President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken steps to tackle the issue of arbitrary multiple taxation in the country by signing four Executive Orders into law.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that during an interactive session with State House Correspondents on Thursday, Dele Alake, the Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communication, and Strategy to the President, announced this policy directive.
Alake provided a breakdown of the specific interventions outlined in the Executive Orders.
One of the Orders, known as the Finance Act (Effective Date Variation) Order, extends the commencement date of changes in the Act to September 1, 2023. This move ensures that the required 90-day notice for tax changes is adhered to.
Another Order pertains to the Customs, Excise Tariff (Variation) Amendment Order, which shifts the start date of tax changes to August 1, 2023.
Furthermore, the President has suspended the 5% Excise Tax on telecommunication services, the escalation of Excise Duties on locally manufactured products, and the recently introduced Green Tax on single-use plastics.
To ease the burden of tax adjustments on businesses and households, the President has also ordered the suspension of the Import Tax Adjustment levy on certain vehicles.
These Executive Orders, as outlined by the presidential aide, aim to mitigate the adverse effects of tax changes on both businesses and households.
Refer to the full text of the speech delivered by the presidential aide below for the details of these orders.
TEXT OF STATE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFING ON PRESIDENTIAL INTERVENTIONS ON MAJOR CONCERNS OF MANUFACTURERS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS REGARDING SOME RECENT TAX CHANGES ADDRESSED BY MR. DELE ALAKE, SPECIAL ADVISER ON SPECIAL DUTIES, COMMUNICATIONS AND STRATEGY ON THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2023
Gentlemen of the press, I welcome you to this media briefing which essentially is a further demonstration of the avowed commitment of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to constantly dialogue with Nigerians and lend a listening ear to their concerns.
2. Upon taking over the reins of government, the President promised to run a government that will not make life difficult for Nigerians or asphyxiate corporate entities. The Federal Government is irrevocably committed to this pledge.
3. You will all recall that prior to the advent of this Administration, certain tax changes were introduced via the Customs, Excise Tariff (Variation) Amendment Order, 2023 (henceforth referred to as “the Order”) published on the 8th of May 2023 and the Finance Act, 2023, which was signed into law on the 28th of May 2023.
4. Among others, the Order introduced new Excise Duty on Single Use Plastics (SUPs), higher Excise Duties on some locally manufactured products, including alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, and Green Tax by way of Import Tax Adjustment on certain categories of imported vehicles.
5. The Tinubu Administration has since noticed that some of the tax policies are being implemented retroactively with their commencement dates, in some instances, pre-dating the official publication of the relevant legal instruments backing the policies. This lacuna has created some challenges of implementation.
6. We wish to state that the intentions behind upward adjustments of some of these taxes are quite noble. They were designed to raise revenue as well as address environmental and public health concerns. However, they have generated some significant challenges for affected businesses, and elicited serious complaints amongst key stakeholders and in the business community.
7. Let me mention some of the problems we have identified with the aforementioned tax changes. A document known as the 2017 National Tax Policy approved by the Federal Executive Council of the last administration prescribes a minimum of 90 days’ notice from government to tax-payers’ entities before any tax changes can take effect.
8. This global practice is done with a view to giving taxpayers and businesses reasonable time to adjust to the new tax regime.
9. However, evidencing part of the gaps pointed out earlier, both the Finance Act 2023 and the Customs, Excise Tariff Order 2023 did not give the required minimum notice period, thus putting businesses in violation of the new tax regime even before the changes were gazetted.
10. As a result of this, many of the affected businesses are already contending with the rising costs, falling margins and capacity underutilization due the various macroeconomic headwinds as well as the impact of the Naira redesign policy.
11. Gentlemen of the press, you will also recall that Excise Tax increases on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages from 2022 to 2024, which had already been approved, are also being implemented. But a further escalation of the approved rates by the current Administration presents an image of policy inconsistency and creates an atmosphere of uncertainty for businesses operating in Nigeria.
12. The Excise Tax of 5% on telecommunication services has generated heated controversy. There is also a lack of clarity regarding the status of this tax, just as players in the sector also complain about the imposition of multiple taxes on their operations.
13. We have also seen that the Green Taxes, including the Single Use Plastics tax and the Import Adjustment Levy on certain categories of vehicles require more consultation and a holistic approach to the country’s net zero plan in a manner that does not impact the economy negatively.
