Journalists barred from covering Nigeria, Sierra Leone match – Newstrends
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Journalists barred from covering Nigeria, Sierra Leone match

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The Confederation of African Football has stated that no journalists or supporters would be allowed inside the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City for Friday’s 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone.

In the guidelines communicated to the Nigeria Football Federation, CAF instructed, under Media Operations, that there would be no mixed zone, virtual press conference only if possible (media officers from both teams only), and that only the TV channels with the rights will be allowed flash interviews.

Also, only photographers of participating teams would be allowed at the match.

The above puts to rest all previous speculations regarding having spectators at the match venue, and whether members of the media would be allowed into the arena.

The NFF’s Director of Competitions, Bola Oyeyode, on Monday said only individuals accredited by the NFF would be allowed inside the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium for the Day 3 qualifier, which will kick off at 5pm Nigeria time.

Ministry of Youth and Sports Development had insisted that Nigeria’s game against Sierra Leone will be played without fans.

In a letter to the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, the ministry insisted that the game would be played without fans in adherence to the directives from the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.

“The ministry wishes to bring to your urgent attention that in compliance with the condition of no gathering agreed upon by the ministry and the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 before the Federal Government opened up football and contacts sports, the match between Nigeria and Sierra Leone will not have any audience,” the letter stated.

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Huge losses as fire razes Lagos auto parts market

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Huge losses as fire razes Lagos auto parts market

 

A section of popular Idumota Market in the Lagos Island has been razed by fire.

Many auto part shops and goods worth billions of naira were destroyed in the inferno that started on Friday night.

A statement issued on Saturday by the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed the incident and the collosal losses.

Oke-Osanyintolu said a preliminary investigation showed that multiple buildings used as shops for sale of car spare parts were razed.

The statement read, “Following distress calls via the 767/112 Toll-Free Emergency Lines at 2220hrs, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency activated its Emergency Response Teams from Lekki, Cappa and the Command and Control Centre, Alausa, Ikeja.

“On arrival of the LASEMA Response Teams at the incident scene by 2255hrs, it was discovered that multiple buildings used as shops for sales of car spare parts were found engulfed by fire at the aforementioned location.

“The immediate or remote causes of the fire incident were yet to be ascertained as of the time of writing this report. However, properties and goods worth hundreds of millions of naira were destroyed by the inferno.

“The LASEMA Shark Response Team, LASEMA Fire Unit, LASEMA Tiger Response Team, alongside Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, and the Federal Fire Service worked together to curtail the fire, preventing it from escalating to adjoining buildings.

“The law enforcement agencies present at the incident scene activated crowd measures to ensure all-round safety at the incident scene.”

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Reform Bills propose 55 per cent VAT revenue for states

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Reform Bills propose 55 per cent VAT revenue for states

More insights into the Tax Reform Bills under consideration by the National Assembly were given yesterday during a debate at the Senate.

Should the Bills be passed as proposed and signed by the President, states will get 55 per cent of the Value Added Tax (VAT).

Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele made this know during the debate, which proceeded the passage of the Bills through first and second reading.

In the House of Representatives, lawmakers chose to continue consultations on the Bill until the next legislative day (Tuesday).

The four Tax Reform Bills sent by the Executive are:

•A Bill for an Act to Establish the Joint Revenue Board, the Tax Appeal Tribunal and the Office of the Tax Ombudsman for the harmonisation, coordination and settlement of disputes arising from revenue administration in Nigeria and for related matters, 2024.

•A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, No.13, 2007 and enact the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act to Establish the Nigeria Revenue Service, charged with powers of assessment, collection of, and accounting for revenue accruable to the Government of the Federation, and for related matters, 2024.

•A Bill for an Act to Provide for the assessment, collection of, and accounting for revenue accruing to the Federation, Federal, States and Local Governments; prescribe the powers and functions of tax authorities, and for related matters, 2024.

•A Bill for an Act to Repeal certain Acts on taxation and consolidate the legal frameworks relating to taxation and enact the Nigeria Tax Act to provide for taxation of income, transactions and instruments, and for related matters, 2024.”

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Bamidele, who sponsored the bills, shed light on the sharing formula, saying: “Unlike what is obtainable under the existing tax regime whereby the Federal Government takes a lion share of VAT revenues, it is proposed that the sharing formula should allow State Governments share 55% of VAT revenue from the current 15% to 10% sharing formula.”

But former Senate Chief Whip Ali Ndume, who opposed the bills, called for their withdrawal to allow for more consultations with stakeholders.

On Wednesday, when Presidential Economic Team members appeared before the Senate to explain the content of the bills, Ndume and Senator Abdul Ningi tried to stop them but the attempt was futile.

The Senate held a one-hour closed door session, where the senators agreed to debate the general principles of the bills.

Leading the debate, Bamidele said the proposals should be seen as part of the required legislative intervention to support ongoing fiscal and tax reforms needed to reposition the economy for growth and productivity.

Bamidele said: “These bills should be considered with great sense of patriotism and exercise of the powers of the National Assembly under Section 59 of the Constitution regarding imposition of taxes. I therefore, urge my colleagues to support these bills for second reading.”

Explaining the elements of the bills, the Senate Leader said they would overhaul the country’s tax system, simplify the tax landscape, reduce the burden on small business and streamline how taxes are collected.

