The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • We’ll not increase tax to improve IGR, says Oyo Govt

    Oyo State government has assured the state’s stakeholders that the Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration will not increase tax on small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in its drive to soar up its revenue base.

    Chairman of the state Board of Internal Revenue (BIR), Aremo John Adeleke, gave the assurance in a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism Dr. Bashir Olanrewaju yesterday.

    According to Adeleke, instead of increasing tax, the state would rather look into areas that were not captured in its tax net to improve the internally generated revenue.

    He added that the plan of Makinde’s government is to build and nurture the growth of SMEs and not to burden them with heavy tax that could drive them out of business.

    “It is in line with the promise of Governor Makinde to empower small-scale businesses in the state to propel growth in our economy.

    Read Also: Makinde: Working to build an enduring legacy

    “As he works assiduously to attract foreign and domestic investments to the state, he is also working to establish and sustain small and medium scale industries in Oyo State. So, the idea of tax increment on businesses is not even to be discussed here. We will rather nurture them to grow and be self-sustaining than to over-burden them with tax.

    “The government nonetheless expects all SMEs to comply with all extant tax laws, especially the ones on personal assessment of business proprietors, withholding tax and VAT payable to the state,” Olanrewaju quoted the state revenue boss as saying.

    Adeleke, however, enjoined commercial vehicle owners and drivers as well as motorcycle riders and owners to collect necessary documents from approved agencies and tax stations under the state’s internal revenue services, instead of doing the same in neighbouring states.

  • Ekiti govt urged to tackle insecurity

    President of Ekitiparapo Association, Lagos State Chapter Mr. Dare Ojo has urged the state government to tackle insecurity headlong.

    In a statement, titled: “Security emergency in Ekitiland: The need for commensurate action”, he said the issue of insecurity had been brought into the front-burner with the incessant cases of kidnapping, killings, arson, and other crimes.”

    Ojo added that the situation had raised fears in the minds of residents within and outside Ekiti, who are scared to visit their people in the state.

    He said: “We note with regret the recent killings of two people, including a pregnant woman in Orin-Ekiti, the several reported cases of kidnapping for ransom and the destruction of farmland in several part of the state.

    Read Also: Ekiti PDP suspends Fayose’s core loyalist indefinitely

    “As stakeholders, we, Ekitis in diaspora under the aegis of Ekitiparapo Association Lagos, are concerned with the happenings in the home land, particularly the growing rate of kidnapping and abduction of people at home and along the major inter/intra city highways.”

    He said the development warranted the association to set up a seven-man Security Advisory Committee to review the situation and made its recommendation available to Ekiti State government.

    “The recent incidents of insecurity in Ekiti land are traceable to the activities of armed herdsmen and local people with criminal tendencies. The followings are being recommended to Governor Kayode Fayemi as steps to be taken in our homeland.

    “We have observed that the forest reserves have become the hideout and the operational base for kidnappers and armed robbers. The old practice of patrolling and monitoring of the forest reserves by armed forest guards appears to have been abandoned.

    “In the light of the current security challenges, the government is being urged to engage forest guards for effective patrol of the forest reserves which in turn will enhance security within the state.

    “There should be a way of creating synergy between our neighbouring states and this would no doubt strengthen the security of the area at the external level. The state government should endeavour to ensure that all land owners are known.”

    He said every community within the state should open a register of people living within their community and if the need be, they should be issued with identity cards.

    “Our Kabiyesi and royal fathers should be mobilised by the state government and be encouraged to explore old traditional methods and strategies, which had been adequately utilised in the past and found to be very potent in order to deploy same towards tackling the current security challenges;”

  • Group urges aggrieved Oyo APC members to embrace unity

    A GROUP within the Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC), Oyo Progressive Front (OPF), has advised aggrieved party members not to further jeopardise the peace initiative by former Governor Abiola Ajimobi through their utterances.

    According to the group, such utterances were capable of further sowing seeds of discord in the party.

