The Nation Newspaper

Tag: loses

  • Student stabbed, loses eye during fight

    Student stabbed, loses eye during fight

    THERE was pandemonium penultimate Wednesday when an unnamed student of Ojodu Grammar School, Ikeja, Lagos, allegedly stabbed another student called Benjamen Edet.

    It was learnt that the duo had a heated argument during school hours following which they both engaged in a scuffle shortly after school hours.

    Edet, according to a source, was stabbed on his left eye during the fight.

    The culprit was said to have fled the scene immediately.

    It was learnt that bystanders made fruitless effort to apprehend the culprit during a hot chase.

    The unidentified pupil was said to have used the knife to scare those who tried to arrest him and bolted into thin air.

    A source said: ” It was a misunderstanding that broke out between the students during school hours and it snowballed into a scuffle shortly after they left the school’s premises. In the heat of the fight, the other student brought out a kitchen knife and inflicted a deep cut on Edet’s left eye.

    ”The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors confirmed that he can no longer see with the left eye. The incident was reported to the police but I don’t know if the boy has been arrested.”

    Confirming the incident, the spokesman of Lagos State Police Command, Mr Chike Oti said the culprit had been apprehended and charged to court.

    He said: ”The incident was reported to Ojodu Police Division. The culprit was arrested and has been arraigned before a Family Court sitting in Ikeja.”

  • COSON loses suit to stop MCSN as collecting society

    COSON loses suit to stop MCSN as collecting society

    A Federal High Court in Lagos has held that the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) is an authorised Collective Management Organisation (CMO) for musical works and sound recordings in Nigeria.

    Justice Ibrahim Buba gave the ruling yesterday in a suit filed by the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) Ltd seeking to stop MCSN from operating as a CMO.

    The judge held that MCSN was validly authorised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to collect royalties on behalf of artistes.

    The court also ruled that contrary to COSON’s claim, the NCC is authorised to approve more than one CMO to collect royalties for artistes.

    Justice Buba also held that Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), lawfully directed NCC to withdraw the cases it filed against the MCSN.

    He dismissed for want of merit, COSON’s entire suit against first defendant MCSN, second defendant NCC and third defendant, the AGF.

    The judge, however, recommended MCSN’s counsel, Romeo Michael, to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee for alleged abuse of court process.

    Earlier, Michael brought an application seeking to stall the judgment, but Justice Buba suo moto ruled against the motion, describing it as a ploy to arrest the day’s business.

    The judgment brings to an end several controversies sorrounding the case.

    COSON filed the suit marked FHC/L/CS/1259/2017 last April, seeking a declaration that NCC failed to comply with Section 39(2) (d) of the Copyright Act 2004 and Copyright (CMO) Regulations 2007, when it registered MCSN.

    It prayed the court to hold that the registration was thus void “ab initio and of no effect whatsoever.”

    It also sought, among others, a perpetual injunction restraining NCC from approving MCSN as a CMO.

    This was opposed by the defendants.

    Following hearing, judgment in the suit was slated for last December 6, but it was subsequently adjourned till December 14.

    However, on December 14, Justice Buba announced that the case file had been taken from him and that he had no choice but to adjourn the judgment indefinitely.

    But on Monday, the parties were notified that judgment would be delivered yesterday.

    Speaking to reporters immediately after the judgment, MSCN chairman Mr Orits Wiliki said the judgment had settled the dispute once and for all.

    He urged artistes to affiliate with MCSN to move the industry forward.

    Wiliki said: “We are overjoyed. We knew that success will definitely come. We’ve been on this journey for 25 years and we know that the truth, even if it is subdued, will definitely emerge.

    “Where we are today, God has used MCSN to build the entire copyright sector through the cases we have filed. As I speak to you we have over 30 judgments and over 15 rulings in our favour.”

