The Nation Newspaper

Tag: revenue

  • Onitsha South arrests hooligan, 30 ‘fake’ revenue agents

    •Hires 100 youths for weekly fumigation 

    Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State has arrested over 30 suspected fake revenue agents and hoodlums in Ochanja Market.

    Its Chairman, Ugochukwu Ezeani, spoke yesterday at the market when he led a fumigation campaign in the council.

    He said the council used 30 policemen to arrest the suspects, who allegedly were defrauding unsuspecting members of public at the market.

    The council chief said many other escaped.

    Onitsha South had arrested three fake agents and handed them over to the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    Ezeani thanked Governor Peter Obi for allowing him to preside over the affairs of the council.

    He said the fumigation, tagged: Operation kill mosquitoes now, will cover the three quarters in the council, including Fegge/Housing, Woliwo and Oduakpu.

    The council chief said Onitsha South bought 30 units of fumigation equipment from which 10 would be given to the three major areas to rid them of mosquitoes.

    He assured that the chemicals for the fumigation were approved by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    Ezeani said: “With this weekly exercise, mosquitoes and other rodents will find no place in this local government area.”

    He said the council has hired 100 youths to fumigate the area, adding that he plans to hire 450 youths for the exercise before the end of the year.

    “From now on, fumigation of all sorts within the council will be carried out through the approval of its Sanitary Inspection Department, Ezeani said.

    The council boss said that the council intends to employ 450 youths before the end of the year.

    “Other programmes we would unfold included: drainage scooping/desilting; street light, environmental marshals and Internal Revenue Generating officers.

    “These would absorb the 450 youths to be engaged and would check the spate of vices and idleness among youths within the council area,’’ he said.

    Mr Joseph Anienugu, Chief Sanitary Inspector of the council, lauded the exercise; adding that it would complement other programmes aimed in boosting the health of the residents of the council.

  • Revenue crisis may hit Nigeria soon

    Revenue crisis may hit Nigeria soon

    SIR: Kindly permit me a space in your popular newspaper. Let us imagine a situation when crude oil prices do not exceed 40 US dollars per barrel and the demand for Nigeria’s oil drops because the US, a country that imports about 40 percent of Nigeria’s crude oil, cuts down significantly on imports of the product from Nigeria for other exporters of crude oil to that country.

    Let us contemplate a situation where the revenue of Nigeria can no longer support the constitutional allowances and remunerations that Nigeria’s rulers award themselves. Would it not be interesting to see scavengers of Abuja scamper away because the honey pot has been wiped clean? Board members of many redundant and unprofitable government corporations shall find nothing again to satisfy their lusts. State governors shall be hard pressed for their lack of ingenuity and creativity as they would not be able to cope with riots in their states caused by their inability to pay salaries of generally unproductive government workers. The centre will not hold again then, and the attraction of this union shall rapidly wither away.

    The saying “the need to diversify the economy” has become a cliché since nothing is being done in that direction by the leaders. However, lack of patriotic governance continues unabated.

    The 2013 federal budget proposal presented to the national legislature by President Jonathan reveals three present problems with Nigeria: First, the amount of revenue Nigeria should legitimately expect next year is not fully covered in the proposal. Two, the federal government is still acting as though there is no urgency for increased capital votes for expenditure on infrastructural development, education for the future challenges of new technology, welfare programs such as public housing in partnership with local governments (See the fourth schedule of the 1999 constitution which makes building and maintenance of houses for the poor and infirm mandatory for local councils), and on strategic partnership with state governments on projects and programs that will reduce unemployment. Three, there is no evidence that the federal government is eager to cut down on big government spending by implementing the recommendations of the Orosanya’s committee it had set up, which include either complete scrapping of redundant departments and agencies or merging some of them that perform duplicate functions. The budget proposal is silent on shrinking of the size of government in any form or shape.

    Why has the Jonathan government kept the revenue from gas sales from

    the Nigerian people? This lack of transparency is not acceptable, and our legislators must ask those relevant questions. They must unearth revenues that the federal government keeps away from both the state and local governments. An insidious conspiracy of forging figures is going on while Nigerians who know don’t talk and those who don’t know don’t ask.

    Does Nigeria need a revenue crisis to reveal information about our genuine revenues that is kept from our prying eyes? We are told how 400,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen daily! Don’t we have government anymore, or are those figures spouted out just to hide what is stolen by the kleptomaniacs in public office under some innocuous headings? Most probably, it would not move relevant government officials to resign, and neither would they lose their jobs should that figure rise to even 1 million barrels a day in the near future. The secrecy about our nation’s revenues, which is continually being spun by the PDP government, has come to be accepted as a difficult mathematical open problem that no polymath is presently inclined to consider.

