The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

  • Court declares Tax Appeal Tribunal illegal

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to disband the Tax Appeal Tribunals established by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to adjudicate on matters concerning federal taxes and related revenues.

    The order is contained in a judgment by Justice Adeniyi Ademola, who declared the tax tribunals illegal.

    The judgment was on an appeal by a firm, TSKJ Construces Internacionals Unipessoal LDA.

    The judge held that the eight tax appeal tribunals set up by the FIRS were in contravention of Section 251 (1) (a) and (b) of the Constitution.

    TSKJ, a non-resident tax payer, was awarded a contract by the Federal Government for the construction of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

    In executing the contract, the company set its local subsidiary – TSKJ Nigeria – which rendered logistics support service to it in the course of the contract.

    At the conclusion of the contract, TSKJ filed self-assessment forms on deemed profits, on the basis that its profit could not be ascertained.

    The company made deductions of recharges, being the cost paid to its local subsidiary.

    The FIRS disallowed the deductions made by TSKJ on the grounds that the deductions were not allowed under the basis of turnover assessment.

  • Group urges Fed Govt to tackle multiple taxation

    The Tax Payers Association of Nigeria (TAPAN) has urged the Federal Government to address the problem of multiple taxation.

    TAPAN, which  commended the Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for her position on multiple taxation and its consequences on the economy, also decried tax filling processes.

    In a statement in Abuja by its BoT Chairman, Mr Nzekwe and President, Philip  Ilokhulo, the group said unless the minister’s advice are heeded, the trend could have adverse effects on businesses and the economy.

    TAPAN, which planned to address the nation on some national issues, said the association was concerned about multiple taxation and the use of tax payers’ fund in delivery the dividend of democracy.

    The TAPAN wondered why some states would have various business taxes, levies and charges.

    According to the association, “the minister is right; this could kill business and have adverse effect on tax payers”.

    TAPAN urged the government to heed the advice of MAN and review the various taxes and levies on businesses, to ensure effective diversification of the economy and encourage competition.

    It called on the Federal Government and tax authorities to ensure there is transparency in the tax regime, make the procedure of payment easier for tax payers.

    “The tax payers have been at the receiving end of very cumbersome procedure and management and use of what the majority of Nigerian tax payers. We must ensure things change,” it said.

  • Multiple taxation harmful to economy, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Multiple taxation harmful to economy, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Multiple taxation is harmful to the economy, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said.

    Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who speake at the inaugural meeting of the Ministerial Implementation Committee on National Economic Council Resolutions on the Harmonisation of Taxes and Levies Across the Federation, in Abuja yesterday, said multiple taxation increases the cost of doing business in Nigeria, discourages local trade and investment, and also gives a negative perception of the Nigerian business environment to foreign investors.

    She said streamlining and harmonising taxes across the federation, would increase Nigeria’s productive potential, arguing that multiplicity of taxes on the transportation of goods, impairs the integration of internal markets and the establishment of a fully integrated economic space within Nigeria.

    She said mobile levies pose a threat to the economy, while at the same time reduce competition between companies located in different states in Nigeria. “But with increased competition, we could bring down prices for consumer goods produced by these companies, and make our local companies and exports more competitive in the global market,” she said.

    The Minister explained that reducing the total number of taxes paid, increasing transparency as to how and what to pay, and facilitating procedures for filing taxes, “will be essential to reducing high compliance costs and in so doing, increase Nigeria’s tax compliance rate and also the revenue,” stressing that Nigeria needs to have a transparent process that makes it easy for people to know what taxes and levies to pay, and to harmonise these activities across the country.

    She said if Nigeria must continue to attract foreign investment, diversify her economy and create more jobs, and become one of the top 20 economies in the World by the year, 2020, she must get her tax system right.

    Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala leveraged on the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) report, to justify the claim that some states have as many as 97 different taxes, levies and charges that are imposed on businesses.

    “This is simply not economically viable – the costs to the government of administering these various taxes and the costs to business of paying these taxes outweigh their benefits to both the private businesses and the government,” she said.