[PoliticsNigeria]
The National Examination Council (NECO) has tightened its noose in the verification of results as it moves from analogue to digital with the introduction of its e-verification portal.
The portal, which is expected to increase confidence, reduce risks and improve efficiency, will also include flexible payment module, end to manual filing of forms, access from any part of the world, reduce stress and save time among others.
The Registrar of the council, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, at the unveiling of the platform Thursday in Abuja, said the movement was as a result of requests for verification and confirmation of results from 64 institutions across 37 countries over a two-year period from 2020 to 2022.
Similarly, he revealed that there were also requests from 72 institutions in Nigeria within the same period, adding that this was besides requests from individuals which were numerous.
“Due to the growing need for verification and confirmation of results by institutions, both home and abroad, the council decided that now was the best time to introduce the e-verify platform.
“From available records at our disposal, we have observed that there were
requests for verification and confirmation of results from 64 institutions across 37 countries over a two-year period from 2020 to 2022.
“Result verification is an important process that helps to ensure the accuracy of academic credentials. By verifying the authenticity of candidates’ results, academic institutions and employers will be more confident that they are admitting and hiring persons who have the required qualification for further studies and specific job schedules,” he said.
In the same vein, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. David Adejo, who unveiled the portal, has directed all educational institutions to make use of it in the confirmation of results, adding that refusal to do so will lead to dire consequences.
[ThisDay]
…Vows not to abandon Nigerians to their fate
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has said the recent hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, commonly known as petrol, and other perceived anti-poor policies were weapons of war against Nigerian workers and masses.
According to NLC, impoverishing workers and pushing millions more into hellish living does not, in any way, approximate sound economic management.
In an address at the opening ceremony of a four-day programme for leaders of the state councils of NLC in the south, taking place in Lagos, President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, said from all intents and purposes, the Nigerian state had declared war on the working people and the masses of Nigeria.
Represented by the Deputy President of Congress and President-General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, in the programme supported by the American Solidarity Centre, Ajaero, noted that trade union leaders must not abandon the Nigerian people and workers to their fate.
The NLC president said labour leaders across the country “must all join hands in the struggle for the articulation and protection of the rights of Nigerian workers and people with all hope that one day, workers of Nigeria will reclaim their natural rights that have been forcefully abridged and trampled upon by uninformed employers and those in government who ought to have been in the vanguard of guaranteeing such rights.
“Various governments in Nigeria have mercilessly trampled upon the rights of Nigerians without any feeling of remorse. Politicians have ganged up against the workers and the masses without any consequences.
”It is important to note that governance in Nigeria is always spoken about in paradoxical dimensions.
Governments are rooted in the lives of the people and thus ought to pursue service to them but in our nation, governance has become an instrument for inflicting pains and suffering on workers and the masses.
”Recently, we are all witnessed the steep heartless hike in the price of PMS by the federal government under the guise of the so-called petroleum subsidy withdrawal without making alternative arrangements to cushion the expected and well-known impact of such unconscionable action.
“This policy direction ought to have been the product of dialogue amongst stakeholders but was shunned by a democratically elected government which rather believes in machoism that has since left the economy reeling.
“That, clearly shows that the Nigerian State from all corners is clearly at war with the people and workers. They have mounted pressure on the people at all fronts and have robbed the people repeatedly even when the people have turned the other cheek refusing to acknowledge that governance must go hand in hand with social justice if it is to have any meaning.
”This onslaught, comrades, is not relenting and would continue if nothing is done to mediate it immediately.
“It has become exigent that we forcefully bring to the knowledge of our various leaders that rendering many more millions of Nigerians poor could not be an option for punishment.
”Moreover, impoverishing workers and pushing millions more into hellish living does not in any way approximate sound economic management.
“Nigerian workers and masses cannot continue bearing the brunt of ill-conceived policies and outright fantasies of our leaders. The continued sacrifice of poor Nigerian workers so that the rich can continue in their unbridled pleasures is beginning to push events to the edge.
“A nation with a huge number of poor people and an increasing number of the working poor is akin to mega trouble. Growth without commensurate benefits to the people is meaningless. Nigerians, workers and comrades can put a stop to this.
