Aso Villa Reads for 28/10/2019
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
Daily Trust reports that the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the accelerated directive given on the Ogoniland cleanup exercise. The Acting Executive Director of the centre, Mr. Monday Osasah, said on Tuesday in Abuja that the Federal Government deserved commendation for the efforts it has made so far in addressing the environmental challenges in the Niger Delta including the cleanup of the region. “There is no doubting the fact that the handing over of sites to contractors is bearing fruit with the eventual commencement of the remediation work. This is a testament of the government resolve to cleaning the Ogoni land, in addition to the many more promises in the Independence Day speech of the President. “There is no doubting the fact that the handing over of sites to contractors is bearing fruit with the eventual commencement of the remediation work. This is a testament of the government resolve to cleaning the Ogoni land, in addition to the many more promises in the Independence Day speech of the President.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, said it has collected the sum of N4.012trn in three quarters (January-September 2019), representing an increase of N77.89 billion, while compared to N3.941 trillion collected during the same period of 2018. This is just as the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Tunde Fowler, while addressing the Senate Committee on Appropriations in Abuja over the weekend, called on Senators to pass legislation that will send tax evaders to jail. The Head of Communications and Servicom Department of the FIRS, Wahab Gbadamosi, in a statement, quoted the FIRS boss to have stayed that a total sum of N4.012 trillion was collected for January to September 2019 which is 61 per cent of total target for the period as against N3.941 trillion collections for the corresponding period in 2018. According to the tax collector agency boss, this translates to an increase of N71 billion. Full-year tax revenue collection in 2018 was N5.320 trillion which represents 78.86 per cent collection performance to the target for the period. Daily Time reported this.
The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) is currently moving strongly to ensure that government agencies under the Ministry of Transportation are put under economic regulation so that they do not introduce any charges without first seeking negotiation with the Council. According to Leadership, the Council is worried that this has been the trend with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and has taken up the matter with the Ministry of Transportation and the concerned agencies for them to come under regulation. Speaking on the issue, the executive secretary of NSC, Mr Hassan Bello said that having succeeded in getting the shipping companies to reduce charges, it will now focus attention on the government agencies to come to the Council for negotiation of their new charges before they are introduced. Bello explained that it was important for the NPA and other agencies to come to the negotiation table before introducing new charges because according to him a charge from NPA could wipe out the gains of the agreement it is planning to sign soon with the shipping companies to reduce charges by 35 percent. The Council estimates that 35 percent reduction in charges by shipping companies will lead to savings of about N480 billion annually with the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
According to Punch, the solid minerals sector contributed N52.75bn to the revenue of the federation in 2017, a 21 per cent increase on the N43.22bn contributed by the sector in 2016, the latest report on the industry released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative on Sunday stated. According to the report, the information and data followed an independent reconciliation of company payments and government receipts in the sector as carried out by NEITI. From the sector’s total revenue contribution of N52.75bn, payments to the Federal Inland Revenue Service accounted for N49.162bn, which was about 93 per cent of the total revenue realised during the period under review. Payments to the Mines Inspectorate Department, and Mining Cadastre Office amounted to N1.59bn and N2.08bn or about three and four per cent respectively of the total revenue from the sector. NEITI, however, stated that except for revenue from MID, there was significant increase in revenue from all other streams in 2017. It said, “A trend analysis of the revenue flows showed that there has been a very remarkable increase in revenue accruing to the federation from the solid minerals sector from 2013 to 2017, though 2016 witnessed a decrease of 31.02 per cent compared to 2015.”
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has said it will soon introduce various categories of visas for the country as part of its visa reform. This Day reports that the Comptroller General of Immigration (CGI), Mohammad Babandede, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin, Edo State. Babandede said that the visa categories being considered were visa for tourists, visa for retirees outside the country who wish to retire in Nigeria and visa for incentive/investors. According to him, “If you have money, genuine money, we are encouraging visitors who have intellectual capacity to assist in building capacity in Nigeria. “If the visa is not going to break national security, good economy, we would encourage it to be delivered in a transparent way to cut corruption. “We will ensure that Nigerians realise that there is reform based on the anti-corruption strategy of Mr President.” He told NAN that the 2019 Comptroller General of Immigration annual conference did a lot of group work towards achieving the various reforms in the Service within the shortest possible time.
Verraki Partners, has called on the Nigerian government, working in collaboration with the private sector, to develop a national technology agenda. This, the firm said, would help improve the country’s competitiveness in the global economy. Speaking at the recently concluded 25th Nigeria Economic Summit, Senior Manager for Technology Application Services at Verraki, Mr. Olatunde Olajide, advocated the need for Nigeria to overturn its perceived unwelcome stereotype and emulate countries like Israel, China, Singapore and South Korea that have all articulated and implemented a national agenda which has in turn helped them to create specific niches, improve their reputation while fostering economic growth. According to him, although Nigeria boasts of Africa’s largest young population, bursting with entrepreneurial energy, tremendous resolve, resilience and creativity, the nation was yet to articulate a holistic agenda as a counter-narrative to the damaging reports of fraud, corruption and unemployment. This Day reported.