    We must consider this problem. We need to resolve this seeming puzzle. A revenue crisis may hit Nigeria very soon except Nigerians are allowed to choose leaders who have a heart for the people. We can’t afford leaders who are never alarmed by their incompetence and

    lack of empathy for the people.

    • Leonard Shilgba,

    Associate Professor of Mathematics,u

    American University of Nigeria.

     

  • Oil wells dispute: Revenue agency backs Bayelsa

    Oil wells dispute: Revenue agency backs Bayelsa

    Despite the protest by the Kalabari community in Rivers State, the disputed oil wells will still remain with Bayelsa, a federal agency declared yesterday.

    Kalabari elders and traditional rulers on Monday staged a protest in Abuja over the alleged ceding of Soku oil wells in Rivers to Bayelsa State, allegedly with President Goodluck Jonathan’s support. The President is from Bayelsa.

    The oil wells in Kula, Soku, Ehem-Sarama, Idama and Abose communities produce 300,000 barrels of crude daily.

    “The status quo remains – which is that the oil wells, for now, belong to Bayelsa State,” chair of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Elias Mbam, said yesterday in Abuja.

    The Kalabari elders accused the RMAFC, the National Boundaries Commission (NBC) and other federal agencies of being used by the President to cede the oil wells to Bayelsa, a claim presidential spokesman Reuben Abati dismissed as “irresponsible” because, according to him, the federal agencies are independent.

    Mbam said: “The status quo remains and that is that the wells, for now, belong to Bayelsa state it is an old issue and the RMAFC is not doing anything differently until the NBC completes its assignment and the Supreme Court gives a final ruling on the matter.”

    He said the commission “relies solely on the decision of the Presidential Committee on the Verification of Oil Wells of December 2000, comprising the office of the Vice President, National Security Adviser, Department of State Security, National Boundary Commission RMAFC, the Nigerian Navy, DPR and the office of the Surveyor General of the Federation,” which retained the wells in Bayelsa State.

    He added that the commission was holding on to the Supreme Court judgment of July 10, which stated that “until the National Boundary Commission concludes its exercise of delineation of the disputed boundary to finality, it will be futile and premature to determine the boundary of the two states in present circumstances. However, the appropriate order to be made in the prevailing circumstance is that of striking out the plaintiff’s suit.”

    Mbam said the claims of the Kalabari National Forum, led by Awoyesuau-Jack, a traditional ruler, alleging that some public officials connived to take away some communities from Rivers state and hand them over to Bayelsa State for political reasons is baseless, malicious and a calculated attempt to misinform the public and embarrass the RMAFC.

    He urged all parties to exercise restraint and allow peace to reign while the National Boundary Commission completes its assignment on the delineation of boundaries between the two states.

    The RMAFC boss said Bayelsa State has sent a petition to the commission, and the RMAFC has constituted an inter-agency committee, comprising the National Boundary Commission, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the office of the Surveyor General of the Federation and the offices of Surveyors-General of Bayelsa and Rivers states.

    The committee, he said, will look at the details of the petition to determine where the disputed oil wells belong. The DPR will determine the content and quantity of the oil wells.

    The National Boundary Commission, Mbam said, will have to complete its assignment first before the determination of which state owns the wells, but he expects the NBC to finish in good time so that other activities will follow.

    On the 13 per cent derivation funds that is now a source of controversy between the states and oil producing communities, Mbam said: “As of today, the RMAFC Act does not allow the commission to release money to communities but we have advised state governments to use the 13 per cent derivation fund to develop the communities where oil exploration takes place.

    The 13 per cent derivation fund, according to him, is meant to address the challenges that may arise as a result of oil production. He maintained that the money should be used to address such challenges.

    Mbam urged aggrieved oil producing communities to come forward and make presentations at the review of the new revenue formula, on how best the 13 per cent derivation should be handled in the review.

    Mbam said lack of funds has delayed the review and eventual release of the much expected revenue formula.

    “The success of the review of the new revenue formula depends on variables. One of such variables is funding,” he said.

    He said RMAFC is optimistic that the 2013 budget will address funding challenges to allow RMAFC go to the zones and carry out workshops and receive input from stakeholders.

    The RMAFC boss was silent on when the new revenue formula will be released but he said the commission was looking at next year – if it has the requisite funding to complete its duties.

    Funding is required to finance the travel arrangements of 37 members to all parts of the country, hire consultants and for sundry logistics.

  • Rivers collecting our oil revenue, says Bayelsa

    Rivers collecting our oil revenue, says Bayelsa

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson yesterday said there is no plan to annex any part of Rivers State.

