TheNewsGuru

Tag: State

  • VAIDS: FG reviews states, private sector’s pleas for extension of deadline

    VAIDS: FG reviews states, private sector’s pleas for extension of deadline

    …Insists Tax Evaders Risk Prosecution, Seizure of Properties

    The Honourable Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Saturday confirmed that the Federal Government was currently reviewing the requests by the States and Private Sector for an extension of the tax amnesty programme, the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).

    The tax amnesty programme, which expired on Saturday, offered a nine-month window of opportunity for tax payers to regularise their tax liabilities.

    Adeosun, who responded to media enquiries in Abuja, said some States of the Federation and the private sector had asked for an extension of the deadline in order to allow them more time to comply.

    She said, “The Federal Government is reviewing the numerous extension requests by the States and the private sector, which have cited some logistic challenges such as non-availability of the declaration forms in some states and the declaration of public holidays to commemorate Easter.”

    The Minister stated that the tax evaders risk forfeiting their assets and prosecution as she noted that the Government’s data mining Unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Project Lighthouse, had compiled data of tax payers from land registries from 36 States and Federal Capital Territory as well as their bank accounts.

    “We have also received tremendous support from foreign countries which provided data under the exchange of information protocols. The data include bank records and financial filings for tax purposes,” Adeosun said.

     

  • FG, States to earn $361bn from Lekki deep sea port – ICRC

    The Federal Government and the 36 states are expected to earn about 361 billion dollars as revenue when operation begins at the Lekki deep sea port in Lagos.

    Lekki Port, a multi-purpose, Deep Sea Port at the heart of the Lagos Free Trade Zone, Lekki Port will be one of the most modern ports, supporting the burgeoning trade across Nigeria and the entire West African region, and providing the connection to the global shipping network.

    The Acting Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Chidi Izuwah, made this disclosure at the end of a closed door meeting he had with the promoters of the port.

    Izuwah and his team who were on an inspection tour of Lekki Deep sea port on Friday also said that aside from the 361 billion Dollars, both the state and federal government agencies would also earn about 201 billion dollars from taxes, royalties and duties from activities in the port.

    Izuwah said that operation at the Lekki free trade zone would create over 170,000 jobs directly and indirectly from port operations.

    He said: “Approximately 20 billion dollars is expected to be spent on employee salaries. Investment on fixed assets in the port will gulp about 1.53 billion dollars while 800 million is expected to go into construction work.”

     

  • 2019: I won’t seek re-election if I fail to achieve my goals for Abia state – Gov Ikpeazu

    Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, says he would only seek re-election in 2019, after successful completion of projects initiated by his administration across the state.

    Ikpeazu disclosed this while speaking in a political programme “Osinachi”, at the Broadcasting Corporation of Abia monitored in Aba on Friday.

    “There are a few things which I am saying if we are able to finish by the grace of God, in the future I would think that we can answer the call to seek for re-election in 2019,’’ he said.

    He named some of the ongoing projects as the construction of Ifeobara basin, the reconstruction of Arochukwu road, the Osisioma interchange as well as the revival of the School of Nursing in Aba.

    Ikpeazu said that since leadership is linked to achievements in office, he can be sure of matching any other candidate after completing the projects.

    He said that government had so far invested about N325 million towards upgrading facilities at the Enyimba Stadium with a view to making it “world class’’.

    Ikpeazu said two billion naira had been released to Setraco Construction Company for the reconstruction of the Aba-Port Harcourt road, adding that his administration had also done well in promoting made-in-Abia goods by patronising the products.

    He said that his administration had also recorded successes in its agricultural projects especially in Aba which was aimed at improving the life of the people.

  • PDP accuses Masari govt of misusing N400bn state fund

    PDP accuses Masari govt of misusing N400bn state fund

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Katsina State Government of misusing over N400 billion generated by the state in the last 31 months.

    Alhaji Salisu Majigiri, the State Chairman of PDP said at a press conference on Tuesday in Katsina, that the over N400 billion was “misused by top government officials”.

    He said in spite of the huge amount that accrued into government coffers the state and its people have remained in poverty and debt.

    According to him, the state received over N243 billion from the Federation Account during the period and N30 billion from the Paris Club refunds.

    “In spite of collecting four Tranches of debt refunds amounting to over N30 billion, the government has borrowed various sums of monies from commercial banks with double digit interest rates to the tune of N70 billion.

    “The receipts, loans, internal revenue and more than N14.5 billion left in the various accounts by the last PDP administration made Katsina State one of the richest states in the country,” he said.

