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Tag: revenue

  • Customs targets N1.3tr revenue in 2018

    Customs targets N1.3tr revenue in 2018

    Although the Federal Government is yet to set a 2018 revenue generation target for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the management plans to collect N1.3trillion this year.

    The Public Relations Officer, Mr. Joseph Attah, who disclosed this to our Abuja correspondent in his office, added that the organization hopes to work harder to exceed the target.

    “Just the way we achieved last year. Last year, you will recall that we achieved N1,037,102,179,400.58. So, we hope to sustain and even improve on what we did last year that enabled us to hit the mark that had never been done before.”

    According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to stop importation of rice will not lower the expected collections for the year, it would rather spur revenue generation from excise duty.

    The NCS, said Attah, is now tilting its attention towards encouraging export instead of depending on revenue from import. 

    He also noted that the service was looking forward to receiving new patrol vehicles that will facilitate the policing of the boarders to enhance compliance with exit from rice importation. 

    He added the stoppage of rice importation would lead to creation of job opportunities for the unemployed youths and bring about improved standard of living for the citizenry.

     

  • NAMA chief advises workers on revenue collection

    NAMA chief advises workers on revenue collection

    The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) Managing Director, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, has urged workers to come up with ideas that will correct imperfections in the agency’s revenue collection system.

    He said this would boost the revenue base of the agency.

    NAMA runs a ‘Pay As You Go’ system for its revenue collection for airlines and others.

    In an interview in Lagos, Akinkuotu said the workers should operate a transparent platform  through proper issuance of invoices for settlement of charges.

    According to him, the agency’s budget estimates can only be actualised through diligent processing of returns by the Commercial Department personnel.

    Akinkuotu said the NAMA had created a forum for learning where workers would be equipped with latest trends on revenue collection.

    He said if workers in the commercial department use the revenue platform to share their experiences, it would enable them come up with more efficient ways of harnessing the agency’s resources.

    Meanwhile, NAMA has assured airlines and stakeholders on the provision of uninterrupted air navigation throughout the Yuletide.

    The agency said the country’s navigational facilities were working at optimal levels, with precision approach landing aids at the five international airports.

    Akinkuotu said the agency recognizes that apart from the adverse weather associated with festive seasons, there is huge demand for air traffic services, requiring the agency to strengthen its technical and operational capacity.

    Besides, these measures, new Very High Frequency (VHF) communication radios have been installed across the country to reduce congestion while the installation of Instrument Landing System/Distance Measuring Equipment (ILS/DME) is ongoing in Lagos and Kano airports.

    The NAMA boss said Airspace Managers at airports have been directed to embark on measures to strengthen Air Traffic Management and surveillance systems in their respective domains to ensure maximum operational safety during the season.

  • Fed Govt to examine revenue losses to FCT

    Fed Govt to examine revenue losses to FCT

    The Federal Government has agreed to look into claims of surrounding states losing revenues to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun made the offer yesterday when she received the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Bello in her office in Abuja.

    Adeosun lamented that losing N1 billion monthly to the FCT was a significant loss to the state governments, and assured that it was “genuine and regrettable mistakes that the Federal Government will try to rectify.”

    Mrs Adeosun promised to refer the governor’s claims of a billion loss monthly to the Accountant General of the Federation (ÀGF) for reconciliation with the information provided by the state governments.

    She said: “N1 billion a month is a lot of money, however, this is not unique to Niger State and FCT, other states are experiencing the same thing. Taxes are paid where people reside and not where they work.”

    She  was however  quick to inform the governor that her office will only look at claims emanating from payrolls linked to the office of the AGF. The minister advised the governor to take claims from other government agencies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and diplomatic missions to these bodies for clarification.

    Earlier, Bello had lamented that while the state generates N400 million monthly internally, “the amount being lost monthly by the state is over N1.3 billion which is over N15.3 billion every year. This could be used to improve the lives of Niger State residents in the areas of health care, education, water and social services and job creation.”

