Davida Opara

°Bold. Courageous. Fearless!
°Development Law & Policy
°LLB @University of Ibadan; B.L (1st) NLS
°Christ lover!
°Feminist | Anti-SGBV | Leading #OrangeMyFaith

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

There's something deeply feminist about Christmas. Don't run, stay with me.

[Catholic Frequency @CatholicFQ]

“Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore.”

— St. Augustine

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@deaidras @faree_for_real Personally, I identify as pro-life in private, pro-choice in public policy. Because policing choice is always a slippery slope

[Remi Adekoya @RemiAdekoya1]

Paradoxically, I think there are potential huge benefits to many parts of the world from the experience of US foreign policy under Donald Trump, including to Africa.

But to see these potential benefits requires first dealing with a key question: If a state is objectively either very or quite weak—militarily, economically or both— what message from a much stronger state is better for it to hear?

1) Don't worry, you're fine. You're a very important country. Of course, we see you as equal partners!

2) You are weak and we can ride roughshod over you anytime we choose, so best stay quiet and do what we say.

Naturally, if we are from that weak country, our ego and sense of dignity could well prompt us to prefer the first message. It is an obviously more soothing, pleasant and respectful-sounding message to hear. But. Does that message in any way help change the reality of our objective weaknesses?

Or can such soothing rhetoric actually lull us into a false sense of complacency? Into perhaps even forgetting about our objectively weak position and truly imagining that we are equal to countries in a much stronger position than us?

Such respectful-sounding rhetoric is often used by European leaders towards Africa, for instance. EU leaders use terms like "partnership of equals" to describe EU-Africa relations. They know that African leaders want to hear such language and, considering Europe-Africa history, we can easily understand why.

But even if such rhetoric is delivered with good intentions on the part of the Europeans, does anyone truly believe that an economically underdeveloped continent with a low industrial base and combined GDP of $3 trillion can— in any meaningful sense— be "equal partners" to a much better developed continent with a $20 trillion GDP?

I suspect many know deep down that the answer is "rather not." Yet, sometimes I have the feeling some Africans are more concerned with hearing respectful-sounding rhetoric from Europeans than with actually having countries that are objectively strong and which the world cannot but actually respect or even fear. This is to be more concered with appearances than with reality.

It is akin to prefering to live in a fool's paradise where everyone tells you you're awesome even though nobody actually thinks you are.

Trump's approach is obviously different. I wish he wasn't the most powerful man in the world today, but he is. And he is letting Africans know, in no uncertain terms, where he sees the continent's place in the global hierarchy— at the very bottom.

I don't like hearing him say this, and yeah, I think he is racist. But his positioning of Africa in that global hierarchy does reflect the continent's comparative objective weakness today—economically, militarily and technologically. That is a reality no rhetoric can alter.

And it has been the reality for a long time now; the difference being that most previous US presidents never made it so explicit how they saw Africa. While they generally disregarded Africa in their policies, they kept to the rhetoric of respect and equality in the moments they did talk about the continent.

Wouldn't it be more potentially beneficial to Africa if this Trump experience stings Africans— from elites to middle-class to regular folk— so badly that it is never forgotten? Wouldn't it be better Africa takes the humiliation being dished out to it today, in fact, chews on it well, and concludes, "NO, never again."

Never again will we allow ourselves be in such a weak position militarily that a US president can bomb our largest country —Nigeria— and all the Nigerian government can do is pretend they were part of the plan all along. As if they could have stopped it even they'd wanted.

Never again will we allow ourselves be so economically weak that a few rich countries in the world can disrupt our national budgets by withdrawing aid. In fact, never again will we need aid.

Never again will we allow ourselves be so weak that NO African country is invited to the table when geopolitical decisions that will affect Africa are being made.

History has shown that nations and people who have endured conquest, humiliation or genocide have responded in one of two ways: the Chinese, the Jews and the Indians responded with NEVER AGAIN.

All these previously humiliated nations are now nuclear powers with strong economies that no one can push around. Of course, not every nation has the potential to become a superpower. Israel isn't, but it is still strong enough and rich enough that no one can push it around. That is enough.

The second response to national humiliation is to forget it and move on, repeating the same mistakes that led to the humiliation in the first place, as if nothing happened. No lessons learned, no actions undertaken to prevent the humiliation ever happening again.

