South African Airways (SAA) in conjunction with the Nigerian -South African Chamber of Commerce (NSACC) have called on football enthusiasts, corporate organizations and all stakeholders in Nigeria and other African countries to take the FIFA 2010 World Cup holding in South Africa as a collective responsibility of all Africans, which must be hugely successful.

In his presentation at the March breakfast forum of the chamber on Wednesday, Aaron Munetsi Regional Manager (West and North Africa) said the solidarity of Africans would increase the chances of Africa winning the world Cup for the first time in about 100 years of its existence.

He noted that the national carrier had concluded plans to increase capacity with the intention to operate a 24-hour flight schedule to accommodate various match times and people wanting to move around for the mundial.

According to him, this moment and the future belongs to Africa because the continent has the resources, the people and the infrastructure.

“ Our time is now. Turn of the last century belonged to the Europeans, then the Americans took the center stage and so did the China-Indo axis.

“In 2010 and beyond, we now operate in all countries in Africa, collaborating with our fellow African airlines on a global basis as World class airline with African appeal and  a  brilliant future  because this is an awesome continent.” Munetsi said.

Also  speaking at the forum, the West African consultant for South Africa 2010, a frontline football commentator and a constructive critique of the Nigerian football, Mr. Mamadou Gaye observed that sports  was  a good instrument in uniting people  of different backgrounds.

“In some African countries we have relatively a good unity among the people, but what this world cup is really going to do for Africa is to unite Africa. We have six countries that have qualified and believe me, come eleventh of June, it will be a celebration throughout the continent for each and every country that will win a game” he said.

Gaye called on Nigerians to brace up and take the position of the giant of Africa she claimed to be, by improving on the scale of economic governance and infrastructural build up. He also encouraged more interest in ticket purchases which he noted have recorded remarkable sales ahead of the competition.

Also at the occasion, Chairman, Lagos Internal Revenue Services, Mr. Babatunde Fowler while commending the official sponsor of the FIFA world cup, MTN Nigeria for its 100 per cent tax compliance, said it was important that the members of the Business Community performed their social responsibility and obeyed the law of the land by remitting taxes as deducted as at and when due,  as prescribed by statutory provisions. He submitted that willful and deliberate tax evasion was a sign of poor corporate governance.

According to him, “Ten years ago we used to generate about N600 million a month. Now we generate close to N15 billion a month. If you go to other states the story is not different.” He said what led to this gap in tax revenue generation was that various tiers of government relied on Oil until about two years ago when the monthly state allocation was cut about 35 per cent of what they used to be; they  have no choice than to revive their boards of internal revenue.

Kingsley Mamabolo, South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, who picked two lucky winners of SAA sponsored raffle draw at the event, assured participants that he would ensure that Visa applications to South Africa for the big game would be attended to promptly; stressing that millions of people expected to travel to SA or watch the World Cup requires that all Africans should collaborate to ensure its success.

 In his closing remark, Dr. Ebun Sonaiya, Joint Medical Director, Total Health Trust thanked the guest speakers for their insightful presentations and advised both individuals and corporate bodies to pay their taxes.