     

    He reminded the minister that “under the Personal Income Tax Act, Section 41, taxes should be remitted to the state in which a person resides. This is known as the Residency Rule.”

    “By remitting the taxes of Niger State residents to FCT, the hardworking residents of Niger State are being deprived of essential services such as schools, hospitals and good roads, as such, the funds available to Niger State government are incomplete and thus development needs cannot be met”.

    Bello said the state has undertaken its research and presented claims for taxes deducted from salaries of civil servants, paid by the office of the Accountant General under the IPPIS, and wants these taxes remitted to the state government hence forth.

    He also appealed to Mrs Adeosun to look into the issue of arrears as some residents have lived in Niger and worked in the FCT for over 10 years.

    Bello equally pleaded with employers in the private sector especially banks, telecoms operators, consultants and construction companies and the diplomatic community to update their payroll records  and ensure that taxes deducted from those resident in Niger State are remitted to Niger State government

    The state’s Internal Revenue Services  he said has been fortified and can issue both receipts and tax clearance certificates seamlessly.

  • Reps urge DPR to provide records on N30b unremitted crude revenue

    Reps urge DPR to provide records on N30b unremitted crude revenue

    THE Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has been directed by the House of Representatives’ Ad-hoc Committee investigating the pump price of petroleum products to provide details of N30 billion crude oil revenue, which was not remitted into the Federation Account.

    The Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) was also directed by the Raphael Nnana-Igbokwe headed committee to provide report on the N30 billion unremitted crude oil revenue and submit to the committee for further scrutiny.

    Issuing the directive at the continued investigation into the pump price of petroleum products between 2013 to 2017, Nnana-Igbokwe said the committee resolved to handover some of the chief executives of oil companies to the Police Fraud Unit and Sergeant-at-arms to document their statements.

    DPR records for crude oil lifted in February 2017 showed 2,845,142 barrels transferred to the Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.

    But 3,853,647 barrels of crude oil were discovered to have been delivered to the refineries, by the panel showing 1,008,505 barrels excess unaccounted for by DPR.

    Similarly, in March 2017, DPR records indicated that 3,227,556 barrels were supplied to refineries but record showed 2,400,297 barrels documented, showing differential of the 827,259 barrels of crude oil unaccounted for.

    While 2,978,371 barrels were recorded for the month of April 2017 by DPR, a total of 4,252,368 barrels were discovered to have been distributed to the three refineries, with 1,273,997 barrels differential unaccounted for by the department.

    Nnana-Igbokwe said the discrepancy was unacceptable, saying the DPR as watchdog of government was ineffective for its failure to properly track the crude oil lifted, thereby making the three tiers of government lose revenue.

    His words: “That is why we insisted on the record you sent to Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). We’ve observed specific encroachment into government revenue. Remember we have issue of N30 billion revenue for October, which is yet to be accounted for.

    “Government will continue to experience shortfall because government can’t assess total revenue accruable due to the shortfall. So, it is not about witch-hunt,” the lawmaker said.

    According to him, there are 32 issues yet to be addressed by DPR, and he therefore directed that the committee be briefed by the DPR team leader on crude, on the details of the FAAC meeting where the revenue for October 2017 will be shared among the three tiers of government.

    The committee resolved to summon the Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Finance to appear before the committee at the next hearing, in a bid to further shed more light on it.

    But the DPR Team lead on Crude Idris Abdulrahman told the committee that that the N30 billion revenue was for February 2017. According to him, some private oil marketers stocked some crude oil in the refineries, which was responsible for the differential in figures.

    Nnana-Igbokwe while explaining the committee’s investigative efforts disclosed that the members were inviting the Chief Executives of the oil companies because one of the managing directors of the oil firms alleged that $5 million forex was applied for without his consent.

