World Bank

By Muhammad Aminu and Uzair Adam Imam

A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano, Dr Ibrahim Siraj Adhama, has urged journalists to fact-check figures to change the narratives by the media that paint Northern Nigeria black. 

Adhama stated this at a One-Day Workshop for Early-Career Journalists on Reporting Northern Nigeria, Fake News and Journalism Ethics organized by a Kano-based online media organization, The Daily Reality. 

The workshop, which was held at Bayero University, Kano, was organized by the management team of The Daily Reality Newspaper to groom journalists in Northern Nigeria on reporting.

He said our northern reporters should have apparatuses to re-examine statistics by the World Bank and IMF, among others, before reporting them for public consumption. 

Adhama, who spoke on “Issues in Reporting Northern Nigeria: A Framing/Agenda Setting Perspective, said the north was represented in media as economically and educationally backward with a high number of out-of-school children. 

He said, “We need to stop swallowing statistics about us. Most of these statistics by the World Bank, IMF, etc., will never favour us. 

“Thus, we should have an apparatus to re-examine them before reporting them,” he added.

Speaking on how those reports affect Hausa-Muslim northerners and, by extension, other ethnic groups, Adhama maintained that all the things we read about us in the Southern media were in themselves, despite claiming objectivity, subjective.

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

Taxes and royalties collection is a fundamental avenue for a government to generate revenues to fund infrastructure and human capital development.

Adamawa State needs other sources of revenue apart from the free petro-dollar from the centre. The state is poor, with a fragile economy, including thousands of unemployed youths and people engaged in unproductive jobs.

The World Bank says – most developing countries with fragile economies “often face the steepest challenges in collecting taxes.”

There is a correlation between the timing of introducing new taxes, peoples’ economic strength and politics. No government can survive local politics if it introduces new taxes at the wrong time- especially when it faces a re-election bid. Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri is seeking re-election in the 2023 governorship election.

Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s introduction of a new cattle tax regime appears ill-timed, unplanned, and poorly communicated to the concerned people. So many explanations from the Governor’s aides, yet no one understands them because the basics in tax administration were left out – new tax collection should be optimized, but with minimal burden on the taxpayers, it should be fair & equitable, and at the appropriate time.

The Adamawa state government said that the ‘Adamawa State Agribusiness Support Programme (ADAS)’ is designed to take full advantage of the agricultural opportunities within the state and will focus on three areas of the Crop Value chain, Livestock and Aquaculture. The government further said – the Agric bond will draw twenty-five billion Naira annually, which will be used to offset many of the state’s liabilities and loans, and open a window for generating huge revenue as well as galvanizing the market in the Agric business, especially the livestock subsector” including the upgrade of cattle markets in Mubi, Ganye, Song, Gombi, Ngurore, Tungo, Malabu, and Wuro Bokki.

The Fintiri government failed to do its homework in two areas – balancing the economic needs and political necessity. The cattle tax is as historic as northern Nigeria. The five thousand Naira (N5,000) imposed on every cattle is exorbitant and unaffordable according to many people in the business

On the other hand, there are thorny politics associated with the cattle tax’, and the people related to the business are complex and critical in the socio-political settings of northern Nigeria, thus before tinkering with the tax, there is a significant requirement for discussion, engagements, and understandings. The livestock business is a vital sector, so to speak!  as a result of poor timing and lack of discussion with stakeholders on the new increase in the cattle tax, the Mubi cattle market, one of the biggest in the north, didn’t operate last week. The security agents sealed the market on Tuesday, September 13, 2022.

Well, the Governor has found himself in a catch-22 situation because the upward review on tax for cattle and grains was one of the conditions the government must fulfil in accessing the capital market’s 100 billion naira agribusiness bond. Governor Fintiri has already collected 25 billion Naira from the 100 billion. And the investors are the ones to be collecting the taxes

Governor Fintiri is a history, policy, and strategy student, but often some of his decisions lack political strategy. He doesn’t have good political advisers or seeks any advice most of the time.

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja, 08036070980, zaymohd@yahoo.com.

By Muhammad Aminu

At least 614 public secondary schools in Kano State will be renovated through the World Bank funded project called ‘Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE).

The project which will be implemented by the Schools-Based Management Committees (SBMCs) of the benefiting schools has budgetted N1.8 billion naira so far.

The Deputy Project Coordinator of the programme, Nasiru Abdullahi, stated this during a courtesy visit to the Emir of Bichi, Nasiru Bayero, alongside other staff of the project on Thursday, 11th August, 2022 in Bichi.

“The SBMC committee has community and religious leaders, representation from self-help organization, and students, among others.

“The Principal is the secretary of the committee who knows the problems of the school better,” he said.

He said that the funds had already been credited into the bank accounts of the Schools-Based Management Committees, SBMCs, of the participating schools in the State.

According to him, the SBMCs members had been trained on the key priorities of their schools for the attainment of the desired objective.

He noted that each school received an amount of money based on the nature of project it will undertake.

“Close to N1.8 billion has been granted to the schools, which is half of what the schools will get, in order to ensure effective utilisation of the funds.

“Any school that finished its project will get the balance for the remaining project.

“The money is in the account of each of the benefiting schools. A school will come to AGILE to get clearance, which it will take to bank and withdraw the money,” he said

The deputy coordinator further revealed that the project is targeting close to 38,000 girls from vulnerable households for Conditional Cash Transfer which will be followed by training on digital skills.

He said that the girls would be trained on skills that would assist them to become self reliant in their maritall homes.

He, therefore, solicited for the support of the traditional ruler for the success of the project.

On his part, the Emir vowed to support the project wholeheartedly and urged all other relevant stakeholders to intensify efforts in improving the capacity of teachers.

“We are not saying construction is not good, but the teachers who will impart the knowledge to the students need to be improved.

“More teachers should also be recruited, and trained regularly to acquaint them with modern teaching techniques,” he advised.

He called on parents to desist from withdrawing girls from schools for marriage, counselling that girls should proceed to higher education after secondary schools.