    He accused Rivers State of collecting derivation revenue over several oil facilities and installations, which are clearly within Bayelsa territory, from 1999 till date.

    Dickson urged Rivers State government to apologise to President Goodluck Jonathan for allegedly impugning ill-motive into the issues between the two states.

    The governor spoke through a statement in Abuja by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworison-Markson.

    The statement said: “The attention of the Bayelsa State Government has been drawn to media reports credited to chiefs and elders of some Ijaw clans of Kalabari extraction in Rivers State, alleging attempts by some persons to forcibly annex communities and ancestral lands as well as oil facilities and installations in Kalabari land to Bayelsa State for the purpose of claiming derivation entitlements.

    “The government of Bayelsa State wishes to react as follows: Firstly, we assure our Ijaw kith and kin in the Kalabari clan of Rivers State that there is no such move to forcefully annex any territory or people into Bayelsa State. We further wish to state that the Ijaw strategic interest demands that Ijaws wherever they are should be supported and strengthened and not to be forced into Bayelsa State.

    “That the purported claim is an attempt by detractors of the Ijaw nation to create unnecessary strife and hostility within the Ijaw ethnic family to our collective disadvantage.

    “The true state of affairs is as follows: That by the 11th edition of the administrative map of Nigeria published in 2000, Bayelsa State as a state was entitled to derivation and other claims from crude oil production in respect of oil exploration carried out within its territory as stated in the said map.

    “It is important to note that the claim of a state to derivation on account of oil production within its territory is different from ownership of land by families, communities and even clans. Whereas the claim of a state is based on territorial boundaries contained in the administrative map, that of a clan, family and community is based on traditional history, possession and other forms of ownership.

    “Therefore, it is very common in the Niger Delta, owing to the way and manner states were created, for communities or clans to be in one state while part of the ancestral land is in another. The family, clan or community does not cease to be traditional owners of such lands, while the state in which the land forms a part exercises administrative control over such land and, therefore, entitled to derivation.

    “By the said 11th edition of the administrative map of the Federal Republic of Nigeria dated 2000; Bayelsa State is entitled to derivation in respect of all the oil wells within the state’s territory.

    “The government of Rivers State has been receiving derivation revenue over several oil facilities and installations which are clearly within Bayelsa territory from 1999 till date in spite of the clear boundary delineation in the said map.

    “We acknowledge the long standing dispute between the Ijaws in Bayelsa in Nembe clan and the Ijaws in Kalabari clan in Rivers State over traditional land boundaries. The claims predate the creation of Bayelsa State. However, the present issue is not about Nembe people laying claim to Kalabari land or of people trying to annex Kalabari land and communities as part of Bayelsa State.”

    Dickson said the issues between the two states are not about ethnicity but derivation.

    He added: “Rather, the present claim is about the right of Bayelsa State, like any other state, to derivation revenue in respect of activities within its territory as stated in the administrative map of Nigeria. Even if any land in question in Bayelsa State is found to be the ancestral land of any family, community or clan in Kalabari clan, it does not detract from the right of the state to receive derivation.

    “In the same vein, it does not also detract from the ownership or title to such land by the family, clan or community, which must be acknowledged and treated as such. Derivation revenue is not paid to families, clans or communities but to state governments, exercising administrative control over the territory where production takes place.

    “The government of Bayelsa State has through its consultants verified and computed all such derivation monies wrongly paid to or received by Rivers State over the years.

    “We condemn the deliberate and mischievous attempt to link the President to what is clearly an exercise of Bayelsa State Government’s right.

    “The government of Rivers State itself has made several such claims of wrongful payments of derivation monies and has severally received refund in deserving cases. The questions to be answered by Rivers State government are as follows: Is the Rivers State government saying that because the President is from Bayelsa State, it therefore means that the state should sleep over its rights and entitlements?

    “Or was Dr. Goodluck Jonathan Vice President and President of Nigeria in 1992 and 2000 when these maps were produced?

    “What about the refunds received by the Rivers State government from other states that such funds were wrongly paid to? Should we then associate the refunds with the Presidency?

    “We take serious exception to the antics of the Rivers State government in its attempt to always blackmail the President in a bid to gain unnecessary advantage.

    “The facts remain that all the relevant maps – the administrative map of Nigeria 10th edition produced in 1992 and the 11th edition produced in 2000 were clearly produced long before Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became the Vice President and later President.

    “It is therefore pertinent to state that no amount of blackmail or propaganda will deter the government of Bayelsa State from pursuing its legitimate rights and entitlements under the law.