    Reacting to the ruling, Chairman of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji who was in court with other members like Sir Shina Peters, Kenny Saint Brown, Azeezat Allen, Richard Cole, Sharon Esco Wilson, Maureen Ejezie, and Prince Biodun Eguakhide said although the judgement was ‘confusing’, it was better delivered.

    He therefore conveys the society’s decision to appeal the judgement immediately.

    He said: “I am a thoroughbred copyright man with deep knowledge of the subject. While Buba’s judgment is confusing, it is still victory for the musicians of Nigeria. That was why we were singing and dancing in court. If the judgment was not delivered when it was, we may have had to start the matter all over again. With the judgment, we now have a throve of materials to immediately and vigorously take the matter out of the Federal High Court system to the Court of Appeal where the issues can be properly argued.

    “We are immediately going to the Court of Appeal on this matter. Our protest will continue. We will not sleep, we will not slumber. There will be no retreat and no surrender until justice is done.”

     

  • Nigeria loses N30tr to oil price crash, says Awolowo

    Nigeria loses N30tr to oil price crash, says Awolowo

    The Executive Director, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Olusegun Awolowo yesterday lamented that Nigeria has lost over N30trillion of export revenue to the crash in oil prices.

    Awolowo  spoke at a one day NEPC, RVO, CBI Export Roundtable and Exhibition on Export Competency Development programme in Abuja, said the loss was between 2015-2017.

    He said last month, the national economic management team established the national committee on export promotion to ensure effective coordination of the zero oil plan in the 36 states of the federation.

    He said the recent recession was due to a $30billion annual deficit in Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings due to low oil prices.

    He said: “Nigeria must replace these lost export revenues in order to sustain economic growth, stabilise the naira, sustain federal and state government income and boost employment.

    “There is an urgency to ramp up non-oil exports, as our future earnings from crude oil which is facing significant headwinds. This is elevated as the financial outlook on crude oil weakens day by day and poses increasing threat on oil dependent economy just like Nigeria. We are at a critical point in Nigeria’s history which requires bold and decisive action to restructure and reposition our economy to survive without oil.

    “The council’s goal is to grow Nigeria’s non-oil export revenue from N1.5trillion per annum to N5trillion within three to four years, and over N10trillion over the longer term. The economic consequences are dire for our country to keep crude oil as its primary source of export revenue. There is too much oil supply and shrinking demand.

    “The zero plan has been included as a central part of Nigeria economic recovery plan. The three products under the export competency development pilot scheme are among the 22 in the zero oil plan.

    “Our export outlook in 2017 shows some positive developments. A lot of cashew plantation with jumbo varieties are springing up, from a raw cashew production of about 150,000tons to 15,000 tons are processed ii Nigeria which is just 10 per cent. We see enormous potential in processing.”

    Awolowo added that the cocoa sector has suffered a setback since 2017 but the longer term prospects are positive and we need to be in position to take advantage of that opportunity.

  • Nigeria loses over N15tr yearly to tax evasion

    About N15 trillion is lost yearly to tax evasion yearly, Partner, West Africa Tax Leader, PricewaterCoopers (PwC), Taiwo Oyedele, has said.

    According to him, what the country is losing by not paying taxes is better estimated using tax Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, adding that the tax GDP ratio stands at about six per cent.

    All collections from taxes, according to him, stand below N7trillion.

    Speaking with The Nation in Lagos at the weekend, he said tax matter is a national issue all must embrace, adding that even though nobody likes to pay tax, it plays a major role in the economic development of any nation, including Nigeria.

    He however said  the problem was not the tax itself, but how the tax money was spent, adding: “After all many Nigerians travel to countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and they pay about 40 per cent tax and yet they don’t even complain because they can see the tax money at work.”

    He accused the leaders of not paying their own taxes as they should, this he said has given rise to people not showing the willingness to pay taxes.

    Oyedele said: “To be honest, government needs to start with itself; it is not moral for government to expect that people will pay tax if the people that are leading us are not paying, so let the president, vice president, senators, ministers, governors, deputy governors, let them start paying and when they finish paying let them publish it even if there is no law that says they should publish it but to show leadership exemplary let them publish what they pay.

