Hilliard Etta is the Chairman, Governing Board of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), a former National Vice Chairman, South-South, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and at one time a protem National Chairman of the party. In this interview with CLEMENT JAMES, he explains the benefits of the Tax Reform Bills and argues against scrapping of the NYSC, among other issues
What’s your plan for NYSC given the controversy about whether to scrap it or not?
First and foremost, NYSC was established 53 years ago, precisely in 1973 and the purpose for establishing it was to engender cohesion and unity of all peoples in Nigeria, especially those graduating from the four walls of the university. I am aware of the calls for the scrapping of the NYSC but I think it is borne out of the fact that people surmise that NYSC has outlived its usefulness and that there is too much corruption in the system.
For instance, people who are supposed to go out of their areas often find ways of serving within their locality and that doesn’t serve the purpose of the scheme and the impact of other people’s cultures. Now I understand all of these things, but I see Nigeria at the beginning of its transition. Nigeria is transiting from where we are now to being one of the most important countries of the world and if you don’t understand, it will be begging the issue that in this transition, the youths are critical because they are at the core of everything that has to do with this transition given the fact that there is a meteoric rise of one of the greatest black nations in the world. So, the NYSC being the most potent tool for the definition of its values, has the onerous responsibility of living up to the demands of today. Now, the Youths Service is not peculiar to Nigeria.
We have countries like Israel, Russia and Ukraine where there is a similar scheme, where the mandates are a little bit different. It therefore means that beyond cohesion and unity of the country, youths can be used for other areas of nation building. For me, I see that the youths of Nigeria, especially those coming out from the universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, etc., are largely unemployable and a lot of them are without skills. That’s on the one hand. On the other hand, we have large-scale insecurity in Nigeria.
Are you calling for skills acquisition for Corp members?
We can ingrain in youths some skills that can make them, not just employable, but ignite their entrepreneurial spirit. We all know that the government of Nigeria is over-bloated and there are no vacancies for civil servants anymore and that Nigerians graduating from all over the world cannot be factored in the service. So, they must either work in the private sector or be self-employed. Either way, they need vocational skills. So, we can use NYSC in that manner.
We can also use the NYSC in strengthening the security architecture of Nigeria by giving them some form of military training where Nigeria can talk about Reserves, so that in times of crisis, you can call on the Reserves to help out.
Anyway, since I became Chairman, some people have approached me with their thoughts. I also have my thoughts, but you see, I’m just chairman of the board. There are other stakeholders, I’m just first among equals. Others have their own opinions and until we sit down and have a conversation one may not know the direction NYSC will take under my chairmanship. But what I can say is, the NYSC will never be the same after my chairmanship.
People have also suggested that Corp members should be allowed to serve within their locality given the level of insecurity in the country. What do you think?
Well like I said, the reason for the establishment of the NYSC was for us to understand, because we are a multi ethnic, multi-cultural heterogeneous environment. The thinking at the time was we needed to understand ourselves, the Southerners needed to understand the culture of the North and vice versa, so that we can live in peace and unity.
The demand for that kind of understanding has not diminished in the Nigerian Republic. We still have very discernable fault lines in the areas of religion, tribe and language. So, that demand that is tribe-blind, culture-blind is still there. So, you cannot wish that we allow Corp members to serve within their communities. We must remember that those areas plagued by insecurity are also part of Nigeria and if you call yourself a Nigerian, even if it is not, the person who suffers fatality, is still one of us. So, if you say Nigerians should not go out of their comfort zone, that will completely negate the purpose of establishing the NYSC.
Away from the NYSC issue, what’s your thought on this Tax Reform Bills?
Most countries outside Nigeria predicate their economic development on taxation. Since oil was founded in Nigeria, it has become an albatross on our neck. Because we have oil, we have become bread-seekers. We just sit down and expect oil to flow, believing that it will now oil the wheels of our economic development. This is not what is applicable in other parts of the world. In fact, I know of a country that put all its oil money in its reserve so as not to distract them from proper economic productivity.
Now, you are aware, as I am, that most of us don’t pay tax. Most Nigerians are not in the tax net and it is not sustainable. You are also aware that oil is exhaustible, and it’s exhausting and that new technologies are coming up where oil will no longer be important to the world. When that time comes, Nigeria will not be ready with the kind of colonial and archaic tax laws that we have in this country. So, the President, a reformed-minded democrat, has brought reforms in the tax laws of the country.
Of course, in any democracy, there must be disagreement, but I believe that among those who are disagreeing with the reform bill, none of them would want the country to remain where we are. There are conversations at all levels and I believe these conversations will enable the President and the National Assembly to, at the end of the day, fashion out tax laws that will be in tune with the reality of today.
I think one of areas of contention is in Valued Added Tax (VAT) which is one of the many aspects of that law. If you don’t believe that the country truly needs a lot of reforms in tax laws, then listen to a lot of business operators crying over multiple taxation and companies have folded up because of the kind of tax regimes we have in Nigeria. And this President is so bold, sometimes I think that he is not interested in 2027, to carry out bold reforms, not minding the next election to bring Nigeria at par with other development-minded countries. So, I am completely in support of the President in his attempt to reform the tax laws of the country. And I believe that Mr. President, being a democrat, will have the kind of conversation needed so that at the end of the day, we will have the kind of tax laws required to move the country forward.
Nigerians are complaining of high-level poverty in the country and we are at the same time talking about increase in VAT, increase in electricity tariff, increase in telecom tariff and all kinds of tariffs. Do you think this is a fair deal for Nigerians?
Nigerians are the most resilient people on the face of the earth. There is absolutely nothing that will stop Nigerians from surviving these reforms and at the end of the tunnel, they will smile because they will see the light that will come out of that tunnel. There is nothing that the President has done that is not for the good of the country. He has not done anything to punish Nigerians and he is very much aware of the rise in poverty in the country. But like I have always said, if you live on borrowed money, what the Black Americans call OPP (Other Person’s Property), you will pay back someday. We were living our tomorrow today.
Nigerians don’t know that those who were making all the billions of Naira in this country were less than 10,000 in a country of about 250 million people. Based on this knowledge, the three leading candidates in the last election vowed to remove subsidy during their campaigns. You are also aware of the floating of the Naira. There is what is called round tripping. This was going on in the country and the President said this cannot continue. Let the Dollar be floated with its own value and this policy has helped the Naira to firm up to the Dollar. But you see, the Nigerian factor has also been an issue.
For instance, the aviation sector said the cost of aviation fuel constitutes about 50 per cent of the cost operation in the aviation industry. At that time, they were buying aviation fuel for about N1,800 and they said that was the reason for high cost of their tickets and we accepted their excuse. Then came Dangote, who started with aviation fuel and sold to them for about 50 per cent less, but up till now, aviation operations have not brought down the price of their tickets, notwithstanding the fact that price of aviation fuel has come down. So, most times, we are our greatest enemies. So those in the aviation sector should explain to Nigerians why cost of tickets has not come down.
Are you concerned that people like El-Rufai have been a serious critic of this government?
El-Rufai is a stormy petrel and I have a lot of respect for him. He is a premium performer. If you give him a job to do, he gets it done and some of his observations are correct. It is correct that the various organs of the party have not been meeting. However, I don’t like his style. I think that El-Rufai has access to Mr. President and other important people in the party. I am not aware that he has used the back door channel and did not succeed before coming out in the public.