    “We wish to assure our good brothers in Rivers State not to allow themselves to be used for cheap blackmail or any form of propaganda against the President and Bayelsa State.

    “Let it be clearly stated that the government of Bayelsa State is not interested in annexing Kalabari clan, as it is being alleged, for the purpose of claming derivation entitlements or any other purpose whatsoever.

    “We therefore request the government of Rivers State to tender an unreserved apology to Mr. President and the government of Bayelsa State over its unguarded, mischievous and misleading statements, which clearly are calculated to disparage the Presidency and incite violence between the two states.”

     

  • FIRS generates N3.81tr revenue in nine months

    FIRS generates N3.81tr revenue in nine months

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it generated N3.81 trillion as revenue in nine months.

    The FIRS made the claim yesterday in Abuja in a statement signed by Mr Emmanuel Obeta, its Director of Communications.

    “With this amount, the FIRS has surpassed the N3.6 trillion provisional annual budget estimate nine months into the year, with oil taxes recording N2.399 trillion and N1.406 trillion for non-oil.

    “The collection represents increased revenue collection performance of about N890 billion, when compared to the total collection of N2.91 trillion for the same period in 2011.’’

    The statement said the FIRS had so far collected and remitted the sum of N23.30 billion tax revenue due to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) for the first nine months of 2012.

    It said the amount represented “Pay-As-You-Earn’’ (PAYEE) tax and Personal Income Tax (PIT) collected from FCT residents.

    This, it added, reflected an increase in tax collection in the period, when compared to the N21. 94 billion remitted to FCTA for the same period in 2011.

    “In 2011, the service recorded N955.19 billion tax collection in the first quarter, N985.30 billion in the second quarter and N974.65 billion in the third quarter,’’ the statement said.

    It added that the 2012 figure represented a remarkable increase in tax collection, which comprised N1.172 trillion in first quarter, N1.267 trillion in the second quarter and N1.366 trillion in the third quarter respectively.

    It also said that the N23.30 billion so far remitted to the FCTA represented a considerable increase in FIRS’ collection and remittance, when compared to the N23.24 billion figure in 2010.

    “A breakdown of the collection, from January to September shows that the sum of N2.027 billion was realised in January, N2.691 billion in February, N3.133 billion in March, N2.721 billion in April and N3.044 billion in May.

    “The figure recorded in June was N2.221 billion, N3.055 billion in July, N2.463 billion in August, while N1.947 billion was generated as tax revenue in September.

    “Remarkably, FIRS has taken steps to bring more potential taxpayers into the tax net through the establishment of Satellite Tax Offices (STO) across the FCT’s major markets in 2012,’’ it said .

    Part of FIRS’ effort is to improve taxpayer’s education and services, processes and procedures as well as bring tax administration closer to taxpayers in order to enhance voluntary tax compliance.

    Statutorily, the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act, Cap T2, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2007 empowered the FIRS to collect taxes on behalf of the Federal Government in FCT.

    The extant law clearly stipulates the taxes to be collected by the Federal Government to include Companies Income Tax, Withholding Tax on Companies, residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and non – resident individuals, Petroleum Profit Tax, Value Added Tax, and Education Tax.

    Others are Capital Gains Tax on residents of the FCT, Abuja, bodies’ corporate and non–resident individuals, Stamp Duties on bodies corporate and residents of the FCT, Abuja.

    It also includes Personal Income Tax in respect of Members of the Armed forces of the Federation, Members of the Nigeria Police Force, Residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Staff of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and non- resident individuals.

    However, there is the need for more collaboration and partnership among relevant stakeholders within the territory in order to actualise the Service determination to expand the revenue base of the country.

  • Police to help in revenue collection

    Lagos State Government has solicited the support of the Police in protecting officers monitoring and collecting revenue from haulage operators in the border area.

    Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Taofiq Tijani made the appeal during a visit to the office of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko.

    He said the incessant harassment of personnel by hoodlums has hindered effective monitoring of sand mining operations and collection of tolls from haulage operators.

    “The state needs the presence of security agents at designated areas,” he said, while decrying the difficulties and refusal of some haulage operators to pay the stipulated fees at designated toll points.

    He recalled that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) during his recent visit to Lagos promised to beef up security at all the state’s borders and appealed to Manko to act on this promise by deploying more men in these border points.

    Responding, Manko promised to look into the request, explaining that a more civil approach would be deployed in rendering the needed assistance since the ban on mounting of roadblocks is still in force.

  • Revenue chief advocates harmonisation of tax laws

    Revenue chief advocates harmonisation of tax laws

    Director at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Samuel Ogungbesan, has called for the harmonisation and coordination of all tax legislations and their codification into one supreme document.