    “If anybody has taken the time to screen the tax record of our leaders to ensure that they pay the right amount of tax and at the right time, and the amount of tax they pay is consistent with their life style more than 90 per cent of people we have in power today will not be there because they would have been disqualified.”

    He said money realised from taxes could be used to solve many problems facing the country including infrastructural deficit, but lamented that corruption, lack of transparency, bad leadership, and absence of citizens’ participation in government among others are the challenges facing the country.

    He advised Nigerians to start paying taxes and stop waiting until the government has fixed infrastructure such as roads, electricity, hospitals and others.

    “So, why we are holding the government to account and forcing it to do the right thing?  We must pay our taxes and then hold the government to do the right thing; we must pay our taxes, so the two must go hand in hand.

    “But I also don’t want the rest of us to wait until everybody in government and leadership start paying before we start paying, lets pay the little we can, and once we finish paying let us hold the government to account, he urged. We should also know that if we all stop paying taxes, the economy will collapse and I believe no Nigerian would want the economy to collapse,” Oyedele said.

    On why tax credit is the best option, Oyedele who described it as a fantastic arrangement necessitated by the inefficiency of government, lamenting that government spends more than it should spend on projects.

    He said the private sector is more efficient and result-oriented. According to him, the idea that private investors, such as Dangote and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), would spend money to construct road projects should not be because the government should have done that with tax money.

  • Fed Govt loses N1.6tr to substandard products, says SON

    Fed Govt loses N1.6tr to substandard products, says SON

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON)  yesterday said the country has lost N1.6 trillion so far this year to the sale of substandard products.

    It lamented that substandard motor lubricants account for N250billion yearly loss to the economy.

    A representative of SON, Benedict Preke, who spoke during the anniversary ceremony of MotorMechanics and Technicians Association of Nigeria (MOMTA) at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) office yesterday in Lagos, lamented the loss of N1.6trillion to the patronage of substandard products.

    The occasion which was had: Effects of Adulterated/Sub-standard Lubricants and Fake Spare Parts in Nigeria Automobile Industry as its theme, brought speakers from both the public and private sectors together to proffer solutions to the problem.

    Also speaking,  the Managing Director, MRS Oil Plc, Andrew Ndume, lamented that N250billion is lost from the sale of fake and adulterated lubricants yearly across the country.

    Preake advised end users, particularly the auto mechanics, to the use of standard products and parts, he said government was looking seriously at ways of enforcing standards in the operations of mechanics and ways of imposing stiffer sanctions on fakr auto products peddlers in the country.

    “We advise end users to adhere to standards. When you buy products, ensure you get receipt and if upon discovery that a product is fake, report to SON. After investigation, if found to be true, your money will be refunded to you by the seller,” he assured.

    Ndume said the enforcement of local content policy in the lubricant sub-sector and insistence of MOMTAN members to use only standard lubricants to service their client’s automobiles will help curb the problem.

    In his welcome address on the occasion,  Chairman, Lagos State chapter of MOMTAN, Alhaji Moruf Arowolo, said the purpose of the topic was to let the government and the public know and appreciate the problems mechanics face especially in the area of lubricants and motor spare parts.

    He said: “The effect of substandard oil and motor parts is an important issue that needs urgent attention and remedy; this is seriously affecting the jobs of mechanics in the country as clients no longer have confidence in us. They believe that we are the ones using such products for them causing damages to their vehicles.”

  • Africa loses UNWTO top job

    Africa loses UNWTO top job

    Africa yesterday lost the opportunity to become the next United Nations World Secretary General. Africa’s candidate and former tourism minister of Zimbabwe, Dr.  Walter Mzembi was defeated by Georgian Zurab Pololikashvili. He will take over from the outgoing secretary general, Talib Rifai.  Mzembi was endorsed by the African Union (AU), as Africa’s candidate.  Also, the UNWTO  Executive Council, attended by some 250 representatives from 59 countries, focused on these priorities as well as on the UNWTO programme of work for 2018-2019 and the agenda of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017.