    The chairman explained that in real terms, the monies that accrued into the government coffers stands at an average of N13 billion monthly, N464 million daily or N16.5 million every hour.

    “Due to the mismanagement of our resources our people have been passing through excruciating pains and reduced to beggars in the midst of plenty.

    “All sectors of the economy have been rendered barren. Our people no longer get the affordable fertilizer that enable them to farm their land and get bumper harvests.

    “Fertilizer and the other agricultural assistance taken for granted during the past administration have now been heavily politicised.

    “Our schools are now shadows of themselves, with no instructional materials with the absence of motivational incentives for teachers who face constant threat of sack.

    “Our hospitals are now conduit pipes through which funds are now siphoned in the name of endless projects for over two years,” he alleged.

    However, Alhaji Abdu Labaran , Special Assistant on Media to Gov. Aminu Masari dismissed the allegations by the state PDP as spurious and urged the people to disregard them.

    Labaran said that the state government had utilised all funds that accrued to it judiciously to add value to the lives of the people.

    He listed some of the projects being undertaken to include the rehabilitation and upgrade of the general hospitals in Katsina, Daura, Funtua and Kankia.

    “This government rehabilitated and upgraded over 100 junior and senior secondary schools across the state, ” he added.

    Labaran said that the PDP no longer exists in the state as most of its top brass like former Speaker Yau Gwagwajo and Sen. Ibrahim Ida had since decamped to APC.

    He said: “Majigiri and his co-travellers have failed to come to terms that the PDP is dead in Katsina state and people no longer patronise it.”

  • FG, States, LGs share N532.7bn in October

    The Federal, States and Local Government in October shared N532.7 billion which shows a decline of N25.3 billion when compared to what they shared in September.

    The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, said this on Thursday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the outcome of the monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC.

    Mr. Isa-Dutse attributed the decline to the decrease in revenue from export sales of $42.94 million due to a decrease in crude oil production by 1.25 million barrels.

    He said even though the average price of crude oil increased from $46.29 per barrel to $48.66 per barrel, it was not enough to make up for the loss in production.

    “Some of the issues that impacted negatively on crude oil production were attributed to ageing facilities which resulted to shut-ins and shut-downs of pipelines at various terminals for repairs and maintenance.

    “Petroleum Profit Tax increased significantly while Import Duty and Value Added Tax improved only significantly.

    “Companies Income Tax and Oil Royalty recorded slight decreases in the month under review,” he said.

    In summary, Mr. Isa-Dutse said after deductions as cost of collection by FIRS, Customs and DPR, the federal government received N205.7 billion, representing 52.68 per cent; states and N104.3 billion, representing 26.72 per cent.

    The local governments, he said, received N80.4 billion, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed.

    Mr. Isa-Dutse announced that N40.8 billion representing 13 per cent derivation revenue was also shared among the oil producing states.

    He said that the country generated N317.2 billion as mineral revenue and N124.4 billion as non-mineral revenue.

    He said this showed an increase of N41.6 billion from what the country generated as mineral revenue and a decrease of N23.5 billion in non-mineral revenue from what was generated in the month of September.

    Meanwhile the Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Mahmoud Yunusa, has apologised for the lateness in holding the meeting, which was supposed to have taken place on November 23.

    He said the meeting was cancelled by the state governors due to discrepancies found in revenue figures presented by some of the revenue generating agencies.

    Mr. Yunusa confirmed that the NNPC had increased what they had initially presented to FAAC as what they had generated after the states showed their displeasure.

    He said that to avoid such occurrence, the states as a major stakeholder in NNPC, would henceforth keep “an eagle eye on the affairs of the NNPC”.

    “Going forward we will be fully involved in what the NNPC does to avoid this kind of errors in future. We will scrutinise their books,” he said.

     

     

    NAN

  • States’ debt profile increase to N3.89trn in 2016 – BudgiT

    A civic technology organization, BudgiT Nigeria has expressed concern over the rising debt (domestic and foreign) profile of the 36 states of the federation.

    According to BudiT, the debt profiles which was N3.03 trillion in 2015 increased to N3.89 trillion in 2016.

    This was revealed on Thursday in Abuja by the Lead Partner of BudgIT, Oluseun Onigbinde at the launch of the organization’s state of state report

    According to him, Lagos state has 24.2 per cent of the total debt stock of state governments with N500.8 billion debt profile in 2015 to N734.7 billion in 2016.

    Onigbinde expressed worries over the increasing debt profile of states and their inabilities to generate revenues.