He stressed: “In broad terms, the four bills seek to ensure uniformity in tax revenue administration in Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, eliminate the incidents of double taxation across the country, deploy taxation as a tool to encourage private sector investments in critical industries and boost individual disposal incomes through targeted tax exemptions as captured in the various bills.

“In the area of tax exemptions, there is a proposal to exempt those whose salaries are not more than the minimum wage from P.A.Y.E deductions while small businesses with annual turnover of N50, 000,000 or less are equally exempted from payment of taxes.

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“Similarly, there is a proposed huge reduction in company income tax from the current 30% to 25% by 2026.

“As part of deliberate attempt to curtail double taxation and multiplicity of taxes and levies, multiple taxes hitherto paid by companies under various tax heads, namely 2.5% education tax and 0.25% NASENI tax have been harmonised into a development level of 2% which by 2030, will be applied to fund the newly established student loan scheme, which will benefit many Nigerian youths.

“However, local governments’ share of VAT revenue remains unaffected. Relatedly, basic items consumed by Nigerian households such as food items, medical services and pharmaceuticals, educational fees, electricity, e.t.c., are exempted from VAT.

“Again, as part of efforts to ease the administration of income taxes and levies across the Federation, there is a reasonable effort made to consolidate core tax statutes and related tax legislations.

“Contrary to misrepresentations in the public domain regarding the intendment of the Bills under consideration, I wish to state that these Bills contains innovative people-oriented proposals as part of government’s deliberate fiscal and tax reform measures to cushion the effect of ongoing broader economic policies such as the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, renewed efforts to implement cost-reflective electricity tariffs in the power sector etc, on Nigerian citizens.”

The Chairman of Senate Committee on Finance, Sani Musa (APC – Niger East) supported the bills.

The senator representing Bayelsa West, Seriake Dickson,  commended the Executive for coming up with the landmark tax reform bills.

He said the fiscal legislation would entrench fiscal federalism in Nigeria, if passed into law.

Dickson noted that Nigerians were paying taxes and the government at various levels has been using it to carry out developmental projects since the colonial era.

He said the situation changed when oil was discovered and the sub-national governments started relying on the Federation Accounts monthly allocations.

He pointed out that some stakeholders objected to the bills because there had not been proper consultation.

Dickson said: “The position of the Nigerian Governors Forum is legitimate. The Executive should carry out more enlightenment on the bills.

“The derivation is meant to encourage governors to be more productive. The proposed bills would enable states to boost revenue by creating enabling environment that could encourage investment.

“When companies are established in their states, the Pay As You Earn taxes that would be collected from workers of those companies will be paid to the state governments.

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“As a federalist, which I’ve been all my adult life, I see these bills as a move towards entrenching fiscal federalism in Nigeria, which I fully support.

“I use this opportunity to call on all my colleagues to agree that these bills, all four of them, should be passed for second reading to enable our committee, the experts and the general public participate in accordance with our rules.

Ndume, who opposed the bills, said he is against the timing of the bills, the provision for sharing tax revenue based on derivation and lack of broad-based consultation before they were presented.

Ndume’s position was countered by Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno (APC Borno North), who said the views of stakeholders who oppose the bills should be collated at the public hearing.

He said the governors and traditional rulers are free to ventilate their opinions at the public hearing.

Monguno said Ndume’s position was not only strange to legislative process, but also a mere academic exercise’.

He said it was curious that Ndume, who was a Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, a Senate Leader, and immediate past Chief Whip of the Senate, could in spite of the cognate experience about lawmaking, come up with such arguments.

Monguno said: “I get to disagree with you that this bills should be withdrawn first and consultation should be held with the Nigerian Governors Forum and traditional rulers.

“We have a procedure, which is clearly and unambiguously stated in our rulebook for the process of lawmaking, and the Constitution, in a very clear and unambiguous manner, gave us the power to regulate our proceedings.

“Pursuant to Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, we gave these rules to ourselves in order to guide our proceedings.

“The process of lawmaking is very clear and unambiguous as per this rule book. That after second reading, it will now be transmitted to the Committee for Public Hearing.

“In the course of the public hearing, Nigerians of all walks of life, will come, including the governors and traditional rulers. They are free to come and ventilate their opinion.”

Reform Bills propose 55 per cent VAT revenue for states

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Nigeria saves $20bn from subsidy removal – Finance Minister Edun

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Nigeria saves $20bn from subsidy removal – Finance Minister Edun

 

Wale Edun, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has declared that the country has saved $20 billion by eliminating the petrol subsidy and adopting market-based foreign exchange pricing.

He made this disclosure at an event in Abuja marking the first 100 days in office of Esther Walso-Jack, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

Edun stated, “When there was a subsidy on the PMS and on foreign exchange, they collectively cost five percent of the GDP.

“Assuming GDP was $400 billion on average, five percent of that is $20 billion—funds that could now go into infrastructure, health, social services, and education.”

He explained that the savings were being redirected into developmental projects. He said, “The real change is that no one can wake up and target cheap funding or forex from the central bank to enrich themselves without adding value. “Similarly, profiteering from the inefficient petrol subsidy regime is no longer possible.”

President Bola Tinubu officially ended the petrol subsidy regime on May 29, 2023.

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