  • Lagos Assembly passes law to boost tax revenue

    Lagos Assembly passes law to boost tax revenue

    The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed a regulation on Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption (Fiscalisation) to ensure that hotels and event centres remit due taxes to the state government.

    The regulation will also prevent the evasion of taxes by such business concerns, thereby boosting the state’s revenue base.

    The law encompasses the registration of electronic fiscal devices, installation of fiscalisation software and hardware, the power to enter and inspect notifications of points of sale in hotels and restaurant, among others.

    The Chairman of the five-man Ad Hoc Committee on Finance, Oluyinka Ogundimu, said he had held series of meetings with the Commissioner of Finance, Mr Akinyemi Ashade, and Chairman of the State Internal Revenue Service.

    Ogundimu said the regulations would increase the revenue accruable to the state and give legislative backing to the installation of software and hardware for effective monitoring of sale transactions in hotels, restaurants and event centres.

    The lawmaker quoted Ashade as saying the essence of the regulation is to have the backing of the law for easy implementation of the regulations across the state.

    He added that it would also help the state to get its revenue as at when due, including the introduction of the fiscal electronic device, which was due to non-remittance of consumption tax by hotels.

    Ogundimu said: “The Chairman of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Ayodele Hamzat Subair, who corroborated the position of Mr. Ashade, stated that the state government is losing heavily in the area of consumption tax because of non-introduction of electronic device. He added that lots of advocacy and enlightenment programmes would be needed to achieve the desired result.”

  • PwC: 2018 budget implementation hinges on revenue accretion

    The proposed 2018 N8.6 trillion Budget of Consolidation announced by the Federal Government is to be funded with projected revenues of N6.6 trillion, with oil and non-oil accounting for 37.0 per cent and 63.0 per cent, respectively.

    The budget proposes an aggressive increase in non-oil revenues to N4.2 trillion. However, while the reduced reliance on oil revenues is plausible, the trend and reasons for revenue under-performance in previous years suggest that this target might be difficult to achieve.

    PwC Nigeria made this known in its latest “Nigeria Economic Alert” tilled ‘2018 budget: Implementation Hinges on Revenue Accretion’ released on Wednesday.

    The audit and advisory firm said Nigeria’s low tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio at around six per cent was a consequence of a poor and inefficient tax collection system.

    “While the government has implemented specific measures to address this by expanding the tax base and increasing tax compliance using various incentives, the impact is yet to materialise,” PwC said, in its analysis of the proposed spending.

    The report by PwC Nigeria Partner & Chief Economist Dr. Andrew S Nevin and Economist Adedayo Akinbiyi said as a result, “We estimate that the fiscal deficit could overshoot projections by as much as 67 .7 per cent to N3.4 trillion.

    The Federal Government announced a 2018 budget proposal, which put spending at a record high of N8.6 trillion. The 2018 budget assumes an oil price benchmark of $45/bbl, oil production of 2.3 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N305/USD.

    According to the budget speech, the aim was to consolidate on the improvement in economic growth in 2017 by sustaining the reflationary policies of the past two budgets.

    The budget is to be funded with revenues projected at N6.6 trillion (+30.1% y/y), with oil and non-oil accounting for 37.0 per cent and 63.0 per cent, respectively.

    Although, the budget estimates the 2018 deficit at N2.0 trillion, PwC said given its outlook of revenue under-performance, it expects a higher-than-expected deficit, which could bring the federal Government’s debt stock to N20.9 trillion in 2018 (2017E: N17 .6 trillion).

    “We believe government would rely more on the domestic debt market to finance this deficit, given the availability of a stable domestic investor base, which includes the Pension Funds.

    “Moreover, external financing could be tight in 2018 due to the uptrend in interest rates in advanced economies, particularly in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK). Following this, we estimate that debt to GDP could rise marginally to 15.1 per cent (201 7E: 1 4.6%)

    “This is closer to Nigeria’s country-specific threshold of 1 9.4 per cent, but still far below the International Monetary Fund (IMF’s) recommended threshold of 56 per cent,” PwC said.