    He said the high debt profile had made it difficult for most states to meet their recurrent expenditure obligations.

    In his words: “Total debt profile of states in 2015 and 2016 was N3.03tn and N3.89tn respectively. Lagos state’s total debt stock rose from the 2014 level of N500.8bn to N734.7bn in 2016 – accounting for 24.2 per cent of the total debt stock of the state governments.

    “Lagos debt is becoming really worrisome for us. Lagos debt is also entering some uncharted territory which needs to be watched carefully.

    “Many state governments are confronted by rapidly rising budget deficits as they struggle to pay salaries and meet contractual obligations and overheads due to a dip in oil price from its peak price of about $140 per barrel to about $56 per barrel.”

    He urged state governments to expand their internally generated revenue while cutting down on their debt accumulation.

    Onigbinde also called on the state governments to cut their “unreasonable” overheads bill while freeing up more spending for social infrastructure.

    He said: “Over the last few months, many state governments have been devising policy changes with strong focus on improving internally generated revenue and reining in expenditure.

    “State governments need to tremendously embrace a high level of transparency and accountability, develop workable economic plans, take haircuts-especially on overheads-expand their internally generated revenue ( IGR ) base, and cut down on debt accumulation without a concrete repayment plan.

    “The states need to look beyond the rhetorics and commit to a reduction in its operating costs, including significantly slashing its unreasonable overheads bill while freeing up more spending for social infrastructure.

    “States will need to link future borrowing to sustainable projects, which can pay back the capital cost of its current loans and improve the overall income profile of the state.

    “Improve spending is also critical for value-added tax revenue, manufacturing, trade, logic and tourism abound across states but it seems states lack the rigor and foresight to explore them.

    Earlier in her remarks, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, Yewande Sadiku, said all states are competing for investment from the Federal Government, forgetting that what the government gets was insufficient for Nigeria’s economic development.

    According to her, if state governments consider investing in their states the rate of debt would drop.

    She said: “Our work at the federal level will not achieve anything if we don’t work along with the state governments

    “It is certain that if states governments work more on investing in their states, the rates of debts will drop.”

    She urged Nigerians to invest more in their country instead of going out to invest, noting that Nigeria’s economic potential would be converted to its economic wealth.

  • Mounting debt profile: DMO bars states from further borrowing

    Mounting debt profile: DMO bars states from further borrowing

    …urges states to be more proactive in generating funds internally

    The old practice where States had easy access to borrowing from either foreign or local borrowing windows has now been halted.

    The new Director –General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms. Patience Oniha made this disclosure yesterday in Abuja when the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki visited to congratulate her on her recent appointment as the new Director General of the DMO.

    Oniha said the decision was taken because there was no longer huge allocation to states at the end of monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meetings “from where borrowed funds could be deducted, hence continuous exposure to new lines of borrowings may no longer be sustainable.”

    As a result, the component units of the Nigerian Federation have been advised to henceforth imbibe frugality and a new strategic way of fiscal plans and implementation

    Oniha lamented that it was unfortunate that oil mineral resources has continued to be the dominant contributor to the Federation Account.

    She however advising that States should “deploy new strategic thinking on how to address the financing of their already bloated debt stocks as well as how to generate funds to execute their plans aside from borrowings.”

    According to Oniha, “previously, we could rely on funds from FAAC and in addition to that we could borrow both at the Federal and at the State levels because there wasn’t a challenge. But I think the times have changed. Revenues are under severe pressures, we are still dependent on oil revenues, non-oil revenues are picking up, but that is still a journey.”

    She noted that what this “means now, and in future, is that we need to do things so much differently, we must be more strategic in the management of public finance so the language I always use in my previous work where I was at the Efficiency Unit is that it’s no longer business as usual.”

    Oniha warned that “we can’t collect money from FAAC, borrow, continue and wait until the next month. So at various levels, we need to be more strategic and more creative in the things that we do.”

    At the Federal level Oniha said the federal government has “initiated several measures to increase non-oil revenue and control cost.”

    The DMO boss stated that “the law recognizes the States for being responsible for fiscal laws relating to the States, but we decided to partner with them in the belief that Nigeria is one project, hence we should not be looking at the center, we should be looking at the various tiers of governments.”

    As a result of the federal government’s big brother role, Oniha said “what we did in that regards was to work with the various tiers of the states to have enabling laws , create their own debt managements and then help them through training and other activities to create their own domestic debt data.”