I sincerely hope the response of most African countries will not be the second one. For that is a clear route to more humiliation in the future.

In the era unfolding before our very eyes, one thing is clear: Strength is Africa's only salvation. If it took Donald Trump to make that clear to Africa's rulers, elites and everyday folk, then his presidency will have done at least one good thing.

[Elnathan John @elnathan_john]

As Nigeria moves toward another campaign and election season, people should brace themselves for an internet saturated with fake AI videos and manufactured voice notes. The technology has become frighteningly sophisticated and gets better by the week. What looks real will often be false.

This is the moment to insist on responsibility. Verify before you share. Question before you react. Lies will travel faster than facts if we let them. And if you have older relatives and parents, now is the time to warn them not to trust and forward a video or an audio clip simply because it sounds convincing.

Judging by what we are already seeing, the 2027 Nigerian elections will be fought not just at the ballot box, but in the gutter.

[Remi Adekoya @RemiAdekoya1]

Too many Africans still believe the myth that their countries are SO rich in natural resources, if they were just honestly managed, there'd be prosperity for all.

Yet, no African country is in the top ten in terms of natural resource wealth👇

But look at likes of China, Canada and US on the list. Despite having more resource wealth than any African country, they've never RELIED on that for their prosperity.

They've all, at some point in their economic histories, focussed on actually producing stuff, innovating, creating wealth and value. Creating the right environments for people and businesses to thrive.

Yes, some African countries like Nigeria, DRC and South Africa, have sizeable natural resources. But not at a Russia, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela level. What they have can, at best, provide a basic foundation to build a more developed economy on.

Yet, many Africans still have this mindset of "we are rich, we just need good leaders who will share the national wealth with us."

This belief fosters an extractive mindset and expectant mindset, not a creative and productive mindset. It fuels passivity, with people waiting for "good leaders" to come and share the wealth.

There is absolutely no doubt African countries need much better leaders who won't loot the little wealth available.

But it is key that Africans shed this belief that their nations are fantastically rich in resources. It is almost never true and quite counterproductive.

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@OboniiX The reforms committee has already done this.
https://t.co/0ZA2n5jK6U

[Grok @grok]

@Chikri1974 @OvoOnoETH @MyLordBebo The video appears to be footage from a large rally in Caracas during the 2024 Venezuelan elections, based on similar aerial shots of crowds in red from that period. Recent reports from January 2026 describe uncertainty and no widespread celebrations following U.S. actions@Chikri1974 @OvoOnoETH @MyLordBebo The video appears to be footage from a large rally in Caracas during the 2024 Venezuelan elections, based on similar aerial shots of crowds in red from that period. Recent reports from January 2026 describe uncertainty and no widespread celebrations following U.S. actions@Chikri1974 @OvoOnoETH @MyLordBebo The video appears to be footage from a large rally in Caracas during the 2024 Venezuelan elections, based on similar aerial shots of crowds in red from that period. Recent reports from January 2026 describe uncertainty and no widespread celebrations following U.S. actions.

[Lord Bebo @MyLordBebo]

🇻🇪 People in Venezuela are NOT celebrating in masses, nor are they marching for Maduro.

Most people are afraid of what will come next and try to stock up on food. They wait in line for groceries and then head home.

It is unclear if the country will be thrown into war or peace

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@feyifrank @JohnFanimokun How does his elitism affect his performance? He is wayyyyy more astute with deeper knowlege of the Nigerian economy and connection with key stakeholders, which is more important than knowing the book only with no experience of how things work in the country.

[Ụlọma 💜 @ulxma]

“Might is right” sounds fancy until you follow it to its logical end because it would also mean that the armed men who invade your villages, rape women, kidnap people, burn shit down, and seize power by force are morally right simply because they’re more powerful than you.

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@Alexanechiboy @taiwoyedele There's a tax calculator his team developed here: https://t.co/0ZA2n5jK6U

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@Systemsarena @taiwoyedele You are not realising that the man whose post you are lamenting under is the reason for the energy. What other govt official has the energy to be engaging Nigerians all day on every platform??? Your prayer should be: we need more Mr Taiwo Oyedele's in government!

