NEW figures from the Diaspora Office showed that Nigerians living abroad have remitted over $35 billion this year.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa spoke yesterday in Abuja when she visited the management of Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa said: “In 2016, they remitted $35 billion, which is higher than what was remitted in 2015. This is the highest in Africa and the third largest remittance in the world by Nigerians living abroad.”
The former House of Representatives member reminded the FIRS team of tax concerns raised by Nigerians in Diaspora.
She said: “There is a lot of talk about your organisation from diasporans concerning taxes. Whether there will be tax incentives for Nigerians coming home to engage in agriculture and other businesses. What are the plans and projects for them? Recently, they expressed concern about reports that we need to pay tax on our passports.”
She noted that “both the FIRS and her office need to communicate with Nigerians in Diaspora, stressing that “there should be collaboration between both offices to disseminate information in case they have questions or want answers.”
FIRS Executive Chairman Mr .Babatunde Fowler clarified the passport issue, saying: “What we are saying is if you want any immigration services – either you want to renew your passport or get a new one so long as you are an adult and you’re making an income – you just have to show evidence of tax payment. There is no direct tax on passports; it’s just to show evidence of paying tax. And of course, you’re entitled to all services of government.”
Nigerians abroad, he said, “have 99.9 per cent tax compliance just because there are consequences for not paying taxes in those countries”.
“If they decide to come as investors, we do have incentives for pioneer status or waivers. Once they make their application to the Federal Ministry of Finance, it would be looked into and if it is in an area of pioneer status, I am sure it would be granted and we also do not believe in double taxation.”
He told Nigerians at home and abroad: “You only pay tax on income or profit. So, if you do not make profit, you do not pay tax. So also if you don’t have an income. It is only right that those who come to the country to do business and make profit pay tax.
Tag: Nigerians in Diaspora
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Nigerians in Diaspora remit over $35b in 2016
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Diaspora Nigerians ‘remitted $35b home’ in 2016
Nigerians living abroad remitted over $35 billion back to the country in 2016, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said on Tuesday.
She stated this during her visit to the executive members of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
Dabiri-Erewa said, “In 2016 they remitted $35 billion which is higher than what was remitted in 2015. This remittance by Nigerians living abroad is the highest in Africa and the third largest in the world.”
The former House of Representatives member also drew the attention of the FIRS team to tax concerns raised by Nigerians in diaspora.
She added: “There is a lot of talk about your organization from Nigerians in diaspora concerning taxes whether there will be taxes incentives for Nigerians coming back home to engage in agriculture and other businesses. What are the plans and projects for them? Recently they expressed concern over reports that we need to pay tax on our passports.”
“Both the FIRS and my office need to communicate with Nigerians in diaspora. There should be collaboration between both offices to disseminate information in case they have questions or want answers.”
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Recession: Saraki urges Nigerians in Diaspora to support FG
Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has urged Nigerians in Diaspora to support President Muhammedu Buhari’s administration to pull the country out of recession.
Saraki said that Diaspora Nigerians should deploy their abundant skills and expertise which are in dire need in the country at this time.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President, Sanni Onogu, said that Saraki made the appeal during an interactive forum, organized at his instance, for the Nigerian community in Switzerland.
It said that Saraki who led the National Assembly delegation to the 135th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva, expressed his confidence that Nigerians in Diaspora have the skills and competences required to assist the government in its efforts to exit the current recession and for the progressive development of the country through investments.
Saraki said the Senate and by extension the 8th National Assembly is working at passing legislation that would encourage Nigerians living abroad to return and invest at home even as he asked for their input on the kind of laws they want put in place to make their return profitable.
Saraki told reporters after the event, attended by over 100 Nigerians, comprising students, businessmen and professionals living in Switzerland, that the session was necessary to apprise the Nigerian community of the situation of things back home and the opportunities for collaboration that exist.
