Opinion

By Rachel Jantiku It is common knowledge that taxation plays a vital role in the economic development of every country whether developed, developing or under developed, and Nigeria is no exception. Government at all levels depends on the tax it collects to run the affairs of the State and it is the duty of every taxable citizen to contribute their quota to this effect. Without taxes, there can be no country. According to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999: Section 24 (f) of 1999 Constitution (as amended) it states that “it shall be the duty of every…

After an unexpectedly sluggish start (it took him longer than usual to appoint his spokesperson, which conduced to the luxuriant flowering of avoidable rumours and disinformation), President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is finally decisively stamping his authority on the Nigerian political space with a frenetic blizzard of appointments and disengagements of the personnel of government. Both supporters and opponents of the president appear flushed with fervour by the ongoing whirlwind of firing and hiring. It has even infused a new lease of life to the notoriously lethargic Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), which has emerged as one of the most reliable sources…

A combination of Orji and Yari would have done the damage and set the 10th Senate on the part of self assertiveness from day One. By Dele Oni The election of Presiding officers of the Senate is regulated by the Provisions of its Standing orders, just like other Parliaments across the world, but the choice of who to vote for is a decision of  personal conviction of Senators. The road to the Seat of the Presiding officers of the 10th Senate was a long winding route, bargaining, alignments and realignments, before the General elections of February 2023 it was obvious…

By Dr. Bashir Lamido  " Ambition should be made of stener stuff" when William Shakespeare made this assertion he was referring to the likes of former governor of Abia state and Chief Whip of the 9th Senate Orji Uzor Kalu. 13th of June 2023 was a typical day in the annals of Nigerian Parliament, a day that was to produce a  Pandorax box from the Senate, the Dooms day, expectation of a turbulent voyage that turned a smooth Sail after all. Nigerians expected a tug of War and clash of heavy weights, yours sincerely did too, being aware of the…

By Emeka Ugwuonye As I watched Senator Orji Uzor Kalu’s speech on the floor of the Senate, tears came to my eyes too. For the six months he spent in unjust and wrongful imprisonment in Kuje Prison, I spent average of two hours with him every day. He is one of the best Nigerian leaders when you get to know him well. I am sure you have never seen me praise any Nigerian politician publicly, not even Zik, not even Awo, not even M. I. Okpara. But I have no hesitation in praising OUK. And if you recalled, he was…

By Kelechi Okoronkwo For a long time, more than twelve years, Nigeria wore a “Lowest Tax-to-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) Ratio” in the whole world like a garment. In tax and economy conferences and public discussions both local and internal, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP status was always on the front-burner. While some people showed genuine concern, others scorned Nigeria for having a Tax-to-GDP ratio quoted as hovering around five to six percent. Earlier in May, 2023, the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) expressed genuine worry about Nigeria’s tax system and the Tax-to-GDP ratio. The CITN was not alone in expressing concerns…

In 2015, a day before the election that brought President Buhari to office, I made a last-ditch effort to warn Nigerians about the impending doom of electing a man whose leadership credentials were uninspiring and laden with evidence of failure. I published “The Death of the African Big Man” on March 28, 2015, Presidential elections. The article generated virulent attacks from the All Progressives Congress (APC) mob, whose major defining quality was an inability to reason. In the article, I argued that Gen. Buhari did not possess the acumen, intellect, energy, and managerial capacity to run the modern, large, and…

From the old ancient town of Owoh, Ondo State, precisely on May 18, 1993, a healthy baby girl emerged, Elizabeth Itunnuayo, whose cry was hilariously sweet, echoed and lit up the lives of a Jewish-Nigerian couple,... 30 years down the road, the world has gathered to celebrate this rare Amazon, a delectable beauty queen with matching brains, a kind and ambitious woman, whose goal is to impact humanity by improving the lives of the less privileged, contributing to global social and economic development, and supporting Nigeria’s political growth. The Harvard graduate, and wife of oil magnate and philanthropist, Tein Jack-Rich,…

By James Eme Senator Godswill Akpabio’s ambition to become the president of the 10th Senate has obviously assumed desperate proportions with suppositions and accusations of some highly placed individuals working against him. It is against this backdrop that rumour mill has come alive with information circulating in Akwa Ibom State that Governor Udom Emmanuel is ferociously against Senator Akpabio’s emergence as senate president. While it is commonplace that the animosity between these two eminent personalities of Akwa Ibom State is at a feverish pitch, it is important for the media spin doctors of Senator Akpabio to address a few grey…

After failing to stop him from emerging as APC’s flag bearer in 2022 and mounting steep hurdles for him in the 2023 election, Muhammadu Buhari increasingly comes across as intentionally charting courses of action designed to provoke pre-inauguration confrontation with Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Or am I missing something? Take, for example, Buhari’s request to the National Assembly, just days to the end of his term, to approve an $800 million loan for the purpose of distributing “N5,000 per month to 10.2 million, poor and low-income households for a period of six months with a multiplier effect on about 60 million…