity; lack of democratic ethos and open attitude to information dissemination by public officials, and bad governance.”

Yusuf lamented that as a result of corruption and lack of accountability, public service in the country had brought the citizens no joy.

“SERVICOM (service compliance) that was introduced during the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo died shortly after the euphoria that greeted its birth. It is to be noted that the disposition of the civil service to any law or project would determine its success or otherwise,” he said.

He also bemoaned corruption and bad governance in the country.

He said, “Bad governance has brought the country to its knees and it is responsible largely for the past and present misfortunes. One can only pray and hope that the current administration would be in a position to institutionalise good governance. This is because good governance brings about accountable and responsive democracy, effective and efficient system, egalitarianism and sustainable democracy instead of a token democracy. With good governance, we would have had better implementation of the Freedom of Information Act.”

He said for the FOI Act to serve its purpose, the government of the day must embrace transparency and accountability.

He said, “They are two important elements of good governance. Transparency is a powerful force that when consistently applied can promote accountability in government and assist tremendously in the procurement of information about the health sector from government sources. Lack of accountability has been largely responsible for the distrust of the citizens.

“When public officials realise that their activities are subject to public scrutiny, they become more circumspect in their affairs leading to transparency and accountability in the health sector.”

In order for the FOI Act to succeed, Yusuf said CSOs and citizens must continue to demand its full implementation.

Credit: Punch