    The 105th session of the UNWTO Executive Council also recommended Zurab Pololikashvili, from Georgia, as the nominee for the post of Secretary-General for the four-year-period starting January 2018. This recommendation will be submitted to the 22nd UNWTO General Assembly for ratification (11-16 September 2017, Chengu, China).

    “We predict that 1.8 billion international tourists will travel across borders by 2030. We must ensure that such growth goes hand-in-hand with sustainability. We must embrace the opportunities created by innovation and new technologies. We must continue to make travel safer, but also more seamless and accessible for all. And we must ensure that our sector serves the planet as well as its people” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, opening the meeting.

    “UNWTO is a privileged forum where all countries discuss the main challenges facing our sector, share experiences and build common solutions. Tourism is about building bridges” said the Secretary of State of Tourism of Spain, Matilde Asían.

  • Nigeria loses $3.8b to software imports

    Nigeria loses $3.8 billion yearly to the importation of software, Transparency Advocacy Initiative (TAI) and Allied Civil Society Groups (ACSG) lamented yesterday in Abuja.

    Executive Director, (TAI) Amb. Yomi David National Convener, (ACSG), Comrade Solomon Adodo, told reporters during a press conference that the efforts being made by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to boost local content would help Nigeria to reverse capital flight and loss of foreign exchange (forex).

  • Audit report: Nigeria loses N1tr in one year

    Audit report: Nigeria loses N1tr in one year

    • Senate invites NEITI chief

    The Senate President, Bukola Saraki yesterday lamented that Nigeria lost over N1trillion in 2013 alone in the extractive sector.

    To unravel what led to the loss, the Upper chamber  resolved to invite the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Waziri Adio, to brief it on the content of the 2013 Audit report of the agency.

    Saraki said if the 2016 budget figure is N6 trillion, N1 trillion could not be lost in one sector without the Senate finding out what happened.

    The resolution followed a motion on “the urgent need for the Senate to look into the NEITI 2013 oil, gas and solid mineral audit report” sponsored by Senator Tijjani Yahaya Kaura (Zamfara North).

    Senator Kaura in his lead debate noted that one of the key statutory functions of NEITI is to conduct regular audit of the extractive sector as provided in Section 4 of the Extractive Act.

    He said details of the report showed that the country made $58.07 billion from its hydrocarbon industry in 2013, while N33.86 billion was realised from the solid mineral sector the same year.

    The lawmaker said the report also indicated that $3.8billion and N358.3 billion stood as outstanding revenue from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries during the review period.

    The outstanding payments, he said, were due to unpaid consideration from divested Oil Mining Lease (OML) from NNPC and National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and cash call refunds by the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).

    Kaura said it was worrisome that between 2005 and 2013,  $12.9 billion paid by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to NNPC was not remitted to the Federation Account.

    The report showed that Nigeria lost $5.966 billion and N20.4 billion in the sector from the operation of Offshore Processing Agreements (OPA) by state oil firm, the NNPC and crude oil swap and theft.

    He noted that the report also showed that  $99.98 million was reported as underpayment to the Federation Account from petroleum profit tax and royalties by oil and gas companies, as a result of the use of different pricing methodology by the government

    Kaura urged the Senate to invite the Executive Secretary of NEITI to brief the Senate on the missing funds and the cause of the leakage. The prayer was unanimously adopted.

    Saraki, while receiving the report, said: “I agree with you entirely that this type of opportunity also enables us to strengthen the institutions such as yours that have the responsibility of improving the governance and transparency administration of the management of our resources.

    “In preparation for this courtesy call, I studied the report in the early hours of this morning, and honestly I was just dumbfounded about the figures that we are talking about.

