Tony Marinho
COVID-19 records deaths approaching 900,000, infections 28,000,000, with around 56,000 recognised cases and 1,200 deaths in Nigeria.
The suspension of the executive director of the Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board (LSFVCB) for ‘unilaterally’ imposing the double taxation of five per cent across the industry appears to be ‘scapegoatism’ as part of political damage control. The ‘double tax’ forced targeted the group to go to court, at great expense, to get a judgment in its favour. Why so late a reversal and apology only under pressure! Before that we had usual arrogant disrespectful threatening government LSFVCB letters, ‘Demand Notices’, ‘Deadlines’, ‘Fines’ and ‘Punishment’. No ‘Please’, ‘You are Requested’ and ‘Thank You’. SERVICOM should teach governments good letter writing and change ‘Demand’ to ‘Request Notices’ and learn the manners governments teach children in school. This bludgeoning of the ‘citizen down with covid lockdown’ with the cudgel of government was calculated. It just backfired because citizens fought back. Congratulations, citizens! Should the supervising commissioner not resign?
No commissioner can be so incompetent as not to have pre-knowledge that an agency planned to levy citizenry of 5% of their earnings amounting to many hundreds of millions through an illegal ‘creative double taxation’ ? No pun intended. The action has ‘brought the state into disrepute’ and at a time when governors more sensitive to the needs of the Covid-ravaged people are setting up ‘Anti-Double Taxation Boards’. How can an agency create taxes ‘alien to the law’ without the buy-in of relevant ministries, governor, and other ‘powers that be’? Everybody loves money, honey!!! No IGR stream can escape approval and scrutiny. Though wrong, why do they never start small 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 but begin with a stupendous 5%?
Through the Freedom of Information Act, FOA, we demand the minutes of the meetings and names of government- protected officials who created the mess and the agency lawyers who advised and accountants who calculated the ‘mouth-watering incomes. They are all indictable for ‘aiding and abetting’ the measure against the citizens of Lagos State. Such require exemplary punishment, censoring as a deterrent for other similarly-minded government officials. This is not an error, judgment lapse or misplaces zeal to serve the state. It is an illegality called extortion. All legal fees expended should be reimbursed by the government as a goodwill gesture and apology. Let the agency face Abuja for its share of the already existing tax.
Meanwhile in Ibadan, Oyo State we have our own taxation problems -a ‘Generator Tax’ and ‘Yellow Line’ invasion -an imposition that Governor Makinde, an engineer and oil expert, may not have heard of from his officials as he has not yet cancelled them. Please governor, act quickly before business is silenced and killed in Ibadan. Thank You!
The naira, already battered beyond belief and trying to claw its way back to respectability faces further insult by ridiculously high Ministry of Information-imposed for NCC fines [N5m] and now irresponsibly high claims for ‘damages’ in the order of billions. Courts and companies are being rubbished. Stop it!
The Mali coup is a jolt back to the greed-driven militaristic past, long on virtuous vocalising but short on moral vow-keeping for African countries. We never learn. Good governance stops coup-making. Serving soldiers and politicians will fear a repeat of the ‘1960-80 African Coup Epidemic’ with the bloodshed. The young may welcome it. The middle aged will be cautious and the aged will despair. Nostalgia is felt only by coup-beneficiaries. Politicians claim there are too few beneficiaries from military rule while politics fills many stomachs. Stomach infrastructure?? Both fail the meagre requirements of the suffering citizens. Greed runs like a flooded River Niger in coup and political regimes and broken promises litter the dead dreams of neglected citizens. The hard road to 2020 Africa from 1957-60s post-colonial African rule has demonstrated to ardent militarists and broad-minded politicians that the mere speaking of good intentions through military decree and political manifestos have consistently largely failed to run any government in high gear to catapult it into the 2020s as a powerful proud national entity. Akinwunmi Adesina, re-elected president of the AfDB is trying to change that narrative. Congratulations.
Look around African countries. None has harnessed its full 1960s potential -an indictment on leadership! Yes, Rwanda suffering wounds from 800,000 graves is making strides and today the government schools are better than the closing private schools. For most, the stranglehold of the colonial ‘masterland’ stifled creative continental freedom of thought, with systematic assassination of leaders including Lumumba – 34 years, Olympio 60 – years, Balewa – 53 Ngouabi – 38, Sadat – 62, Ghaddafi –69, Doe – 39, Kabila – 61, Habyarimana – 61, Ntaryamira – 39, Muhammed – 38 and the celebrated Sankara – 37years all fallen to the staccato of orchestrated gunfire, interference from abroad or ethnic or personal disagreements in-house. We can boldly add MKO Abiola. For others, total freedom from colonial control meant maximum plunder and the rape and acquisition of the country in much the same way as colonial King Leopold acquired Congo for himself. For others it was a balancing act between foreign interference and a conundrum of local agenda. In Nigeria it manifests as ‘maximum greed, minimum nationalism’ and an inherited and imposed misapplied misnamed ‘Federal Unitary System’ paralysing good governance. Africa’s laterite earth is soaked with blood of unnecessarily suffering millions of leaders and followers and still the current leadership and followers fail in just leadership and good elections.
Source: thenationonlineng.net