”The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, can halt this manifest mischief. As trade union leaders, we must not abandon the people and workers to their fate. We must not leave anything to chance and we must not sit by and watch this rape continue unabated.
“Among the heart-wrenching and serial atrocities of current employers both in the public and private sectors against Nigerian workers is the continued prevalence of abuses of the rights and privileges of the workforce in the various shopfloors which have gone unchallenged.
“Acts of impunity by lawless employers without recourse to our extant labour laws have all contributed to abridging the rights of our fellow workers in our various workplaces.
”It has suddenly become a passion and a dangerous pastime for employers to trample upon our rights as the creators and builders of the wealth of this nation.
“Across the nation, reports kept pouring in of workers deprived and denied of their basic rights and sometimes denied of their rights to fair and living wages.
”Governments at various levels owe salaries sometimes up to one year and when they manage to pay one month, they applaud themselves openly believing that the payment of earned income to workers is charity extended to workers.”
[Vanguard]
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Joe Igbokwe, has called on the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, to resign from his position.
Igbokwe stated this following the disagreement between Adamu and the leadership of the National Assembly over the appointment of the principal officers of the parliament.
Speaking with Daily Trust on Wednesday, Igbokwe said it is high time the national chairman was eased out because he could no longer be trusted.
He said it was wrong for the party’s chairman to have publicly dismissed the list of the principal officers which the president, who is the leader of the party, must have endorsed.
Igbokwe said the national chairman had shown that he cannot be trusted when he attempted to choose the former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, as the party’s presidential candidate.
He said, “He was supposed to have been removed that time when he supported Ahmed Lawan but APC managed the matter. We can’t trust him.”
The former spokesman of APC in Lagos said even if Adamu was not satisfied with the list of principal officers released, he should not have made it public.
“In all honesty, we can’t trust him again. He was managed for us to come out of the election. Now is the time to ease him out but I know Asiwaju knows what to do,” he added.
The Nigerian Army will put an end to pipeline damage and oil theft in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, according to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Maj.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja.
Wednesday in Ibadan was Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) day, and Lagbaja spoke at an interactive session with media executives.
He added that he would continue to pay attention to banditry in the Northwest.
Lagbaja said, “The Army will focus on the situation in the Niger-Delta region, just as it will not also lose focus on what’s happening in other parts of the country in line with the mandate of the current government.
“The President [Bola Tinubu] has said that the nation is bleeding from all these. The money isn’t just there to do what we used to do in the past.
“This has led to the removal of oil subsidies and the floated exchange rate, while other reforms have also been put in place.
“Riding on the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda of the President, the Nigerian Army under my watch will stamp out oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta.”
Senate Majority Leader, Michael Bamidele, on Wednesday, said that there were no criminal charges against President Bola Tinubu in any United States court.
Bamidele was called as a sole witness during the proceedings of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja.
The Senate Majority Leader maintained that the $460, 000 forfeiture order against the President by an American court was in respect of a civil matter that could not take the place of criminal charges.
He said there was no conviction and sentence against Tinubu as required by law for it to be turned into criminal charges.
The witness also told the court that the February 25 presidential election results for All Progressives Congress in Kano State were recorded with a shortfall of 10, 292 votes against Tinubu.
President Bola Tinubu and the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, along with their party, the All Progressives Congress have closed their defence in the joint petition filed by the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi.
The trio are co-respondents in the petition by the LP and Obi challenging their victory in the February 25 presidential election.
The respondents through their team of lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun, SAN, (for Tinubu and Shettima) and Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, (for the APC) closed their defence after tendering several documents and calling a witness to testify in aid of their counter-arguments against the issues raised by the petitioners.
Despite the objections by the petitioners, the five-man panel of the court presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani admitted the documents as evidence and marked them as exhibits.
The court gave the respondents 10 days to file their final written addresses, the petitioner seven days to respond and five days to reply on point of law.
Justice Tsammani said the date for the adoption of the final written addresses would be communicated to the parties.
Under cross-examination by counsel for the APC, Fagbemi, SAN, Bamidele told the court that Obi’s name was not contained in the membership list of the LP submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Other documents tendered and admitted during Wednesday’s proceedings include a letter from the Nigeria Police to the United States Embassy, dated February 3, 2003; a letter from the United States Embassy to the Nigeria Police, dated February 4, 2003; and US Visas and immigration documents between 2011 and 2021.
