Aso Villa Reads for 15/10/2019
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
The National Social Investment Office (NSIO) in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) will, on Friday, launch a toll-free line to checkmate corruption and truancy in the school feeding and N-Power schemes of the Federal Government. As reported by Guardian, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk, is unveiling the hotline, 0800- Call-ICPC (0800 -22554272), at the State House Auditorium, Abuja. Government said yesterday that observed extortion of cash transfer beneficiaries and cooks as well as reported cases of truancy on the part of some N-Power beneficiaries informed the need for close monitoring of the various components of the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) to achieve their objectives. According to the National Social Investment Programmes’ (NSIPs) Communications Manager, Tienabeso Bibiye, in a statement, the event, which aims to identify, curb and address corrupt tendencies in the programmes, is part of government’s commitment to ensure that the projects were executed transparently in line with the zero tolerance for corruption posture of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler has dismissed claims that the planned increase in Value Added Tax from 5 per cent to 7.5 per cent is targeted at making Nigerians poorer. Fowler was speaking at the public presentation and breakdown of the 2020 budget proposal yesterday in Abuja. He said Value Added Tax is a tax of “choice” as the federal government has exempted very vital items from inclusion into Value Added Tax. “Key basic amenities like education, agricultural and veterinary medicine, farming machinery, transportation equipment, all exports excluding non-oil exports, plant machinery for utilization in gas exploration in the downstream petroleum operations and goods imported for use in exports processing zones. “VAT is a tax with a choice, it is a consumption tax, if you decide to have your residence in a hotel or your meal in a restaurant, then you pay the tax, it is those who have disposable incomes that will pay VAT. To explain taxes better, we have to look what has occurred over the last three years especially in the area of Value Added Tax, Company Income Tax and Stamp duty tax. “There has been a 32.8 per cent increase in Value Added Tax, 39 per cent in Company Income Tax and 208 per cent in stamp duty tax. Therefore the planned increase requires collaboration. Therefore, it is a crime for any organization or company to operate without paying tax and in the other way round making huge profits. “In countries like Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, South Africa among others, VAT is a very essential component of their revenue generation and the planned hike in Nigeria’s Value Added Tax is for the betterment of Nigeria,” Fowler explained. Daily Times reports.
Radio Nigeria reported that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Tuesday received 173 Nigerians who had been stranded in Libya. The returnees were conveyed in two flights and were received by the Coordinator, Territorial Office, NEMA, Alhaji Abubakar Muhammed at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. Nigerians have returned back from Libya, with help from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the European Union (EU) under the Assisted Voluntary Returnees Programme which began in April 2017. “Twenty-one of the returnees had medical issues and were immediately attended to by a medical team,” he said.
According to Guardian, the Federal Government says it will increase crude oil production to the national target of three million barrels per day and reserves of 40 million barrels before 2023. Mr Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said this while addressing the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Upstream chaired by Rep. Musa Adar (Sokoto-APC) on Monday. According to Census and Economic Information Centre (CEIC), Nigeria’s crude oil production was reported at 1,866 barrels/day in Aug. recording an increase from the previous number of 1,780 barrel/day for July. Also, according to NNPC, reserves of crude oil stand at 28.2 billion barrels. “It is true that our production target has not materialised over the years and indeed the national target of three million barrels/day and 40 million barrels of reserve has not been attained. “What I can assure you is that we are very focused today, we know this is possible and we have taken steps to realise this before the end of 2023,” he said. The GMD said that a number of interventions were ongoing to ensure increase in the production of crude oil.
As reported by Premium Times, the Federal Government on Monday listed its N15 billion green bond on the daily official list of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the seven-year bond issued at coupon rate of 14.50 per cent on June 13, 2019 would mature on June 13, 2026. The Series II Green Bond was issued to finance renewable energy, afforestation, and transportation projects. The series 11 bond followed the debut Sovereign ₦10.69 billion Green Bond that was issued in December 2017 and listed on the NSE in July 2018. Commenting on the listing, NSE Head, Trading Business Division, Jude Chiemeka, said the exchange was pleased to admit the bond. “We are pleased to admit the Series II FGN Green Bond to our Green and Sustainable Bond Market. “Our collaboration with the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the Debt Management Office on deepening the Green Bond market, which dates back to 2016, reinforces the Exchange’s commitment to position Nigeria as a financial centre for green and sustainable financing,” Mr Chiemeka said.
Business Day reports that the Nigerian government has rallied oil-producing African countries in a move geared towards ensuring that the continent benefits maximally from hydrocarbon deposits locked in its shelves. The strategic move by Nigeria was spearheaded by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who, in a one fell swoop, peregrinated three nations of Angola, Gabon and South Sudan over the weekend. Sylva, who doubles as President of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), had toured the oil-producing African nations that are also signatories to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC’s) Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) Agreement to discuss compliance ahead of the next Joint Ministerial Meeting Committee (JMMC) of OPEC and non-OPEC countries in Vienna, Austria in December. Sylva in a statement on Sunday noted that as a member of international energy groups such as the OPEC and APPO, Nigeria needed to further deepen its collaboration with fellow African nations so as to grow the continent’s oil industry. Sylva, who was accompanied by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari and Nigeria’s OPEC Governor, Omar Farouk Ibrahim, explained that African oil producers needed to work together to judiciously utilise their abundant hydrocarbon resources for the benefit of their respective citizens.
The Federal Ministry of Education says the internationalisation of higher education through partnerships and collaborations is cardinal to ensuring and maintaining the quality and relevance of Nigeria’s tertiary education system, especially universities. According to Vanguard, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said on Monday in Lagos this at the opening of the maiden University of Lagos (UNILAG) International Week. The theme of the event is: “Education in a Connected World”. NAN reports that Adamu was represented by Dr Chris Miyaki, an official of the National Universities Commission (NUC). He said that universities must now, more than ever, take deliberate measures to key into available opportunities for linkages and cooperation with their foreign counterparts, if they were to remain globally competitive. According to the minister, no country in the world can do it all alone. “Our institutions of higher learning must, out of necessity, demonstrate those attributes that make them truly international entities.
