The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Finance Minister

  • Osinbajo meets task force on cost of food

    Osinbajo meets task force on cost of food

    Vice  President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday met behind closed doors with members of the Presidential Task Force on the rising cost of food items in Nigeria.

    The meeting, which took place at Aguda House, his official residence, was attended by all members of the task force.

    The Federal Executive Council had, on Wednesday, approved the setting up of the task force as part of efforts to enhance affordable food prices across the country.

    The Task Force is mandated to consider measures that would ensure a steady flow of produce to the market and reverse recent price increases.

    It is also the responsibility of exploring options to promote availability and affordability of food items to Nigerians.

    The task force is expected to submit interim reports on February 8.

    Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Audu Ogbeh; Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and Industry, Trade and Development Minister  Okey Enelamah, are members of the task force.

    Other members of the team are Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi; Water Resources Minister Suleiman Adamu, and Labour & Employment Minister  Chris Ngige.

    Nigeria’s consumer prices rose by 1.1 percent in December 2016 above November’s 0.8 per cent increase.

    The inflation figure for the period was 18.6 percent and was the highest since October 2005.

    The National Bureau of Statistics, which issued the data, said the inflation was fueled by higher prices in housing, water, electricity, and gas and other fuels.

  • Finance Ministry uncovers 33,000 ghost workers

    Finance Ministry uncovers 33,000 ghost workers

    Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has said the ministry has succeeded in reducing Federal Government’s monthly wage bill from N165bn to N142bn by eliminating 33,000 ghost workers.

    Adeosun, represented by the Head of the Efficiency Unit at the Ministry, Mrs. Patience Oniha, at the 2016 Fiscal Liquidity Assessment Committee Retreat, said the ministry had discovered that it could also save money by reviewing government’s procurement processes.

    She said that through the Efficiency Unit, the ministry had succeeded in negotiating huge discounts for government officials traveling on local and international flights for official assignments.

    Adeosun said that the ministry had also been able to save cost by banning sitting allowances, souvenirs at government’s functions and unnecessary adverts which had contributed to the high recurrent expenditure in government.

  • FG cancels plan to build 10,000 PHCs

    FG cancels plan to build 10,000 PHCs

    …To merge health department for effective performance

    Federal Government may have put off its earlier plan to build 10,000 primary health care centres across all senatorial zones across the country, it was learnt Thursday.

    Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole said the decision to cancel the project was on the advice of Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, who felt that the states may not be able to meet up with their contributions.

    Adewole spoke during an audience with Under-Secretary-General and Executive-Director, United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin in Abuja

    Absolving the Finance minister of any blame, Adewole said the minister (Finance) had earlier pledged upon assumption of office that the PHCs would be made available by President Buhari-led administration within four years, and that the nation’s health systems would be driven through it.

    But with the turn of event in the country, she was concerned that the states may not be able to meet up with their contributions. This, Adeosun said will be a burden on the Federal Government.

    Minister of Health had on Tuesday assured the country that government would harmonize various departments in the ministry for effective performance. He said most of the health projects in the country are funded by sponsors, and that the best way to show seriousness as a government, and appreciate such aids is to expend the funds through a well-coordinated channel.

    He said of the PHC’s: “Truly, we came up with the agenda of revitalizing one PHC per political ward, that would lead us to ensuring 1000 PHCs are in place. But, then, there is a problem. Government set up an inter-ministerial committee. At our first meeting, it was obvious, the Minister of Finance said ‘wait a minute, when you take this up, the local government and states will abandon its responsibility. And, when they abandon it for you, you are in trouble.

    “About 40 percent of the resources go into personnel cost. So, if you want to bear the responsibility of the resources, you want to bear responsibility for commodities, then, what exactly will the states be doing?

    “So, we are trying to repackage the concept. We are taking on one hundred and ten for pilot. We are going through the backdoor, using the Save-One-Million-Lives, which is actually $500 million facility from the World Bank. We’ve given out to the states as grant, and what we’ve done is to advance them and advance payment at $1.5million. Use this, and then, in a year’s time, we would re-evaluate and match you with you. In other words, we compared, say Lagos State in 2015 with Lagos State in 2016. We then advance them with rewards based on improvements. And, I’ve been talking to many of the state governors, saying use this to strengthen your primary health care system. I think many of them are listening. If they do not invest, there will be nothing for them next year.”

    He added that one of the core goals of the ministry under his leadership is promote family planning services as the best way for mothers to plan and live their lives meaningfully.

    In his remark, Prof. Osotimehin, who was accompanied by Permanent Secretary, United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, DfID, Mark Lowcock, expressed the concern of UNFPA and DfID over high maternal death rate in the country.