In a related development, Tinubu, Shettima, and the APC closed their defence in the joint petition by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Among other grounds, the petitioners contended that INEC did not comply with the electoral laws including failure to transmit the election result electronically using the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System and the INEC Results Viewing portal.
They also argued that, contrary to the provisions of the law, the president failed to poll at least 25 per cent of votes from the Federal Capital Territory.
During the resumed hearing in their defence on Wednesday evening, the respondents in the petition proceeded to close their case after tendering several documents and calling one witness to testify in the matter.
As in the case of Obi, the court gave the respondents 10 days to file their final written addresses, the petitioner seven days to respond and five days to reply on point of law.
Under cross-examination by counsel for the APC, Fagbemi, SAN, Bamidele affirmed that the president was not charged with any criminal offence by any American court.
This was about the widely circulated court affidavit from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division on civil forfeiture proceedings against Tinubu concerning $460,000.
However, the witness affirmed that “there can’t be a conviction without a charge, arraignment and defence.”
He said the president had a clean bill of health as far as criminal charges in the USA were concerned.
He further affirmed the statement by the senior advocate that the president is a citizen of Nigeria by birth.
Under cross-examination by counsel for the PDP and Atiku, Eyitayo Jegede(SAN), the witness argued that scoring 25 per cent votes in Abuja was not a mandatory requirement for the office of the president.
A forensic analysis has declared that the content of the 2017 viral video which captured former Governor of Kano state, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, allegedly receiving bundles of dollar notes as a bribe from a contractor and stuffing them in his flowing dress was not doctored but real video.
Chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, Muhuyi Rimingado made this known on Wednesday, during “A One Day Public Dialogue on Anti-Corruption Crusade in Kano”, stating that the authenticity of the videos had been confirmed.
According to Rimingado, since the release of the video, he had been pressured from all quarters to either prove the embattled governor’s innocence or guilt.
He added that since the commission commenced an investigation into the allegations in 2018, proving Ganduje’s guilt or innocence had been impossible because the former governor had immunity.
Recall that while Ganduje debunked the contents of the video after it surfaced, the Kano State House of Assembly had constituted a committee to investigate the allegations but the committee was yet to submit its findings, before a new assembly was inaugurated on July 4, 2023.
However, the former governor had recently requested a Kano State High Court to restrain the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from investigating him over the matter.
In a suit filed before the high court, the former Attorney General of the State prayed the court to restrain the EFCC from probing Ganduje until a suit between the former governor and the publisher of the Daily Nigerian, Jafaar Jafaar, was determined.
More than 10 million people have signed up for Threads, Meta’s rival to Twitter, within the first few hours of its launch, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday.
The app went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 2300 GMT on Wednesday and will run with no ads for now, but its release in Europe has been delayed over data privacy concerns.
Threads is the biggest challenger yet to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace one of the world’s biggest social media platforms, despite its struggles.
“10 million sign-ups in seven hours,” Zuckerberg wrote on his official Threads account Thursday.
Accounts were already active for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Hugh Jackman, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post and The Economist.
Zuckerberg also offered a shot across the bow at Musk – the pair are known to be bitter rivals and have offered to wrestle it out in a cage fight.
In his first tweet in over a decade, Zuckerberg posted a Spiderman pointing at Spiderman meme in an apparent reference to the similarities between Threads
On Threads, he wrote: “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully, we will.”
Twitter has said it has more than 200 million daily users.
– ‘Be kind’ –
Threads was introduced as a clear spin-off of Instagram, which offers a built-in audience of more than two billion users, sparing the new platform the challenge of starting from scratch.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri told users that Threads was intended to build “an open and friendly platform for conversations.”
“The best thing you can do if you want that too is be kind,” he said.
Zuckerberg is widely understood to be taking advantage of Musk’s chaotic ownership of Twitter to push out the new product, which Meta hopes will become the go-to platform for celebrities, companies and politicians.
“It’s as simple as that: if an Instagram user with a large number of followers such as Kardashian or a Bieber or a Messi begins posting on Threads regularly, a new platform could quickly thrive,” strategic financial analyst Brian Wieser said on Substack.
Analyst Jasmine Engberg from Insider Intelligence said Threads only needs one out of four Instagram monthly users “to make it as big as Twitter.”