    “This is just 2013 -one year’s report. It is not cumulative. In one year’s audit report, you are talking about figures of over $3.8billion at that time, I am sure the rate was close to N150 per dollar. So you are talking about N650billion. Then you are talking about another N358billion which brings it close to about N1trillion.

    “Then you are talking about assets that were undervalued and transferred to NPDC, but still no payment was made. You are talking about NAPIMS paying cash calls for an asset that doesn’t belong anymore to NNPC and you truly wonder that this is going on right under our nose here in this country.

    “Honestly, I just concluded that as a country I don’t think we are serious. We are just paying lip service to this issue of fighting corruption because this is the real terminology of economic sabotage.

    “This is what I believe agencies that are truly fighting corruption should have taken up. Meanwhile you see them sometimes chasing a local government chairman for N10million, or chasing even the state governments for less.

    “These are just astronomical figures and nobody is being asked where the authority came from. Even if you say it was a minister, do we have where managements of those organisations have been able to say this is not what should be done?

  • Nigeria loses N7.7b to strikes, says Fashola

    Nigeria loses N7.7b to strikes, says Fashola

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola yesterday told members of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies that between April 28, 2014 and March 8 this year, industrial actions have cost the country N7.7 billion.

    He spoke during the third triennial national delegates conference of the association inAbuja which had Pursuit of Industrial Peace and Foster(ing) Co-operation between Government and Labour towards Growth and Development of the Electricity Sector as theme.

    The minister who urged the association to reconsider the topic as “Cooperation between Employer and Employee rather than Government and Labour,” lamented that the workers have always been unrealistic in most of their demands for wage increase.

    He sought a different approach to the theme stressing that : “This is important because I think that Government employees have clung more to their union affiliations than to their employment institutions.

    Fashola condemned the union’s indifference to their place of works which they merely take as that of the government  and refuse to see themselves as part and parcel of the entities.

    He said: “In this situation they have perhaps failed to see themselves as part of government, (though playing different roles, when in fact they are an integral part of governance.)

    “This in part explains why there is talk of cooperation or lack of cooperation between government and labour (another word for unions) instead of employer and employee.

    “I understand it and I will attempt to trace its roots, but the point must be made with every emphasis that any person employed in Government is a part and parcel of Government.

    “If there is any one who still doubts this, the question to ask is whether you can be a member of this association or union, without first being a government employee?

    “Perhaps in order to understand the problem better, it is important to remind ourselves about the origin and history of labour unions in Nigeria.”

  • Nigeria loses N3tr yearly to PIB absence, says group

    Nigeria loses N3tr yearly to PIB absence, says group

    The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has urged the executive and legislature to make the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) a priority to stop the N3 trillion revenue yearly.

    In a statement by its Executive Director, Comrade Auwal Musa, the group said: “CISLAC recalls that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had said Nigeria is losing $15 billion (N3 trillion) annually due to non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law.’’

    Auwal said the failure of the past legislature to take advantage of the constitution review to vote for financial autonomy put the legislature in difficult.

    This, he noted, has led to salary crisis in some Houses of Assembly.

    According to him, the refusal to  use that opportunity confirmed  that state assemblies are being  manipulated by the executive.

    Such control, Auwal said, made them incapable of making independent decisions in terms of law making, oversight and even representation.

    “The governor virtually appoints all the leaders at the state assembly; they see themselves as agents of the governor and not representatives of their people.

    “This attitude has undermined effective legislative processes because the state governor determines the kind of discussion on the floor and if any member acts differently he or she is sanctioned,” he said.

    While describing this as undemocratic, the CISLAC executive director said financial autonomy would have allowed members to freely carry out their legislative duties without going to beg and be afraid to take decisive action.

    “It was a lost opportunity for them to reposition how they work for effectiveness and also enable them to clearly mainstream their reasonable salary and allowance. If it (amendment) had been done, we would not be witnessing the kind of crisis going on in some states,” Auwal said.