    He however reiterated the support of international community for the country to reduce the incidence. He however informed that family planning would effectively reduce the deaths by 30 percent, and that it should be embraced by all people in the country.

  • FG justifies stoppage of export grant

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun on Thursday justified the stoppage of the policy on Export Grant, which according to her, has been seriously abused.

    A statement from the ministry said that) the Minister, spoke during the visit of the leadership of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, (NESG) to her office in Abuja. Responding to the explanation sought by members of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) on the current status of Export Grant, the Minister stated that although her predecessor in office halted the implementation of the policy, she believed the decision was in order going by harvests of startling revelations on the abuse of export grant.

    She said: “On paper, why will you cancel Export Grant? The EG is set up to encourage export business. However, in a situation, where we do not have control, we open up doors for the kind of abuse, which are only imaginable.

    “We have people exporting stones, describing them as high valued goods, collecting an import credit and using that to import fish. We do need to look for how to support export, but we have to be very realistic in the recommendations we are coming up with.”

    The finance minister sought the understanding of members of the private sector in the ongoing tax policy review by the current administration.

    Adeosun challenged the private sector to come up with policies which are implementable in view of the current economic situation in the country.

    “Extending her hand of fellowship to the NESG, the Minister said the Ministry of Finance is ready to work with them and therefore challenged the private sector group to keep track of some of the recommendations to the Federal Government” the statement read.

    “I want to challenge you by asking you to keep track of how many of your polices are implemented and those not implemented. You also need to find out why those policies were not implemented. They may be great policies at wrong times, or they may be wrong  policies. They may even be un-implementable policies.

    “I’m giving you the commitment of the Federal Ministry of Finance to assist you. You are invited to the Federal Ministry of Finance and spend a day and sit with our people and see how government affairs are being run.”

    The Minister also stressed the need to prioritise in the face of the revenue challenge in the country. She stated that “the economy is challenged and people are extremely frustrated and we need to rebuild fundamentally, we need to prioritise. We have to rebuild this country and it has to be data driven.

    “We are already overhauling our tax policy. We want to have a realistic picture of tax. We need to realize that with the collapse of commodity prices we don’t have enough foreign exchange to buy as many imported goods as we like to, so when there is import substitution, we must embrace it.”

  • Indonesia president replaces key ministers

    Indonesia president replaces key ministers

    Indonesia President Joko Widodo on Wednesday replaced several key ministers and reassigned some others as he seeks to boost efforts to revive a flagging economy.

    A statement from the office of the President in Jakarta said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a Managing Director at the World Bank, was appointed Finance Minister to replace Bambang Brodjonegoro, in the second cabinet shake-up since Widodo took office in 2014.

    It said Brodjonegoro was moved to the post of National Development Minister.

    It said that Sri Mulyani was the finance minister under Widodo’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before she joined the World Bank in 2010.

    The president said difficult challenges being faced by the government included tackling poverty, reviving the slowing economy and reducing unemployment.

    Widodo said “the challenges require us to work faster.’’

    Joko also appointed Archandra Tahar, a US-Educated Petroleum Engineer who has worked in the United States since the late 1990s, as energy and Mineral Resources Minister, replacing Sudirman Said.

    He also made two political appointments in return for support from the National Mandate Party and the Golkar Party, which were previously aligned with the opposition.

    Former armed forces chief Wiranto was given the post of minister for political, legal and security affairs, previously held by Luhut Pandjaitan.

    A report said that Wiranto’s appointment was likely to draw criticism from human rights activists who say he was responsible for violence that marred East Timor’s vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

    Wiranto is the founder of the Hanura Party, a member of the governing coalition.

  • Economy: Adeosun must appear before Senate-Saraki

    Economy: Adeosun must appear before Senate-Saraki

    Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, was Wednesday asked to appear before the Senate on Thursday to brief the upper chamber about measures the Federal Government is taking to shore up the country’s dwindling economy.

    The directive followed the failure of the minister to brief the Senate on Wednesday as scheduled.

    Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, informed the Senate in plenary that Adeosun sent a message that she was held up at the Federal Executive Council meeting and therefore could not attend the scheduled briefing.

    Ndume said that Senate should give the minister another date to appear for the briefing.

    Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio who seconded the motion observed that it was Adeosun who picked the Wednesday date and wondered why she failed to honour the invitation.

    Akpabio said that the minister should have taken cognizance of the fact the FEC meeting would hold yesterday.

    He added, “We would not take it as a slight and disrespect for the Senate. We will take it as a mistake on her part but it should not repeat itself again because the minister ought to have known about the FEC meeting.”

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki ruled that Adeosun must be here tomorrow (Thursday).

    Saraki noted that the issue of the economy is very important and that Nigerians needed to be informed about what is happening in the economy.