    Regarding the states’ compliance to generating debt data, the DMO boss said “we have major challenges. At the DMO, we have done a lot with the states in terms of assisting in developing their debt data, passing debt laws leading to the establishment of Debt bureaux and so on. As we speak, we have a good understanding of the debt portfolios at the sub- national levels.”

     

  • Nigeria not ripe for state police — IG

    The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, says Nigeria does not yet have the political maturity to operate state police.

    Instead, the country should improve funding for the agency under the current arrangement, Mr. Idris stated this on Thursday in Abuja at a meeting with the Nigeria Governors Forum.

    The IG said he was not unaware of the agitations by some groups for the creation of state police, but argued that the federal police arrangement still remains the best.

    “I sincerely believe that the Federal Police is still the best for the country and with improved funding the challenges of crime will be addressed.

    “Those agitating for state police should consider the level of our political maturity,” he said, according to a statement by police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood.

    He held the meeting to seek the support of the Forum for the passage of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund bill now before the National Assembly.

    He said if the bill was passed, the police would have enough fund to effectively police the nation.

    “Let me use this opportunity to appeal to your Excellencies to prevail on your representatives at the National Assembly to ensure the passage of the bill.

    “It is my sincere believe that once the Police Trust Fund Bill is passed into law, the necessary finances required to effectively police the nation will be available,“ he said.

    He said this would also reduce the pressure on the state governments in the funding of the Police.

    Mr. Idris noted that the Nigeria Police were one of the “least paid” security organisations in the world in spite of operating under the UN ratio of 1:400.

    He added that with the current ratio of 1: 602 the Nigeria Police was operating far below the United Nation’s ratio.

    “About 10,000 police officers have been recruited recently to fill the gap but this is still a far cry.

    “To meet up with the UN ratio of 1:400, the Nigeria police requires additional 155,000 Police Officers for the next five years,“he said.

    He said a request to recruit 31,000 policemen had been sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for approval.

    Mr. Idris said the current Police Management was making efforts to establish structures that would bridge the communication gap between the Police and members of the public.

    Mr. Idris said one of such structures included the establishment of the Nigeria Police Broadcasting Service (NPBS).

    “When commissioned, it will broadcast Nationwide on TV, Radio, online and the National Emergency Communication Command Control Centre (NEC4).

    The Chairman of the Forum, Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari of Zamfara, who assured the police boss the support of the forum, said security was everybody’s business.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that a public hearing on the Nigeria Police Trust Fund was organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs on July 1.

    The bill seeks to provide alternative funding for the police

  • Full Analysis: FG, States, LGs share N462bn for May

    Full Analysis: FG, States, LGs share N462bn for May

    A total of N462.359 billion has been distributed as Federal Allocation for the month of May 2017 to the Federal Government, State Governments and Local Government Councils.

    This is contained in a communiqué issued by the Technical sub-Committee of Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) at the end of the meeting held Thursday in Abuja.

    The statement signed by the Ag. Accountant General of the Federation was made available to newsmen by Mrs Kenechukwu Offie, Director of Information, OAGF.

    It indicated that the gross statutory revenue of N317.562 billion received for the month is higher than the N274.110 billion received in the previous month by N43.452 billion.

    It said, “The slight drop in the average price of crude oil from $55.38 to $55.18 per barrel and a decrease in export volume by 1.023 million barrels, reduced oil revenue by $57.12 million.

    “Crude oil production suffered due to leakages, sabotage, shut-ins and shut-downs at Terminals for maintenance and the Force Majoure declared at Forcados Terminal since February, 2016 subsisted.

    “There were significant increases in revenues from Companies Income Tax and Oil Royalty, however, the increase in customs and excise duty was marginal. The distributable Statutory Revenue for the Month is N317.562 billion.

    “There is a proposed distribution of N64.812 billion being the exchange rates differential. The total revenue distributable for the current Month (including VAT) is N462.359 billion.

    “The shared amount comprised the Month’s Statutory distributable revenue of N317.562 billion, the gross revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was N79.985 billion as against N84.673 billion distributed in the preceding month, resulting in a decrease of N4.688 billion.

    “The total revenue distributable for the current month (including VAT) is N462.359 billion.

    “Accordingly, from Net Statutory revenue, Federal Government received N147.682 billion representing (52.68%); States received N74.906 billion (26.72%); Local Government Councils received N57.750 billion representing (20.60%); while the Oil Producing States received N20.505 billion as 13% derivation revenue.

    “Furthermore, from the Revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT), Federal Government received N11.518 billion (15%); States received N38.393 billion (50%) while the Local Government Councils received N26.875 billion (35%).”