Business
Fuel scarcity bites harder as NNPC rations supply to depots
Fuel scarcity bites harder as NNPC rations supply to depots
Fuel scarcity which resurfaced in major cities across the country early in the week has become more intense with long queues of vehicles at few filling stations selling petrol to motorists.
This, Newstrends learnt on Thursday, came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, sole importer of petrol, had resorted to rationing the product to depots.
Petroleum product marketers also claimed that the depots had limited supply.
Chinedu Uzordike, a member of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), was quoted in a report by BusinessDay as saying that most independent stations were unable to get products from the depots.
He said, “We have been finding it very difficult to pick products from NNPC in the past two days and that is why you are seeing the skeletal scarcity.
“The important point here is that despite the deregulation, NNPC is still the sole importer of the PMS and no other depot is importing.”
Meanwhile, as the situation worsens, many in search of fuel have had to go a long distance and spend quality time at filling stations to get the product.
It is lamentations from motorists and others using petrol across the cities of Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country.
People have expressed worry that even when they struggle to pay more than the 200 per cent increase for the product since the last hike last year, they still have to face products scarcity.
John Akpe, a motorist said, “There is no justification whatsoever for this trouble our leaders are putting us through.
“They removed fuel subsidy and raised the price from N165 per litre to N568 and N600+ per litre and we still struggle to get the product. Who are those in charge of this thing that keeps manipulating the system?”
Business
Naira gains marginally at N1,490/$ on parallel market
Naira gains marginally at N1,490/$ on parallel market
The naira appreciated further to N1,490 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, reflecting a 1.34 percent increase from the N1,510/$ rate recorded on May 17.
Currency traders in Lagos, known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the buying rate of the dollar at N1,450 and the selling rate at N1,490, yielding a profit margin of N40.
In the official FX market, the naira also appreciated by 1.93 percent, trading at N1,468.99/$ on Monday, compared to N1,497.33/$ on May 17. During intra-day trading, the naira fluctuated, depreciating to as low as N1,550/$ and appreciating to as high as N1,400/$.
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Agora Policy, an Abuja-based think tank, emphasized the need for a temporary dollar liquidity bridge or increased FX inflows to support the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) orthodox reforms. The think tank suggested that measures such as eurobond issuance, asset sales, and engaging multilateral agencies could help boost dollar inflows into Nigeria.
In the medium term, Agora Policy recommended that Nigeria prioritize restoring organic dollar flows from oil exports by addressing the backlog of encumbrances.
The organization also highlighted the importance of balancing exchange rate stability, which is crucial for controlling near-term inflation, with enhancing non-mineral export competitiveness in Nigeria’s small open economy.
Naira gains marginally at N1,490/$ on parallel market
Auto
Cash rain at Toyota Nigeria Awards as Nestle, Zenith, Roxcon win big (+ photos)
Cash rain at Toyota Nigeria Awards as Nestle, Zenith, Roxcon win big (+photos)
Toyota (Nigeria) Limited (TNL) on Friday, May 17, 2024, named Nestle Nigeria Plc as winner of its prestigious Evergreen Customer Award for the Year (2023).
The company emerged winner among the teeming Toyota customers, having purchased the highest cumulative number of new Toyota vehicles consistently within a five-year period (2019 – 2023) from the TNL accredited dealers.
As the Evergreen customer, Nestle was rewarded with office equipment worth about N10 million, which was announced by the Chairman of Toyota Nigeria Limited, Chief Michael Ade.Ojo, at a well attended ceremony held in Lagos to celebrate the customers.
Nestle also won the Best Customer of the Year award, being the customer with the highest purchase of Toyota vehicles from the TNL dealers in 2023. It also went home with a cash award of N5 million.
Roxcon Nigeria Limited and Zenith International Bank received N3 million and N2 million respectively for emerging first runner-up and second runner-up in the 2023 TNL customers purchase assessment.
Ade.Ojo congratulated the winners and thanked them for their loyalty to the Toyota brand and Toyota (Nigeria) Limited’s superior quality products and after-sale support.
