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Tag: Levy

  • Kogi imposes levy on every loaf of bread

    Kogi imposes levy on every loaf of bread

    Kogi State Information and Communications Commissioner Kingsley Fanwo said yesterday that the newly imposed bread levy in the state was to protect indigenous bakers from those “who bring bread to the state without paying any form of levy.”

    Fanwo in a statement in Lokoja said no responsible government would “sit by and watch her indigenous businesses lose the local market.”

    He added: “Our indigenous bakers have complained bitterly about the activities of external bakers who packed their bread to the state in trucks and sell without paying anything to the state government.

    “Poor sales by our bakers may lead to job losses, a situation we are determined to use legitimate means to avert.

    “We assure the Master Bakers of our open-door policy and our readiness to keep listening to them in order to smoothen relationships and factors aiding their production as bread consumers have nothing to fear.”

    The state chapter of the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria had said it received a memo from the state’s ministry of commerce imposing a levy “on each loaf of bread”. The association said the move would bring unbearable pains on its members.

  • Strange ‘terror group’ surfaces in Sokoto, imposes levies on residents

    A suspected terrorist group carrying sophisticated weapons is currently in control of Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State, applying ‘strange laws’ and punishing defaulters.

    According to a witness who spoke on condition of anonymity with Premium Times, members of the group, believed to be from Niger Republic, are in possession of assorted weapons, preaching Islamic teachings, forcefully collecting alms (zakat) and flogging defaulters.

    He stated that though members of the terror group are yet to be identified by name, and have been in the area for than two months, they are allegedly recruiting youth in a nearby bush. After ‘training’ them, they give them a motorcycle, he said.

    The witness said members of the group are more than 200.

    He said they looked strange, spoke Arabic and wore turbans over their heads.

    “They imposed compulsory levies on each household with cows and rams. Those with cows are paying N500 and those with ram are paying N200,” he said.

    “They are arresting and fining herdsmen who encroach on farmlands and are keeping the money.

    “They are operating freely, scaring residents, without being challenged. They are going from one community to another,” the witness said.

    Tangaza Local Government in Sokoto State borders Niger Republic.

    The border communities of the two countries inter-marry and are identical and speak the same dialect.

    The spokesperson for the state government, Abubakar Shekara, confirmed the report but said he could not provide further comments.

     

  • $25,000 ship levy tears Customs CG, SSS boss apart

    $25,000 ship levy tears Customs CG, SSS boss apart

     

    The heads of two key federal agencies who are also close allies of President Muhammadu Buhari are currently at each other’s throat over collection of $25, 000 of ship levy from vessels that berth at the nation’s ports.

    The disagreement by the two officials appears to confirm insinuations of division among some leading lights of the Buhari administration.

    The turf war stems from a letter written by the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Lawal Daura, to President Buhari on September 8.

    In the letter, the security chief accused the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) of introducing $25,000 as new Temporary Import Permit (TIP) levy on each vessel that berths to discharge petroleum products in Nigeria.

    Daura is a kinsman of the President while the Director-General of NCS, Hameed Ali, a retired colonel was Buhair’s chief of staff before he won election as Nigeria’s president.

    The said levy, as Daura reported to the President, was illegal as it was not provided for on the PPRA template, not receipted, and could increase the cost of petrol by 56 kobo per litre.

    In international trade, TIP is a customs’ procedure under which certain goods can be brought into a country without payment of duties or taxes and without import prohibition and restriction. But before it is issued, those knowledgeable about NCS operations regarding the issuance said an applicant must post a bond to cover the import duty and other charges inclusive of the 25 per cent penalty in case of violation of the terms.

    In Daura’s memo to the President, he further reported that the alleged introduction of $25,000 TIP levy followed the detention of a vessel, MT Histria Ivory at Apapa by NCS operatives.

    He reported to the President that Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) made the complaint that formed the basis of his memo.

    A week after receiving the memo, Buhari forwarded it to Ali, demanding his “summary report of your considered view”.

    In his response, Ali told the President that the SSS under Daura appeared to be more interested in smear campaign and personal vendetta than in thorough investigation and anti-corruption efforts of the administration.

    He explained that the said vessel, MT Histria Ivory, was truly detained but that was after it was sighted discharging cargo at Apapa Jetty.

    He said the detention was to ascertain whether it had TIP or liable for payment of duty.

    While the investigation was ongoing, before Daura’s memo to the President, MOMAN alleged imposition of $25,000 TIP levy per vessel by the NCS via a letter copied to the Minister for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu; Minister for Finance, Kemi Adeosun; the SSS and the Customs chief.

    MOMAN wrote the complaint letter one week before Daura sent the memo to the president.