“Twitter users are desperate for an alternative, and Musk has given Zuckerberg an opening,” she added.
Under Musk, Twitter has seen content moderation reduced to a minimum with glitches and rash decisions scaring away celebrities and major advertisers.
He has angered Twitter’s most devoted aficionados by declaring that access to its TweetDeck product — which allows users to view a fast flow of tweets at once — would be for paying customers only.
– EU ‘many months’ away –
Meta has its legion of critics too, especially in Europe, which could slow the growth of Threads.
The company has been criticized for its handling of personal data, the essential ingredient for targeted ads that help it rake in billions of dollars in profits.
Mosseri said he regretted that the launch was delayed in the European Union, but had Meta waited for regulatory clarity from Brussels, Threads would have been “many, many, many, months away.”
“I was worried that our window would close because timing is important,” he told the tech news site Platformer.
According to a source close to the matter, Meta was wary of a new law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which sets strict rules for the world’s “gatekeeper” internet companies.
One rule restricts platforms from moving user data between products, as would potentially be the case between Threads and Instagram.
Meta was caught doing just that after it bought WhatsApp, and European regulators will be on high alert to ensure it does not do so illegally with Threads.
Globally, the Threads hashtag on Twitter has garnered over a million tweets, with many users jokingly suggesting people will return to Musk’s platform.
“10 mins into threads app. Me coming back to Twitter,” one user wrote, sharing a video of a man sprinting.
Others expressed privacy concerns.
“Meta loves to collect private information and I don’t trust the way it treats private information,” a Japanese user tweeted.
“I also have the impression that this is a company hated by EU, so I’m reluctant.”
But some said they would permanently move to Threads.
One Threads user wrote: “Now I truly can say goodbye to Twitter forever.”
AFP
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Kwara State Command has confirmed the arrest of a fraudster, Babatunde Adekunle, for swapping the Automated Teller Machine card of an old man and using the card to withdraw N1.8m from the man’s account.
The state Commandant of the NSCDC, Umar Mohammed, paraded Adekunle alongside six other suspects nabbed with two trucks loaded with railway slippers at Oloru in the Moro Local Government Area of the state.
Mohammed said Babatunde Adekunle, 41, was alleged to have fraudulently swapped his ATM card with that of an old man at one of the ATM points in a bank in Ilorin.
“Having swapped the card, he allegedly withdrew N1.8m from the account. The case was reported and the commandant mandated the tracking unit to arrest him,” he said.
On the nabbed two trucks loaded with railway slippers, Mohammed identified the suspects as Yunusa Bello, 41, Sanni Taminu, 35, Sanusi Lawal, 25, Alhaji Makeri,33, Lukman Sanni, 32, and Olabode Johnson, 41.
Umar appreciated the state government, the traditional rulers and the good people of the state for their support.
He assured the public that the command would continue to work with other sister agencies so as to ensure the safety of the lives and property of residents in the state.
ine more African countries are to receive 18 million doses of the first-ever RTS, S/AS01 malaria vaccine.
But Nigeria, which accounts for an estimated 38.4 per cent of global malaria deaths in children aged under five years, is not among the nine that will from the last quarter of this year begin to have access to the vaccine.
The countries listed by Gavi Vaccine Alliance, World Health Organisation (WHO), and UNICEF are Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
Gavi, WHO) and UNICEF explained in a joint statement yesterday that the beneficiaries will begin the rollout by early 2024. The vaccine are already in use in three other African countries—Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
The vaccine is the first to be recommended for use by WHO to prevent malaria in children below five years.
The joint statement which gave no reason for not including Nigeria among the beneficiaries reads: “Since 2019, Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi have been delivering the malaria vaccine through the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, coordinated by WHO and funded by Gavi, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Unitaid.
“The RTS -S/AS01 vaccine has been administered to more than 1.7 million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi since 2019 and has been shown to be safe and effective, resulting in a substantial reduction in severe malaria and a fall in child deaths. At least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the malaria vaccine.
“In addition to Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, the initial 18 million dose allocation will enable nine more countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, to introduce the vaccine into their routine immunisation programmes for the first time.”
The statement added that the allocations were determined through the application of the principles outlined in a framework that prioritises areas of highest need, risk and death of children
Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, Thabani Maphosa, restated that the vaccine is impactful in the fight against malaria.