    While noting that the low debt-to-GDP ratio was reassuring, the firm said debt service to revenue ratio, which is often cited as a better measure of debt sustainability is projected at 30.1 per cent in 2018 (threshold: 28per cent).

    “Based on our estimates, this could rise to 45.9 per cent in the event the budget deficit reaches 2.4 per cent of GDP,” the firm projected.

    It also said inflationary risks subdue scope for monetary easing. PwC said given a reduction in core inflation to 12.1 per cent y/y in September 2017, and its expectation of a continued moderation in inflation in the near term, it believes there is sufficient head-room for a rate cut in Q1 2018.

    “However, this reflationary budget, which provides for a 12.0 per cent increase in personnel costs, raises inflation expectations. Likewise, history suggests that the commencement of the election cycle ahead of the 2019 general elections could portend significant inflationary risks, thus reducing the scope for monetary easing,” the report concluded.

     

  • IATA: ‘$1.2b airlines’ revenue locked in Africa’

    IATA: ‘$1.2b airlines’ revenue locked in Africa’

    The global airline industry has $1.2 billion (£916.6 million) blocked in nine dollar-strapped African countries, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said yesterday.

    The global commodities price crash that began in 2014 hit economies across Africa hard, particularly big resource exporters such as Angola and Nigeria. Low oil and mineral prices have reduced government revenue and caused chronic dollar shortages and immense pressure on local currencies.

    The fiscal slump has meant governments have not allowed foreign airlines to repatriate their dollar profits in full.

    At an aviation meeting in the Rwandan capital, IATA’s Vice President for Africa, Raphale Kuuchi, said airlines were in talks with “a few governments to unblock airline funds”. He did not specify the companies were affected.

    “To do business effectively, airlines must be able to reliably repatriate their revenues,” Kuuchi said. “And that’s not the case in nine African countries: Angola, Algeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe.”

    Of the total of $1.2 billion, Angola has blocked the largest amount, $500 million, while Sudan has held up $200 million, another IATA official, Adefunke Adeyemi, told Reuters.

    Last year Nigeria owed airliners $600 million but as of October the amount had fallen to $221 million, she said.

  • DisCos’ revenue shortfalls hit N892.4b

    Electricity distribution companies (DisCos) have piled up a loss of  N892.4 billion.

    The  Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors (ANED), Mr Azu Obiaya, who led officials of ANED and some DisCos on courtesy  visit to The Nation, spoke of how  the build up of the shortfalls resulted in the huge amount.

    He said: “The N892 billion debts is actually a buildup of a number of things. It is a buildup of the N100 billion subsidy government promised that we never saw and have not seen. It is also a buildup of two actions or activities that were a cause of political expediency, which was when the R2 class of customers was frozen. That was supposed to be frozen for six months and ended up being frozen for 18 months. It is also a product of the removal of collection losses.

    “When we go beyond that to 2016, when the collection losses were taken out. When this government came to power in 2015, they began to negotiate with us and multi-year tariff order (MYTO) 2015 was a result of the negotiations.

    “But two things happened, one is that in putting together MYTO 2015, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) forgot to account for January so MYTO 2015 was implemented in February, that alone added N12 billion to the generation shortfall. To pay or not to pay the MYTO recommendation, and not to upset Nigerians, NERC said we will now sculpt the tariff, which means we (DisCos) will under-recover, so N497 billion supposedly was taken out of the tariff. In other ways, the tariff was suppressed by N497 billion for the next four years under that assumption that the DisCos will go to the banks and borrow money and fill up that gap until that point when they (DisCos) begin to over-recover.

    “The other thing that has happened is with the tariff. Every six months there was supposed to be a minor review which will adjust the following items, generation, inflation and foreign exchange, among other.