Even as he urged others to take a cue from the winners, he announced that next year’s winner of the biggest award, the Evergreen, would go home with a brand new Toyota vehicle.
The Managing Director of Toyota (Nigeria) Limited, Mr. Kunle Ade-Ojo, in his address at the event, spoke on the big idea behind the annual awards.
He said, “At Toyota (Nigeria) Limited, the philosophy of ‘Customer First’ remains the focal point of all our activities. Therefore, at every opportunity, we like to recognize and acknowledge our customers’ overwhelming love and support for us, which has been our driving force over the years.
“Your unwavering patronage of the Toyota brand and unshaken loyalty to it have been awesome.”
The MD said that the company had consistently held the awards every year since the inaugural edition in 2005 but only suspended it during the COVID period.
“We thank you for staying with us throughout the difficulties brought about by the pandemic,” he added.
Notwithstanding the economic challenges confronting business organisations in Nigeria, Ade-Ojo expressed the determination of the TNL team “to maintain our culture of providing superior quality products and services to our esteemed customers.
“We will continue to avail you of models that meet your specific needs supported by robust after-sale services.”
He commended the vision of the company’s Chairman, Chief M. Ade.Ojo, affectionately called Mr. Toyota, whose foresight and tenacity, he said, had changed the face of the automobile industry in Nigeria.
Business
Over 60% firms, individuals not paying tax, says LCCI president, warns against overtaxing
Over 60% firms, individuals not paying tax, says LCCI president, warns against overtaxing
President and Chairman of Council, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry LCCI, Gabriel Idahosa, has cautioned against the multiplicity of taxes by the Federal Government, saying the development was not good for the economy. Speaking on an Arise television show monitored in Abuja, Idahosa said it was not possible to begin to raise money for every little thing in government.
He said the federal government should instead increase the capacity of the Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS to collect taxes, noting that not up to 40 percent of taxable persons and organizations were taxed. According to him, the countries that are most efficient in tax collection are the countries that have the minimum number of taxes.
His words: “It is not really possible to begin to raise money for every little thing in government. To levy for cyber security, industrial training, insurance, levy for police trust fund and others, the whole approach in recent times of trying to put levy on everything is simply not the way to manage public finance in any country.
“The business of raising revenue for government is assigned to a specific organization in government which is the Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS in the case of Nigeria. It is the business of the FIRS to get revenue for all the services of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The countries that are most efficient in tax collection are the countries that have the minimum number of taxes.
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It has been established during the time of the Taiwo Oyedele Tax Reform Commission that some of the levies and taxes that you create does not translate into significant increase in revenue and in any country, the agencies in charge of activities like these, whether it is high level intelligence or security, are funded from the budget of the country and the way they are funded usually is not a matter for public conversation. Nobody exposes the way the intelligence agencies of countries are funded.
“The technical issue of whether the Act was correct or not is minor. The big issue is should government of Nigeria encourage all agencies to be coming with all manner of levies for every single thing. You want something on health and you have a levy, in security you have a levy etc. That should be the more important conversation, that there should be a concerted effort to increase the capacity of the FIRS to do the job of revenue collection.
As we speak, not up to 40 percent of taxable persons are taxed. The first thing to do is to bring all taxable people into the net and then tax them accordingly. You don’t even need to raise the tax. More than 60 percent of taxable organizations and individuals are not paying tax. That should be the focus. The first level of taxation is identity. Identify economic actors at all levels right to the remotest villages.
The capacity of the FIRS to reach tax payers across the country was not built over time but with the dwindling of oil revenue, that capacity has been increased. You are beginning to see FIRS offices in several parts of the urban areas and state capitals but more than 60 percent of Nigerian businesses are not in the urban areas or state capitals. Any country that wants to collect tax, has to go very granular. Businesses that exist in every village must be taxed and that is where the FIRS is moving slowly but steadily”, he stated.
Over 60% firms, individuals not paying tax, says LCCI president, warns against overtaxing
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