    A statement signed by OPF Coordinator, Tunde Oladimeji, advised a former Commissioner for Environment, Jide Adewale and Dipo Fawole to explore other options of resolving their differences instead of attacking the party’s leadership.

    The added: “We are all members of APC in the state; we should not continue this wrangling that will help nobody but further divide our party. As good party members, Adewale and Fawole should kindly desist from this path they have embarked upon. Today, the only rallying point we have in the state is Senator Ajimobi. We should all come together to work with him to rescue our party. Our statements should engender peace and unity in Oyo APC. We cannot continue to blame Senator Ajimobi for the loss of the governorship election at the poll; we also inadvertently contributed to the loss through our actions and inactions.”

    Read Also: ‘We ‘ll not tolerate division in Oyo APC’

    Saying it understood the grouse of the duo and why they are angry with the party leadership, OPF, however, advised them to toe the path of reconciliation.

    ”Being a former Commissioner of Environment, Adewale, who aspired to contest a Reps seat, obviously would be angry since he did not get the ticket, but he has the whole of the future before him. As for Fawole with a pedigree of progressives running in the family through our late leader, Baba Fawole in Elekuro, we appeal to him to toe the path of peace too.

    ‘That he took the expression of interest form for the House of Representatives in 2015 and could not follow through due to the situation at the time, he understandably would be aggrieved, we appeal to him too to allow peace reign and join other like minds in the repositioning our party for future challenges. We recall that it was under the progressive administration of Senator Ajimobi that his brother was appointed as the Rector of the Ibadan Polytechnic. These are factors that should be considered. We should not now demolish the house that we have all collectively built due to personal and perceived injury,” the group said.

  • Firms, OSUCCIMA partner govt on Osun Osogbo

    TELECOMMUNICATION giant, Coca Cola, oil marketing company, BOVAS and the Osun State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (OSUCCIMA) have lined up for collaboration with the Osun State Government, Osun State Heritage Council and Esquire Global on this year’s Osun Osogbo Festival. The festival will, for the first time, incorporate job creation and entrepreneurship initiatives.

    The OSUCCIMA partnership commitment was given by its Acting Director-General Chief Jide Falohun, who explained that the vision of the collaboration was to leverage on the Osun Osogbo Festival platform to boost job creation, entrepreneurship, commerce and business in Osun State.

    The Lead Consultant of Esquire Global, which is the official marketing firm of this year’s festival, Mr. Tunde Muraina, in a statement in Ibadan yesterday,  said MTN Nigeria, Grand OAK, Coca Cola, Adron Homes and Property, Bovas and Company Limited, were among corporate organistations and institutions that have given their support to the 2019 edition of the festival.

    Read Also: How modulated salary saved jobs in Osun

    Muraina also added that pre-festival events begin today with “Iwopopo”, the traditional cleansing of the town.

    He added that OSUCCIMA has introduced a product named Community Day Cultural Festival for employment and job opportunities, noting that the product would include Virtual Expo, Virtual Job and Global Trade Mission to the festival.

    He explained that the initiative would be a continuous collaboration as sponsors and exhibitors would be able to showcase their products and services at a virtual exhibition booth, stressing that stakeholders would connect, collaborate and promote both live and on-demand anytime and anywhere for jobs and business opportunities.

    According to the statement, the expo as a solution provider would join forces with OSUCCIMA to provide a series of e-tools to situate the chamber of commerce system within the context of the 21st-century digital economy through virtual trade show technologies.

  • Sanwo-Olu to convert ICG campaign offices to consultative centres

    Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has unveiled plan to convert the four Independent Campaign Groups (ICG) offices to consultative offices as a way of getting his government and policies closer to the people in the three senatorial districts.

    This, he added, will enable citizens to submit any of their policy input and demands that would help in achieving the developmental agenda of his administration.

    Sanwo-Olu’s Senior Special Assistant on Political Matters, Mr. Peter Ajayi, who went to inspect the various offices in the state over the weekend, made this known.