He said, “We find that it has become very necessary to interact and share ideas with Nigerians here because a lot of people are not well informed of what the responsibilities of the National Assembly are and some of the work we have been doing, both regarding passing new legislation that would improve the lives of Nigerians and to also give them a picture of the economy which today is a topic of great concern to all Nigerians both in and outside the country – particularly those in the Diaspora.
“We want to really send a message across that the recession is a phase that we are passing through and hopefully, I am confident that very soon we will come out of it. But to come out of it, we have to take certain steps.
“The steps that we hope to take in collaboration with the executive and the prospects ahead of us as a country – both for them in the Diaspora and the role they can play in working together with government to move the country forward,” he said.
He urged his country men and women in Switzerland to partner with the government in critical sectors of the economy by deploying their capacity and making good investments, even as the National Assembly is putting laws in place to make it attractive for them to participate profitably in the economy back home.
“Particularly here in Geneva, you find a lot of them are well qualified and doing very good jobs,” he said. “I am sure a lot of them will like to come back if the right condition is there. All we have to do now is to ensure that we have the enabling condition and environment that would make people come back.
“And when you say investment, it is not just financial investment, there is also human investment where people will be ready to come back and look up opportunities. We talk about the issue of Information Technology (IT), and that there are great opportunities in Nigeria and how we can work together with some of them on the kind of laws that they think will make it very interesting and the incentive for companies to come in and set up different IT structures.”
“If they do that, of course, they will be looking for people that have the capacity to be able to run it and some of them have that know-how, but they just don’t see what role they can play in Nigeria.
“We spent some time explaining to them the importance of the procurement law and the buy-Made-in-Nigeria campaign where we are trying to ensure that at least government agencies ensure that they give first option to Nigerian companies.
“That is some of the work we are doing to see that we strengthen our development banks, that will provide credit for small and medium size companies in the areas of manufacturing.
“The good thing is that there is need and desire for a lot of them to want to come back. We have a lot of work to do to create the enabling environment but also more important, is that we must market ourselves.
“I do not believe that not thinking positively about the country or that running down the country will help anybody. At the end of the day, if we do not think positive about our country, nobody will come and invest in our country and the bottom line is that it is clear that government resources alone cannot take us out of the recession.”
The Senate President insisted that the burden of providing infrastructure must be taken away from the shoulders of government to enable it concentrate its scarce resources in tackling social ends.
He said: “Government has to address infrastructure deficit which has built up over the years. Government has to address the issue of education, security and health and by the time you have the limited resources you are not able to do that because funds are not there.
“You must look for alternative sources of investment and that is where the National Assembly is trying to pass a lot of laws in the infrastructure area. We have passed the Railway Amendment Bill to create the enabling environment for private sector to participate in that sector.
“We are taking on roads to encourage and make it easy for private sector to take that burden away from government – at least on the major trunk A roads. We are working on laws also on ports to make room for private sector participation. If you begin to push away some of these infrastructure burden to the private sector, then of course, government will have more funds to address the social aspects of life.
“Some of the things we are doing in the Senate is not just to go there to just pass any bill. There is a focus and motive behind it and that is to ensure that we try as much as possible to see how we can raise interest and investment in these sectors necessary to increase productivity,” he said.
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Fresh moves to protect Nigerians in Diaspora
IT is no gainsaying that Nigerians home and abroad are not too keen on extreme patriotism for the country, except military and security men (probably because of their calling). The reason is not far-fetched; they believe the Nigerian government is also not eager on taking extreme measures to protect the interest of its citizens in distress, especially those abroad.
The case of recent and not too recent tragedies confronting Nigerians abroad supported the sad reality if we are to cite the case of 50 Nigerian students arrested by Turkish Government following the recent failed coup d’etat in that country.
The House of Representatives has however said it is up to the Executive arm of government to priortise the interest of its citizens living or working abroad. Instances of several efforts made by the lawmakers in the Green chamber to goad the executive into taking more responsibility for its citizens in diaspora abound.