    The Minister cited a recent World Bank Report that showed that for every N100 that businesses have to pay in taxes, they pay about N35 in compliance costs, saying this amounted to a waste of capital that could be reinvested in these businesses to grow them and create more jobs for our economy.

    She praised the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for currently re – drafting the existing tax laws in simple and plain english to make them easily understandable by taxpayers without the need to engage expert opinion thereby reducing the cost of compliance.

  • Governors to Jonathan: call Okonjo-Iweala, NNPC to order

    Governors to Jonathan: call Okonjo-Iweala, NNPC to order

    The All Progressive Congress (APC) governors yesterday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to call the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to order over the disputed indebtedness to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

    In a statement titled “FAAC: Dishonesty and NNPC’s unacceptable etiquette,” the progressive governors urged the leadership of the National Assembly to protect the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution.

    The governors said: “Mr. President needs to urgently intervene to protect the image of the Federal Government and safeguard the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. We, therefore, urgently call on Mr. President to call NNPC and the Ministry of Finance to order.

    “We also would like to invite the leadership of the National Assembly to urgently take steps to protect the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution.”

    Besides, the APC asked NNPC to state the amount it credited to the FAAC.

    The governors said: “Our attention was drawn to NNPC’s denial of a N2.3 trillion debt being owed to the Federation Account. The statement, which is credited to Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ms. Tumini E. Green, is to say the least escapist, dishonest, contradictory and in many respect fraudulent.”

    The governors urged the corporation to say how much it paid into the account of the relevant agencies it referred to.

    They also asked NNPC to state how much it paid as outstanding subsidies.

    The governors said : “The question is how much was the revenue collected by NNPC? How much of it was paid to the Federation Account? How much was paid to the accounts of other relevant government agencies? How much was credited to FAAC? How much was committed to the payment of the so-called outstanding subsidies? What other associated costs of operations and losses were incurred and how much?”

    The governors asked NNPC to explain how much had been realised in oil revenue on monthly basis since January and the other associated cost of operations and losses it incurred.

    The statement noted that while claiming that NNPC does not owe the Federation Account, “taking into account outstanding subsidies and other associated costs of operations and losses”, the NNPC spokesperson claimed that payments have been made consistently into “its Central Bank of Nigeria account”.

    The governors said Green emphatically stated that “not all revenues collected by NNPC are paid directly into the accounts of the Federal Allocation with the Central Bank of Nigeria. Some are paid into the accounts of the relevant government agencies, like the Federal Inland Revenue Services and the Department of Petroleum Resources, with the CBN. But eventually, all these payments are credited to the accounts of FAAC.”

    Section 162(1) of the 1999 Constitution, they said, “is unambiguously clear and it has directed that the Federation shall maintain a special account to be called the Federation Account into which shall be paid all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation, except the proceeds from the personal income tax of the personnel of the armed forces of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry or department of government charged with responsibility for Foreign Affairs and the residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

  • States allocations: Call Finance Minister to order, Reps tell Jonathan

    States allocations: Call Finance Minister to order, Reps tell Jonathan

    The House of Representatives yesterday called on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently direct the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to stop playing politics with the statutory allocations of state government.

    Speaking through its Chief Whip, Hon. Samson Osagie the House said the call be came necessary in order to avert the collapse of the economy of the states due to non remittance of statutory allocation to them for almost three months.

    Osagie, said members of the National Assembly are worried that states were yet to get their statutory allocations from the Federation Account even in the face of improved revenue from both oil and non-oil sources.

    He said: “We don’t want to accept any argument of paucity of funds as field reports from our oversight shows that revenue targets have been met and surpassed.

    “We will not fold our hands and allow the Federal government to castrate our states of their entitlement from the Federation Account in order to make state g overnors pliable to the PDP government ambition to hold on to power beyond 2015.

    He urge state governments to immediately seek an order of mandamus to compel the Finance Minister to release the funds.

  • Reps to question Okonjo-Iweala over allocations to tertiary institutions

    Reps to question Okonjo-Iweala over allocations to tertiary institutions

    THE Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the National Economy Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala may be quizzed by the National Assembly following discrepancies between her records of capital allocations to Federal Government tertiary institutions and the realities.