    “Generation – the MYTO model assumes a generation of 5,000 megawatts (Mw) and reality is 3,500Mw. On inflation, MYTO assumes nine per cent and the reality of today is 15.2 per cent and on foreign exchange (forex), it assumes N198 to a dollar but the reality is N305 and 363, while inflation index is tied to the U.S. because 85 per cent of our equipment is dollar denominated. The assumption is 0.02 and our reality is 2.2.

    “So you can see there is a gap, which added to the shortfall. The other part of it, which you may not be aware of,  is with the roll out of MYTO 2015, we had a significant consumer push back with the National Assembly encouraging people not to pay, the regulator (NERC) incorporating into the order that says “if you are not metered in six days, don’t pay.”

    “A number of citizens adopted that as a mantra as well as litigations. MAN also litigated against us and the court issued an injunction that prevailed upon MAN to continue at MYTO 2.0 not even 2.1., and here we were at MYTO 2015. All of these elements kept building up. The huge shortfall is a product of all of these things.”

  • Fed Govt, others share N9.9b solid minerals revenue

    Fed Govt, others share N9.9b solid minerals revenue

    Minister for Mines and Steel Development and Chairman, National Stakeholders’ Working Group (NSWG) of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI), Kayode Fayemi, has said the N9.9billion revenue generated directly from solid minerals was shared among the three tiers of government in July, 2017.

    He said NEITI’s intervention through recommendations in solid minerals audit report, led to the sharing of monies from the sector by the three tiers of government and other beneficiaries in line with section 162 of the 1999 constitution on derivation.

    He stated this during the NEITI South West Zonal Outreach and Stakeholders’ engagement meeting in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The minster who was represented by a member of the NSWG of NEITI, LawanLantewa, also revealed the ministry had received the sum of N30billion from the Natural Resources Development Fund for exploration, research, geosciences data generation and improved mines field security.

  • NIMASA pays N9.975b, $38m into Consolidated Revenue Fund

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has within one year and one month contributed N9.975 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). Within this period, the agency has also paid $38,272,12.12 million to the CRF, The Nation has learnt.

    The agency on June 1, last year paid N5 billion into the CRF as “part payment of operating surplus for 2015 and 2016”. It followed up on June 2, last year with N4.975b “payment made into the CRF 2016 operating surplus”.

    The agency paid $7 million on November 22, last year as “part payment of 2016 operating surplus”. On April 19, this year, NIMASA made another payment – $15 million  – to the CRF.

    The agency on July 18 paid $16.272.121.12 million into the CRF as “payment of 2017 operating surplus”.

    Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun on September 13 praised the management of the agency, led by Dr. Dakuku Peterside, for shoring up its contributions to the federal purse. She also praised the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) for contributing N5 billion to the CRF this year, adding that this was a giant leap from the N3 million yearly highest ever contribution from the agency.

    She did not give the amount contributed by NIMASA.

    Mrs. Adeosun, who spoke at a workshop in Abuja on compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility (FRA) Act, said the management of NIMASA brought down operational cost and was able to generate more money by half year than it did in the two preceding years.

    ”Unlike NIMASA and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), some Agencies and Departments are operating in such a manner that returned minimal funds to government. To this effect, a circular has been issued restricting allowable expenses in line with reforms occurring across government businesses, as compliance checks would be undertaken regularly to ensure that all Agencies and Departments adhere to the new requirements.”

    The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, also said despite the general downturn in accruable revenue to government due to the economic situation, the remittances to the CRF by NIMASA this year had been the highest by the Agency in recent years.

    “It was also the first time in recent years that NIMASA will remit huge revenue into the government coffers,” he said.

    For 2015, NIMASA’s contributions to the CRF was only N2 billion and $15m. There was also the payment of $24,025, 017.90, described as “direct debit by CBN on NIMASA accounts”. About half of 2015 was under the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration. President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Peterside as director-general on March 10, 2016.