In addition to several resolutions recently, the House of Representatives urged the Executive to explore all diplomatic means of rescuing 50 Nigerian students that were illegally arrested and detained on October 1st 2016 at the Instanbul Airport on arrival to pursue their education. The decision of the House that followed the adoption of a motion recalled the murder of a Nigerian student in Dubai who was thrown from a multi- storey building. The case of sister Julie who is bedridden in a rehabilitation home for the elderly and mentally ill in Italy due to a doctor’s torture and maltreatment; the death of Nigerians around the globe on flimsy excuses.
The Chairperson of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Nnenna Elendu- Ukeje, while speaking on the matter said Nigeria will not normally interfere in the internal workings of any country, especially when it is in a situation that seems to threaten their democracy. “As a country, we also owe a responsibility to our citizens to know exactly where they are or how they are doing in their host countries. But we would draw the line when it comes to that number of our citizens who have been arrested in a foreign country and especially charged with treason. It is pretty heavy, and any responsible country and parliament would want to find out exactly what the true status is.”
Also, the Chairman of the House Committee on Diaspora Matters, Hon. Rita Orji, described the arrest of the students as an assault on Nigerians, saying that the fact that they were taken from the airport to detention is an insult on the sovereignty of Nigeria as a whole. According to her, it is not enough to allege that the students may be linked to schools that are supposedly linked with terrorism. According to her, it would have been better if the government of Nigeria had been informed on the suspicion of the Turkish Government, rather than clamping innocent Nigerians into detention.
Before then, the House took steps to intervene in the planned deportation of 29,000 Nigerians from the United Kingdom (UK) mandating its Committee on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs to look into the matter and act accordingly.
Orji, who also raised the issue as a matters of urgent public importance said it was expedient for the House to address the deportation which was not justified.
It would be recalled that in the 7th Assembly, the House asked President Goodluck Jonathan to, as matter of urgency, recall Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa following the xenophobic attacks on Nigerian and other nationals a few years ago, warning that Nigeria will no longer tolerate killings of its citizens.
It would be recalled also that the House recently cleared three lawmakers of alleged sexual conduct slammed against them by the United States Government. The three lawmakers, who were on an official assignment organised by the US Government were questioned by the US Government and had their visas withdrawn.
Meanwhile, the House launched its own investigation and the US government failed to prove the culpability of the three lawmakers. If government officials (federal lawmakers in this instance) could be subjected to such treatment with the Executive seemingly indifferent, the fate of other Nigerians is better imagined if found in such circumstance.
The legislative arm of government has done its part in taking active interest in the plight of Nigerian citizens abroad doing what they were supposed to do. “Ours is to make laws for good governance, on this and other attractions of national importance, we go further by making resolutions which we expect the Executive to implement. We can’t do more than that. Ours is to show and direct them to what they might have overlooked. This is a critical aspect of government that Nigerians must take serious, let everyone know the responsibilities of each arm of government so that they know where to direct their anger and praises, whenever the need arise,” a lawmaker who pleaded not to be named said.
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FG targets more Nigerians in Diaspora for development
President Goodluck Jonathan has reiterated the determination of his administration to ensure that more Nigerians in Diaspora get involved in the development of their fatherland.
Jonathan gave this assurance at a dinner in honour of Nigerians in the Diaspora, held at the Banquet hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday night.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Nigerians were in the country for the 6th Diaspora Day celebrations, tagged: “Diaspora Nigerians: Agents of Investment and Development.”
The president, who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, urged them not to relent in their efforts to make valuable contributions toward national development.
“Like most developing countries in the world, Nigeria must leverage on the huge human capital of our nationals living abroad to impact on the development process at home.
“Our ultimate goal is to engage Nigerians with the requisite knowledge expertise and financial acumen to join in the development of the Nigerian state irrespective of their country of abode,” he said.
While assuring them that his administration would continue to sustain their partnership, Jonathan said government was looking forward to receiving their recommendations.
“All hands must be on deck to realise the goals enshrined in the transformation agenda.
“I wish to assure you of our unalloyed commitment to transform this country. We remain resolute in our chosen path in doing all that is necessary to achieve this goal, “the president added.