    Chairman of the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Education John Dyeh, during the Committee’s oversight trip to the Federal University, Kashere and the Federal College of Education (Technical), Gombe, said the Minister would be summoned soon.

    “When we go back, we’ll certainly engage the Minister of Finance. We’ll tell her what we have seen as against the records she has presented to us.

    “There is definitely a conflict. I mean a misconception from what she has told us and what we have seen on ground. So, we’ll engage her certainly,” Dyeh, stresed

    This development is consequent upon the delay in the release of capital allocations to the institutions which he described as “epileptic and grossly inadequate”.

    On the federal university, he said: “For last year, all they received for capital was less than 50 per cent of what they required.

    “For this year, the capital released to them with cash backing is less than 30 per cent which is also inadequate. It is supposed to be about 50 per cent.

    “A similar situation applies in FCE (T). We have seen allocation for last year. Although it over N200million for capital expenditure, only N74million was released to them.

    “And for this year, the two quarters, they have received just about 30%. That is what we have seen and it is also grossly inadequate.”

    He commended both institutions for their ability to prioritise their projects and complete a few of them, even though a lot have been abandoned due to financial constraints.

  • ‘Single window’ll lead to 48hrs cargo clearance’

    ‘Single window’ll lead to 48hrs cargo clearance’

    The nation’s Trade Single Window will reduce delays associated with cross-boarder trade and enable Nigeria to attain its goal of 48-hours cargo clearance.

    The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who stated this yesterday at the official launch of the new Nigeria trade hub portal and the new import, export and transit process manual in Abuja, said the measure will improve trade facilitation.

    : “To facilitate trade, this administration has already successfully implemented reforms at Nigeria’s ports and substantially reduced the number of agencies operating in these ports,” she said, adding that Trade Single Window will further reduce delays associated with cross-broader trade and “enable us achieve our goal of 48 -hours clearance at our ports.”

    According to her, for both importers and exporters, the Nigeria Trade Single Window provides an integrated environment where appropriate regulatory information may be obtained.

    The minister said the system would greatly facilitate commerce across Nigeria’s borders, and reduce costs for businesses operating in the country.

    Commending the Nigeria Customs Service that organized the event, the minister said “I am confident that the successful implementation of the Nigeria Trade Single Window framework will contribute to improving our nation’s investment climate and support our transformation as an emerging market economy in this decade.”

    Speaking at the event, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, noted that the launch of the information phase of trade hub will facilitate the next phase, which allows for end-to-end transaction in a Single Window Environment.

    He said that international trade facilitation is all about simplifying import and export regulations and procedures to make trading more predictable and sustainable.

    According to him, the single window is a useful tool needed to optimise the fulfillment of the objectives.

    Continuing, Aganga said “it provides the platform for reliable data collection, collation, retrieval and dissemination. It will improve collaboration amongst the different operating entities which can now exchange data electronically; it will reduce trade-related costs through on-line processing of information and will shorten processing times”

  • Minister summons NNPC over unremitted $8.476b NLNG dividends

    Minister summons NNPC over unremitted $8.476b NLNG dividends

    • NEITI unveils $1.7b exchange rate difference, N175.9b discrepancies

    The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday summoned the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director (GMD), Andrew Yakubu, for the corporation’s refusal to remit a total of $8.476billion as reported by the previous Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) audit.

    She said the NNPC received $4.84billion as dividends and repayment from the Nigerian Liquiedfied Natural Gas (NLNG), which it was yet to remit to the Federation Account.

    Besides, the report revealed that the corporation received another $3.99billion without remitting it to the Federation Account.

    The minister spoke at the public presentation of the the NEITI 2009-2011 oil and gas physical and audit report in Abuja. She asked the GMD to see her for private discussions on the financial issues.

    Okonjo-Iweala noted that after a robust discussion with the NNPC boss, she , as the Minister of Finance could afford to depend on the remittance for additional revenue.

    Her words: “GMD, you are welcome back. I missed you because I was citing some of the words from NEITI and I said some of us are assembled here (the right people) because they pointed out some remittances from NLNG, amounting to over $8billion for a period of time-2006-2009, which we need to discuss.