    Ajayi stated that the essence of the visitation was to assess the state of things in the campaign offices, saying that the governor is keen in making his policies to have people’s input.

    He added that the decision to turn the campaign offices to consultative centres was to galvanise input from the general public into the policy process of his government.

    Read Also:  Sanwo-Olu’s cabinet: Lagos Assembly C’ttee screens 18 nominees

    “These centres will serve as offices where Lagosians can come to submit letters of policy demand and also meet to deliberate issues of public importance. In this wise, the citizens would have a sense of belonging in the government and also get to know what the government is really doing in ensuring the greatest happiness in the greatest number of people”, said Ajayi

    He added that the offices would as well complement the efforts of local government chairmen in the area of grassroots relations and management, saying that governance is all about the people and the promotion of their welfare.

    “The purpose of this visitation is to see and get first-hand information on what is needed to renovate and the necessary things to be done to ensure that the consultative centres are conducive for operation. We shall provide security, employ cleaners, administrative assistants and secretaries in all the 4 centres,” said Ajayi

  • Obi is DG of Ahiajoku Institute

    Frontline journalist and racy columnist Dr Amanze Obi has been appointed as the Director-General of Ahiajoku Institute by Imo State Governor Emeka Ihedioha.

    The Institute, modelled after the Goethe Institute and Instituto Italiano De Cultura, is a research and cultural centre on Igbo culture, civilisation and worldview. It is an offshoot of the 40-year old Ahiajoku Lecture Series, an intellectual harvest that underpins the contributions the Igbo have made and are still making to world culture and civilisation.

    He is an alumnus of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), where he bagged multiple degrees, culminating in the award of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in English.

    Obi taught in the Department of English of UNILAG in the early years of his career. He has had nearly three decades of experience in journalism and held a number of senior editorial positions in major Nigerian newspapers. Dr Obi is a penetrating polemicist whose weekly newspaper column, BROKEN TONGUES, compels readership for its insightful flourishes.

    He was also a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy, as well Culture and Tourism in Imo State. He is the author of two books – Perspectives in International Politics (1998) and Delicate Distress: An Interpreter’s Account of the Nigerian Dilemma (2013).

    Dr Obi has since assumed duties at the Institute.

  • Bayelsa needs substantive minister, says Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to give minister-designate, Timipre Sylva, a substantive and grade A ministerial portfolio in the interest of the state.

    Dickson, during a live media chat at the Government House in Yenagoa, said Sylva should not be a junior minister, popularly called minister for state.

    The governor, who spoke while fielding questions on why he congratulated his predecessor and political rival on his appointment, said his gesture was borne out of his principle of politics without bitterness.

    Describing Sylva as his ferocious and formidable opponent, Dickson said though he defeated his predecessor in their last political clashes, they remained brothers and friends after elections.

    The governor appealed to Sylva to use his appointment to bring development to Bayelsa, urging him not to toe the path of former Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobir, who “spent his tenure attacking his government”.

    Read Also: Nwosu to minister-designates: help Buhari fight unemployment

    He said: “What I displayed when I congratulated Dickson was political maturity and tolerance. We have been in the trenches for close to 10 years now, not talking bit attacking ourselves. He is a ferocious and formidable opponent. But I triumphed in the elections up to the tribunal to the Supreme Court. In the last general election, he led his party as usual and I led the PDP and you saw the clash.

    “Bayelsa has not had the kind of opposition we have had. My politics is without bitterness. I fight hard when I need to for survival. Once I beat you, we become brothers and friends. He is a brother and a friend actually. We are not still in talking terms even now.

    “When four years ago Lokpobiri was appointed minister; he was a campaign DG against me. During the 2015 elections, I faced the toughest political betrayal; they all ganged against me. Lokpobiri was the Director-General and Minister; Sylva as candidate and Chief Timi Alaibe with others who defected to the APC, but I won all of them with the support of our people.