    Doing so, he said, means putting all tax issues on the same page. “Without this, there will always be uncertainty in the law and the implementation thereof. When a country has clear laws, it makes it easier for companies to want to come and invest because they know that there is certainty, fairness and trust between themselves and the law,’ Ogungbesan said at the Ernst & Young tax conference, held in South Africa.

    He said large multinational companies contribute 80 per cent to the country’s revenue and occupy only three per cent of the existing business space. This, he said, emphasises the need to strengthen the Transfer Pricing (TP) laws, as tax administrations are aware that effective transfer pricing rules are key to ensuring that multinationals report and pay tax on the correct proportion of profits they make.

    He disclosed that Nigeria has released the TP regulations and would soon be signed off by the Federal Minister of Finance and the Attorney-General for it to become law.

    The FIRS Director, also called for reforms in the Nigerian tax system to enhance stability of the sector.

    He said the FIRS is re-engineering Nigeria’s tax systems to ensure there is transparency, understanding and certainty on legislation and practice when doing business in the country.

    He explained that tax matters need to be made easy to administer, given the important role they play in the economic and national development of the country. “We need to increase our tax base and have an extensively high measure of predictability in order to attract investments,’ he said, in a statement.

    He said Nigeria, with its 37 state tax authorities, still has a lot to learn on taxation. However, he explained that Nigerian tax system has undergone significant changes in recent times, with the laws being reviewed for simplicity.

    He said a new National Tax policy has been drafted, awaiting government’s approval. “The policy, which will be enforced by the Federal Ministry of Finance, calls for standardisation between tax law and practice across all tiers of government. It also provides for exchange of information and statistics across all spheres in order to keep tabs on taxpayers, “he said.

    The policy, he stated, will facilitate coordination between all agencies of government and harmonise the laws and practices across State Internal Revenue Boards.

    On the rationale for the conference, Abass Adeniji, Partner, Tax, Ernst & Young, said the annual event was designed to showcase the firm’s strength and expertise as well as integration to its existing and potential clients, globally.

    According to him, Africa Tax Conference provides an opportunity to demonstrate how connected Ernst & Young is as a single firm through- out the sub area.

  • Aviation union flays automation of revenue collection

    Aviation union flays automation of revenue collection

    National President, National Union of Air Transport Employees ( NUATE), Comrade Safiyanu Mohammed has said extortion, failure to meet extant business practices, double taxation, are part of the reasons the union is opposed to the proposed implementation of automation in revenue collection for aviation agencies.

    The Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah, gave the directive on automation revenue collection last month.

    However, the NUATE boss urged the minister against any attempt to implement the new revenue collection regime, which he argued is worse than previous attempts to contract revenue collection to private firms, including the Automated Operations Management System ( AOMS), handled by Maevis Limited.

    He said the union took the position following the failure of government to convince its leadership on the rationale for contracting revenue automation and collection to outsiders in the industry, despite the in house capacity in the agencies.

    The affected agencies are the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN), Nigeria Airspace Management Agency ( NAMA), Nigeria College of Aviation Technology ( NCAT) and the Accident Investigation Bureau ( AIB), which has since been isolated due to protest.

    Safiyanu, said thet union is not entirely opposed to every component of revenue automation in the agencies, if it is meant to block areas of revenue leakages .

    He said : ’’The blocking of this leakages should not result in other leakages elsewhere whereby some people will be raking the revenues into their pockets.’’

    He cited the example of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) , which is already collecting revenue in the form of over-flyers paid into the bank on behalf of Nigeria Airspace Management Agency ( NAMA), which attracts 1.55 per cent .

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Reps to change revenue law

    Reps to change revenue law

    The House of Representatives is set to enforce its power to review the revenue sharing formula. A bill for the amendment of Section 162 (2) scaled  second reading yesterday at the first plenary of the second session of the Seventh Assembly.

    The  “Bill for an Act to  alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 Section 162 (2) to provide for the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission  (RMFAC) to table directly before the National Assembly (NASS) the Commission’s proposals for revenue allocations” was unanimously adopted by the lawmakers.

    Its sponsor, the Chairman, Committee on Rules and Business, Albert Sam-Tsokwa (PDP, Taraba), said the current arrangement that allows for five-year review, among other provisions, has given too much room for interested party’s interference and bureaucratic tapery.

    According to him,  the option given to the Commission to present the proposal to the President before being forwarded to the National Assembly by the President was erroneous.

    The Chairman, Committee on Finance, John Enoh (PDP, Cross River), noted that it was unfortunate for the House not to have reviewed the revenue sharing formula since 1999, contrary to constitutional provision that stipulates five-year review by the leg