    “As the Minister of Finance, I don’t want it on the floor here. We need a very robust conversation about this money because I can depend on it as a Minister of Finance that this is additional revenue. “

    The minister also drew attention of the stakeholders at the event to the issue of exchange rate.

    She said that the areas of discussion with the corporation, included the exchange rate differences, which were not resolved in the declaration of revenue by NNPC.

    The NEITI chairman, Mr. Ledum Mittee said the NEITI report observed poor inventory management, which accounted for the difficulty in determining balances for imported products.

    The report, said Mittee, noted, “NEITI also discovered a lingering worrisome situation where there is no agreed pricing methodology between NNPC and the companies for determination of fiscal values for royalty and PPT computations.

    “In addition, the MoU for joint venture partners JV’s which expired in 2008 is yet to be renewed, yet the companies covered by JV are still using the expired MoU in their transactions with Nigeria, resulting in a difference between NNPC and covered entities positions over $1.7billion between 2009-2011, which are reported by the auditors as revenue losses to the Federation.”

    On decline of the government crude oil productions, crude liftings and revenue accruable to the Federation, the report identified that there was inadequate funding of the JV operations.

    It also noted that all refineries are operating below their name plate capacities resulting in a situation where 80 per cent of crude oil allocated to local refineries is exported for off-shore processing, crude oil and product exchange.

    The chairman explained, “the report has negative consequences on revenue accruable to the Federation Account. According to the report, “the combined loss to Nigeria in the Offshore Processing, Crude and Products Exchange within the period under review was over $866million.”

    NEITI disclosed that Nigeria made total subsidy payments of N3trillion to importers of refined petroleum products.

    It said: “This is made up of N1.4trillion fuel subsidy claims by the NNPC for the period 2009-2011 and a total of N1.60trillion paid to other marketers during the same period. The report observed that the disparity between subsidy claims paid from the Federation Account and that made by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) was N175.9billion during the same period.”

    Mr Mittee however said Nigeria recorded a total crude oil production of over 2.5billion barrels, an increase of 4.8 per cent over 2006-2008.

    Meanwhile, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC has reiterated the commitment of the Corporation to work with the NEITI in the pursuit of its mandate in ensuring transparency and accountability in the oil and gas industry and the entire extractive industry in general.

  • Under-age marriage storm still raging

    Senators in Abuja are not the only ones arguing over under-age marriage. On the streets of the nation’s capital residents have also been offering their perspectives on the heated issue. And, as you probably guessed, their opinions are divergent.

    For instance, some think it is a matter of culture. They ask, if early marriage is widely practised in a community and the people see nothing wrong with it, why should anybody else fault it?

    Still, some others (and they seem to be in the majority) see early marriage as barbaric.

    The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in an interview, also condemned the girl-child marriage.

    She was of the view that the education and the empowerment of the girl-child and women are very important and should be taken seriously.

    She added: “I totally support the empowerment of girls and women. It has been shown that one very clear way to move our country out of poverty is to educate your girls and empower them. When they are educated all the other things fall in place and they will improve dramatically because they have a little more knowledge. The education of their children improves dramatically when they have gone to school.

    ”So there is no doubt in my mind, letting them go to school is the best for the family. You start with what is good for the family to what is good for the nation to what is good for the globe. It is not a sentiment, the world knows this and our country need not lag behind.”

    But a political analyst, Mr. Sani Lawal Suleiman said that it is only hypocrites who believe it is a crime to marry an underage girl and call her a wife in one’s house, but the same people remain evasive about abusing and impregnating an under-age girl, denying the child and dumping her in her ordeal.

    He asks, which is better: marrying an under-age girl into your house or abusing her in her parent’s house?”

    Suleiman insisted that in the case of Nigeria, there is no way of stopping early prostitution or child-abuse.

    He said that it is far better to marry the girl because it is almost impossible to stop the illicit trade.

    Suleiman added that those who oppose early marriage are the same people who abuse the girls and then come out to chant war songs against marrying them.