    “Even after that I congratulated and directed senators to support Lokpobiri. He has not acknowledged that till today; it didn’t stop him from being my political opponent. Nor do I expect Sylva not to be my opponent.

    “I wish him the best and expect that he will use the position to develop Bayelsa. Bayelsa will like to have a substantive minister, not a junior minister, a grade A ministry and I expect him to use the position to bring development to the state and add to what I have done…”

  • ‘No plans to relocate NGC headquarters from Niger Delta’

    The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has assured stakeholders that it has no plans to relocate headquarters of its subsidiary, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) from Delta State.

    A statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, described as unfortunate, statement credited to Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, where he reportedly condemned alleged moves by the corporation to relocate the NGC headquarters from the Niger Delta.

    Ughamadu called on the NGC host communities and other stakeholders to disregard the relocation tale, which he described as “totally false”. He maintained that Omo-Agege may have been misinformed or was quoted out of context as the subject of relocation of NGC was never on the table for deliberation.

    NNPC promised to ensure harmonious relationship with stakeholders and host communities to entrench a win-win scenario for all.

  • ‘Bayelsa needs APC to reduce poverty’

    A Bayelsa State governorship aspirant, Preye Aganaba, has said Bayelsa should join the All Progressives Congress (APC) to reduce increasing poverty in the state.

    Aganaba, who spoke at his campaign office in Yenagoa when he inaugurated coordinators of local government areas, wards and heads of campaign directorates, lamented that poverty was increasing because the interventions the state received when PDP was at the centre, had reduced drastically.

    He said: “It is very obvious that the goodies we used to have in Bayelsa when there was PDP government at the federal level is no longer there. There has been a lot of poverty in since 2015 and it is obvious. Like I will always tell Bayelsans, we need APC more than APC needs us, because that disconnect needs to be sorted out. There needs to be a bridge between our governments and the Federal Government.

    “Our late father Melford Okilo said Bayelsa could not afford to play opposition politics in Nigeria; we will suffer for it and that has been happening in the last four years.”

    Read Also: Bayelsa guber: group seeks sanction for ‘partisan’ monarch

    According to Aganaba, his campaign organisation inaugurated ward and local government coordinators with a mandate to spread the gospel of APC and tell the people reasons behind his aspiration to govern the state.

    “The maritime is our area of strength that we need to focus on; but the key thing is security. I am happy that the Federal Government is setting up a security agency to follow up on the waterways.

    “We need a government that can partner the Federal Government to get us out of where we are today. It is very important. I will emphasise that Bayelsa needs APC more than APC needs Bayelsa and our people need to think about it very well”.

    The directors inaugurated are Christopher Abarowei (Media and Publicity); Ineye Igbaifagha (Youths); Tuamo Abule (Contact and Mibilisation); Etuatimi Koinyan (Women) and Harry Edoni (NGOs).

  • Nwosu to minister-designates: help Buhari fight unemployment

    Imo State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the March 9 election Uche Nwosu has urged incoming ministers to assist President Muhammadu Buhari in employment generation to fight unemployment.

    According to him, the insecurity in the country is because of lack of jobs for the youths. He said if the minister- designates work hard to assist the President in generating employment, the current security challenges would be addressed

    Nwosu, who praised Buhari for retaining some of the old ministers and bringing in new ones to energise the cabinet, also urged the ministers to assist the president achieve his economic targets of revamping the economy and winning the war against corruption.

    Read Also: Don’t abort Buhari’s vision, cleric tells minister-designates

    He said: “I praise President Muhammadu Buhari for reappointing people like the former Attorney-General Abubakar Malami; former Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi and others for performing well, and making sure the railways are functioning.

    “My number one expectation is for them to abide by the rules. Insecurity has reduced because of Mr President’s efforts. The minister-designates should also key into the president’s anti-corruption fight, but most importantly the first thing the administration should do in this second term is the creation of job opportunities for the youths. With the creation of jobs, I believe President Buhari would be able to tackle some of the issues. Let us support Mr. President and his team on what they are doing so that Nigerian can move forward…”