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@abingos2 @taiwoyedele You're making unfounded statements that display serious ignorance. When you find yourself a lawsuit for defamation now you will start crying foul

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@adeoluwa09 @AdeyinkaStates1 @HayonielGram @taiwoyedele They don't have incentive to pass burdens to you because cost-push inflation will affect their assets too.

[Taiwo Oyedele @taiwoyedele]

House of Representatives, National Assembly
Office of the House Spokesman

PRESS STATEMENT
For Immediate Release

Speaker Abbas Leads Transparency Drive as House Releases Four Tax Acts for Public Records

*Abuja, FCT | Saturday, January 3, 2026* — The House of Representatives, under the leadership of the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D., GCON, has released the four tax reform Acts duly signed into law by His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, to Nigerians for public record, verification, and reference.

Speaker Abbas, in concert with the Senate President, H.E. Senator Godswill Akpabio, GCON, directed the immediate release of the Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the Acts, including the endorsement and assent pages signed by the President, following public concerns and allegations regarding purported alterations and the circulation of unauthorised and misleading versions of the laws. This decisive intervention underscores Speaker Abbas’ long-standing commitment to transparency, legislative integrity, and public confidence in the law-making process.

Indeed, the attention of the House was drawn to the existence of inconsistent versions of the tax laws in circulation after a vigilant Honourable Member identified discrepancies, raised the alarm, and formally reported the matter to the House on a point of privilege. Acting promptly, the Speaker ordered an internal verification and the immediate public release of the certified Acts to eliminate doubt, restore clarity, and protect the sanctity of the legislative record.

From the initiation of the tax reform process through extensive stakeholder consultations, committee scrutiny, rigorous clause-by-clause consideration, robust plenary debates, and eventual passage, Speaker Abbas has provided firm and steady leadership to ensure that the reforms were evidence-based, inclusive, and aligned with Nigeria’s fiscal realities and development priorities. Throughout the process, Speaker Abbas consistently emphasised that tax reform must be anchored on clarity, fairness, and strict adherence to constitutional and parliamentary procedure.

The four Acts released are:

• The Nigeria Tax Act, 2025
• The Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025
• The National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025
• The Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025

These landmark legislations constitute the backbone of Nigeria’s contemporary tax reform architecture, designed to modernise revenue administration, improve compliance, reduce inefficiencies, eliminate duplications, and strengthen fiscal coordination across the federation.

In directing the release of the certified Acts, Speaker Abbas reassured Nigerians that the National Assembly remains an institution of records, guided by clearly defined rules, precedents, archival systems, and verification processes that safeguard the authenticity of every law enacted.

According to him:

“The National Assembly is an institution built on records, procedure, and institutional memory. Every Bill, every amendment, and every Act follows a traceable constitutional and parliamentary pathway. Once a law is passed and assented to, its integrity is preserved through certification and custody by the legislature. There is no ambiguity about what constitutes the law.”

Speaker Abbas further emphasised that the House would remain vigilant and proactive in defending the integrity of its work, clarifying that the only authentic and authoritative versions of the four tax Acts are those certified and released by the National Assembly.

Members of the public, institutions, professionals, and stakeholders are therefore advised to disregard and discountenance any other documents or versions in circulation that are not certified by the National Assembly, as such materials do not form part of the official legislative record.

Consequently, the Clerk to the National Assembly has concluded the process of aligning the Acts - duly passed, assented to, and certified - with the Federal Government Printing Press to ensure accuracy, conformity, and uniformity. Hard copies of the certified tax Acts have also been produced and are being circulated to all Honourable Members and Distinguished Senators, and made available to the public, to ensure institutional clarity, uniform reference, and legislative certainty.

The House affirms that the work of the Ad-Hoc Committee, chaired by Rt. Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara, OON, continues, in line with its mandate, to determine the circumstances surrounding the circulation of unauthorised versions of the tax Acts and to recommend measures that will prevent a recurrence and preserve the authenticity and reliability of parliamentary records.

The House of Representatives, under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D., GCON, reaffirms its unwavering commitment to constitutionalism, the rule of law, transparency, and accountable governance. The House will continue to strengthen internal controls, uphold institutional discipline, and protect the integrity of Nigeria’s legislative process in the collective interest of the Nigerian people.