    The fact, Suleiman said, is that it is almost impossible to stop abusing under-age children in any part of the world, so he suggested strict laws guiding the marriage and serious punishment for abusing them.

    Miss Joy, a lab technician who was interviewed, said that it depends on the culture and background. In some places, you find a lot of teenagers made to marry early against their will.

    Joy said: “If you want something, you will have to find a way of getting it because everybody in life wants something and even that girl forced into marriage can eventually make a difference, we have seen lots of cases where girls with dreams are forced into early marriages but eventually leave it and turn themselves into testimonies.

    “Some girls do not care or strive for anything in life and in such cases, you will always find such people stuck in a marriage. Moreover, being a full-time housewife can be a job on its own; we really need to ask ourselves if these girls really want an education or marriage because whoever wants to achieve a dream has to put an extra effort no matter how hard and long it takes.“

    A gynaecologist Dr. Nwokoma Eze said: “The issues have become a heated debate at the moment. From a medical point of view, the girl-child deserves education because the girl is the mother of a nation and it reduces the issue of maternal mortality because if the girl is educated, she will be able to take care of herself and will be aware of the best way to bring up her child.

    “We in the medical profession advocate for a good education for the girl-child because that will help her in the long-run, and help us prevent maternal mortality which is one of the goals of the MDG. Also a lot of issues come up when a girl gets pregnant in an early age; we are talking about cases of the proportion of the pelvis, issues of affective labour and high-risk pregnancies associated with teenage pregnancies; we are all talking about women empowerment and gender equality which will go better with education.”

     

  • Fed Govt recovers N34b from illegal MDA accounts

    Fed Govt recovers N34b from illegal MDA accounts

    • Orders full execution of new payment system

    About N34billion has been recovered out of N58billion traced to illegal accounts being operated by some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Minister of Finance, and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said.

    She explained that the proceeds were revenues generated by the MDAs, but diverted instead of remitting  them  into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) Account maintained at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    The minister disclosed these to newsmen in Abuja yesterday at the inauguration of two committees on Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS), and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS). She assured that the Federal Government will take further measures to ensure that the government gets what is due to it.

    “We had to act fast as agencies that are revenue generating refused to comply with the provision of remitting 25 per cent of such funds to the treasury. We pleaded with them, tried to dialogue with them, but it was not working,” she said, adding, “so we had to take some drastic measures. We have so far recovered N34billion of such monies and have factored it into cash backing for second quarter release for budget 2013.”

    The Federal Ministry of Finance had last month disclosed that some revenue generating agencies in collusion with banks, were withholding about N58 billion, but not remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

    It threatened that effective June 17, 2013, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, will close such accounts in all banks. This process of systematic closure, the Ministry stated, would continue until all monies that should be in the Consolidated Revenue Fund are retrieved.

    Okonjo-Iweala said, “rather than comply, the agencies and banks, through their lawyers, have engaged in all manner of legal subterfuges to ensure that monies which are due to the Federal Government are not remitted.

    “The objective of this conspiracy against the national interest, is to keep government monies indefinitely in accounts earning interest for individuals at the expense of the Federal Government and the Nigerian people,” stressing that the federal government “is determined that this unacceptable practice must end forthwith.”

    She said the government has consequently ordered the full operationalisation of the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS),  and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), by December this year.

    She said 58 per cent of the federal budget is now being implemented through the GIFMIS platform, adding that by the end of the year, the entire budget implementation is expected to be done through the same platform to ensure accountability.

    With regards to IPPIS, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said the government has been “able to capture 215 MDAs and saved a total of N119billion, and has equally discovered about 46,000 ghost workers. She explained that the idea is to capture the remaining 321 MDAs, saying by the time the remaining MDAs were captured, “we would have saved more for the government.”

    She said these two initiatives have assisted the government, “in curbing corruption and the introduction of fake names into the payroll system, as well as modernise the way government handles its finances.”

    In his remarks, the Acountant-General of the Federation and a member of the committee, Jonah Otunla, said GIFMIS was introduced with the aim of improving the acquisition, allocation and utilisation of public funds.

    He said the committees, represent a good platform in modernising government finances and reducing incidences of government borrowing.