    He said, “She must be here tomorrow of today at the end of council meeting because we are here. These are important to Nigerians to know what is happening.”

    The Central Bnak of Nigeria Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele took his turn to brief the Senate on Tuesday on the same subject matter.

  • FG to restructure N3bn Nollywood grant

    FG to restructure N3bn Nollywood grant

    The N3billion Federal Government’s grant for the Nigerian Film industry known as Nollywood is being restructured to make it serve the purpose for which it was created, the Ministry of Finance said Friday.

    A talk shop to work out the strategy is scheduled for July 1, the ministry said in a statement.

    Expected at the workshop are key stakeholders in the industry including the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, the leadership of Nollywood, the Actors Guild, Film and Videos Censors Board, The Nigerian Film Corporation and the Nigerian Copyright Commission.

    Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun who is convening the workshop explained that  ideas generated  during the workshop would form the basis  for reinvigorating  the Project ACT Nollywood and ensuring  its sustainability.

    To date, the Project ACT Nollywood has implemented specialist training programmes in Nigeria and abroad in which 247 practitioners have been trained to improve their technical and professional capacities in the entertainment industry.

    Similarly, 113 film projects, employing 2,436 people, have been co-financed through grants from the fund at a cost of N799 million, while the Innovative Film Distribution Programme has been designed to support viable solutions in film distribution.

    The Innovative Film Distribution Scheme is also aimed at checking piracy.

    The World Bank estimates that for each copy of a Nigerian film sold, nine pirated copies aresold.

    The National Bureau for Statistics (NBS), reckons the Nigerian Film industry as contributing  1.4 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2013 and 2014, and employing  an estimated 250,000 people directly.

     

  • FG redrafting tax laws  – Adeosun

    FG redrafting tax laws  – Adeosun

    The federal government has commenced the redrafting of the nation’s tax laws.

    Minister of finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun made this disclosure Thursday in Abuja when she met with tax experts.

    According to Adeosun, “An overhaul of our tax code is long overdue as so is the redrafting of our tax laws to reflect current business practices and new trends.  We must respond to the growing phenomenon of base shifting and other practices that allow companies to evade their fiscal and legal responsibilities.”

    She disclosed that the Federal Government plans to engage with relevant members of the National Assembly to ensure that required revisions, amendments and new laws can be passed expediently to keep pace with the rapid change in business practices.

    The Minister explained that the nation’s tax system must be dynamic in order to respond to an ever-evolving commercial landscape and to increasingly technology-driven business models.

    She stated that the Federal Government, as part of the drive to increase non-oil revenue, has set an aggressive target for increasing tax collection.  This, according to her, is a reflection of the fact that the current level of compliance is low and in some cases, the effective tax rate paid by those that are compliant is lower than expected.  She added that the commendable administrative efforts of FIRS would be complemented by an overhaul of the tax code and tax laws.

    She further stated that “We will critically examine our GDP to align taxes with economic activity in our bid to block all leakages. For example, the multi-billion naira losses being identified in our solid minerals sector by illegal and undocumented miners will be addressed with increased formalisation and review of the governing laws. Indeed, we are committed to the continuous improvement of our tax system as part of a dynamic framework. We will use tax administration and technology to widen compliance and encourage more individuals and companies into the tax net”, adding that the Federal Government is already investing in technology to boost the efficiency of our collections.

    According to her, some of the recent initiatives being implemented in the Ministry of Finance mean that it is now virtually impossible to obtain a payment from the Federal Government without being fully taxed compliant.

    Promising that tax revenues will be judiciously utilised going further, Mrs. Adeosun stated that tax payment is part of the social contract between Government and people and that the most effective measure to enhance compliance is the knowledge that tax revenues are being utilised effectively for the development of the people. The Minister explained that the Federal Government is already implementing public financial management reforms to strengthen financial controls and ensure greater accountability, while the government is also making progress to ensure value for money in every naira spent in its efforts to reduce overhead and increase the efficiency of government expenditure.

    She explained that growing the economy at a rate that will address the employment needs of our huge population requires a fundamental change in how government collects its revenues and spends.The Minister said Government is committed to making sure that every naira counts.  “We have strengthened our controls and made significant progress in enhancing the effectiveness of our financial expenditure in bringing development to Nigeria.”

    The Minister further commented that “the commercial opportunities in Nigeria, despite our current challenges, are compelling and I am happy to report that we are now witnessing an increasing level of interest from long term investors who are keen to participate in the Nigerian upside as this government begins to position Nigeria to attain its true potential. It is particularly gratifying that the majority of these enquires relate to the non-oil sector.  However, as encouraged as I am about these developments, I am concerned about the ability of our tax system to adequately develop and deploy effective measures to ensure that government revenue is mobilized in line with these developments.”