Signed:

Rep. Akintunde Rotimi, mnipr
Spokesman, House of Representatives

Gazetted Tax Acts
https://t.co/jDwYmH1Qq0

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@EmmanuelMacron @grok please translate to English

[JJ. Omojuwa @Omojuwa]

@DrJoeAbah Going by the prevailing reality, anything and everything is on the cards. As it was in the Hobbesian days, might is back being right.

[Elyon @0xkitng]

I think at some level, there’s no biggest except we’re talking about the largest. People usually assume US and Israel willingness to be ruthless as being superior.

Military capability and military employment are not the same thing.

Ruthlessness is not evenly distributed across military because it is a political decision, not a technical one. Many states possess the capacity to inflict comparable or even greater levels of destruction, but their foreign policy constraints, domestic legitimacy concerns, and long term strategic calculations restrain them. Reputation in warfare is therefore shaped more by willingness than by capability.

Russia makes this obvious. The narrative that the Russian military is weak is something I take as false. Russia retains the capacity to degrade Ukraine far more severely than it has done so far. If Moscow’s objective were large scale urban leveling or territorial annihilation similar to past US in Fallujah or Israeli campaigns, the means exist.

What restrains Russia is political calculation, escalation management, international optics, internal legitimacy, and most importantly it sees some of these people in those territory as Russians.

This same logic is why a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be strategically reckless if not accompanied by an annihilation doctrine.

China would fall into a prolonged, grinding conflict similar to Russia’s experience if its objective is reunification rather than destruction.

Beijing considers Taiwanese populations as Chinese. That alone imposes operational restraint.

The US has never fought enemies it considers culturally or civilizationally similar. Israel has not fought an enemy that fully shares its national identity. In such wars, annihilation or near total destruction becomes politically easier to justify.

China does not have this with Taiwan. Any attempt to preserve infrastructure, population, and economic value would dramatically slow operations and expose Chinese weakness rather than strength.

If China were to move on Taiwan tomorrow under a constrained doctrine, it would likely be perceived as another major power trapped in a long war. Perception matters. Strength is not judged by intent but by outcome. A fast decisive campaign projects power. A prolonged war makes you feel weak

Projection of power also does not equate to being the strongest. Different states build forces around different doctrines. The US maintains an extremely large military designed for global projection, expeditionary warfare, and sustained overseas operations. This does not automatically translate into dominance against a state whose doctrine is defensive and denial based.

China’s military doctrine is fundamentally defensive in orientation. Its training, force structure, and weapons development are focused on neutralizing the primary instruments of US power projection, particularly aircraft carriers, logistics chains, and forward bases. Anti access and area denial is not about fighting everywhere. It is about making entry prohibitively costly.

The US may be capable of projecting force globally, but projection does not guarantee deterrence against a state that has fully committed to territorial defense. Deterrence fails when projection meets denial and political will favors endurance over dominance.

Let use Nigeria to support this. size does not equal capability. During the Biafra war, less than 700 Biafran soldiers destroyed Nigeria’s 2div, leading tot the death of over 5,000 soldiers. It was doctrine, terrain exploitation, morale, and tactical coherence.

The own view is this. Strongest is not raw size. What America enjoys is a reputation that its political system allows. Not everyone wants to go into another country and be destructive.

[Davida Opara @OparaDavida]

@okikiayo11 Hi

[Ab Abdillah👩‍💻 - ACA @Hishaqq08]

This is false and misleading.

1. Withholding tax on royalties is 10%….. This WHT is an advance payment of your income tax not a separate tax, which means whatever you have as income tax liability, the WHT already deducted will be used to offset it.

Moreover, the tax reform introduces specific incentives (economic development incentives - EDI) for the creative industry, particularly for music production and motion picture, video, and television programme production, distribution, and exhibition provided you have the capital requirement.

2. During this period, you’ll enjoy an income tax exemption for the first five (5) years.

3. If you then reinvest 100% of the profits into the business during this period, the exemption will be extended by an additional five (5) years, making ten (10) years of income tax relief (tax free).

4. For music production- minimum capital is set at N250million

5. For motion picture, video and television programme production, distribution and exhibitions - minimum capital is set at N5billion.

While some are spreading misinformation about the tax reform, others are already positioning themselves to take advantage of the incentives.

Don’t be left behind, get the right information and consult a tax professional today. ✌️