- As Labour, CLOs fume, threaten showdown over GSM tax
The Nigerian Maritime stakeholders and the Government’s ruling party, the APC Southwest, has begun an appraisal of President Muhammadu Buhari’s new appointment in the maritime, with party members saying they scored 4 over 22, even as stakeholders noted that less than 40 percent of the appointees know anything, about the Maritime industry.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday approved a composition of the Governing Boards of both the Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA), and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), appointing Emmanuel Olajide Adesoye NPA Chairman and Major General Jonathan India Garba as NIMASA Chairman.
Dakuku Peterside, NIMASA DG
An industry watcher, Timothy Mba said while he was impressed with the calibre of those appointed as Board Chairmen, he however could not ignored the fact that less than 40 percent of those who made the list, were completely, greenhorn.
“The Board Chairmen are good, but we can say the same down the list. Check the list again, you will notice that less than 40 percent of them know next to nothing about the Maritime industry”,he said, stressing that he was looking forward to those whose wealth of experience could enable the NPA, and the NIMASA fruitfully and effectively, contribute to Government laudable agenda.
Speaking in the same vein, another respondent who spoke on conditions of anonymity pleaded with President Buhari to rely more on the use of technocrats, adding that a country on the verge of recession like Nigeria, must deemphasize politics, in favour of the economy.
An APC member from Alimosho local government area of Lagos State whose view was sought however declined, stressing “We scored 4 over 22. So, how did we fare?”
A statement issued by the Director of Press in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Bolaji Adebiyi on Friday while highlighting the appointments of Emmanuel Olajide Adesoye and Major General Jonathan India Garba as NPA and NIMASA Chairmen respectively ; also indicated other members of the NPA Board to include Supo Shasore, Suleiman Ibrahim Halilu, Constance Harry Mashal, Umar Shu’aibu and Charles Efe Emukowhate Sylvester, Hadiza Bala Usman (Managing Director), Mohammed Bello Koko, Dr. Sekonte Davis, Prof.Idris Abubakar, and Mrs. I. J. Uche-Okoro.
The other Board members of NIMASA, according to the statement were Asekomhe Oaakhia Kenneth, Mohammed Gidado Muazu, Hon. Barrister Ebele Obi, S. U. Galadanchi, Ms Nene Betty Dike, and Dakuku Peterside (Director General).
Other members are Rear Admiral Adeniyi Osinowo, Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, Joseph Oluwarotimi Fashakin and Gambo Ahmed.
In the meantime, labour movements and civil rights organisations are on a collision course with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration over the proposed communication tax.
Groups, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Civil Liberty Organisations, in separate interviews with Saturday PUNCH in Abuja on Friday, vowed to shoot down the GSM bill.
The bill, which has been submitted to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Communications, will empower the Federal Government to impose nine per cent taxation on all calls, texts and data packages if passed into law.
The General Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, described the planned telecommunications bill as a bad policy with potential to deepen poverty in the society.
“If they go ahead with it, we will also, through the National Assembly public hearing, before passage into law, make our input to it, by submitting a memorandum,” he said.
Ozo-Eson said that the tax was regressive as it would have more adverse effects on the poor than the rich.
He said that the poorest segment of the society needed telecommunication to run their lives and their small businesses.
Ozo-Eson stressed that while the NLC believed that the Federal Government should come up with taxation to raise revenue, the burden should not be on the poor.
He said, “We believe it is a bad policy, it will visit more hardship on Nigerians by the very nature of the tax, it is a regressive tax because even the poorest require communication to run their lives.
“Even the small traders depend of communication via GSM to be able to transact their businesses and therefore the tax that is imposed across board is regressive.
“And the burden is higher on the poor. While we agree that the government should design taxes that should raise revenue, we believe that progressive taxation would be the best way to do that.”
He urged Buhari’s administration to focus on the rich in the drive to regenerate revenue through taxation.
He said, “We always insist that you must do a tax system that does not put unnecessary burden on the poor. We need a tax system that is progressive, not regressive.
“When you have a tax system that is regressive, it means you are placing undue burden on the poor in the society. A progressive tax system gives relief to those at the very bottom of the income ladder so that they are not taxed, or are even placed on minimal taxation. That is how other societies function.
“And then, of course progressively, you tax those that are more capable, and who have more income and more wealth. This is what we think Mr. President must strive to put in place, to target the rich and the wealthy.”
Ozo-Eson, who also commented on the claim by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, that the current administration had created millionaires through the sale of foreign exchange, urged the monarch to provide more facts on the issue.
Additional report from Punch