He said:“While we work with manufacturers to help ramp up supply, we need to make sure the doses that we do have are used as effectively as possible, which means applying all the learnings from our pilot programmes as we broaden out to a new total of 12 countries.” UNICEF Associate Director of Immunisation, Ephrem Lemango, said that nearly every minute, a child under five years dies of malaria.
“For a long time, these deaths have been preventable and treatable; but the roll-out of this vaccine will give children, especially in Africa, an even better chance at surviving. As supply increases, we hope even more children can benefit from this life-saving advancement,” Lemango added.
The WHO Director of Immunisation, Vaccines and Biologicals, Dr Kate O’Brien, said the malaria vaccine was a breakthrough to improve child health and child survival; and families and communities.
The spokesman for the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control Control(NAFDAC) in Lagos State, Christy Obiazokwor, promised to get back when contacted by The Nation on why Nigeria was not listed as one of the nine new beneficiaries.
As of 10.08 pm, she had yet to do so.
NAFDAC had on April 26 said it would begin clinical trials of the vaccine in six weeks to ascertain the vaccine’s effectiveness.
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THE Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has, in the last seven years, committed a sum of N27.76 billion as ICT intervention support to public tertiary schools in the country.
About N3.43 billion (representing 12.5 percent) of the total amount was spent on train lecturers and other workers on digital literacy and productivity skills acquisition alone in those schools under the years in review.
The executive secretary of TETFUND, Mr Sonny Achono, gave the revelation in Lagos while delivering the 26th convocation lecture of the Lagos State University(LASU), Ojo, recently
He noted that the universities got the largest share which was N15.59 billion out of the total allocation, while the polytechnics and colleges of education got N6.37 billion and N5.80 billion respectively.
Achono, who spoke on ‘Higher Education in the Digital Age,’ explained that the essence of investing such a huge amount of money on ICT in tertiary schools is to demonstrate that the 21st century economy requires that graduates possess relevant digital skills to thrive and contribute significantly.
He observed that though the world is bedevilled by massive unemployment, the fact remains that most companies, globally are complaining about their inability to fill open vacancies due to shortages of people with relevant skills to man the openings.
He declared that Nigeria is not exempted from this challenge, hence the need to produce graduates and other skilled workers, who would be fit-for-purpose.
According to him, “at TETFund, we are fully aware that the future of education in Nigeria is inseparably hinged on the development of capacity in digital literacy and skills to address the acute dearth of workers with in-demand digital literacy and emerging skills as well as the mismatch between the skills which graduates possess and employers need in this 21st century.
“That is why our investment as an agency on ICT is so that our tertiary schools would also operate in accordance with the global best practices,” he maintained.
In her welcome address earlier, the vice chancellor of LASU, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, said that the outbreak of Covid-19 and resultant global lockdown had exposed all countries and institutions to a reality that activities on digital space are indispensable.
She mentioned that LASU is now carrying out most of its activities both on site and digitally.
There was reportedly pandemonium on the floor of the Senate yesterday over the step down motion bordering on the disbursement of N500 billion loan.
Lawmakers in the camp of Senate President, Godswill Akpabio that benefitted from the recent announcement of principal officers clashed against the losers.
Naija News recalls that Akpabio had released the list of principal officers with former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and former leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, failing to clinch the two most coveted positions in the upper legislative chamber.
Ekiti senator, Bamidele Opeyemi was named majority leader while Simon Mwadkwon was announced as minority leader.
However, the dissatisfaction with the development became obvious when Ndume got up to read the contents of his motion, which had been captured in the Order Paper, titled: “Un-even disbursement of half a trillion naira loan to six geopolitical zones by the Development Bank of Nigeria.”
According to The Sun, Ndume claimed that the annual integrated statutory report of the Development Bank obtained in July, 2022, revealed that N483 billion was disbursed, but only 11 per cent went to the entire 19 northern states, while only Lagos State got 47 per cent of the entire funds.
While trying to establish certain facts, about the same motion he sponsored in the 9th Senate, Akpabio stepped in and stopped him.
Infuriated, Ndume tried to explain his position but Solomon Adeola, who has been primed to head the Senate Committee on Appropriations, stepped in.
Adeola told the Senate that Sani Musa headed the adhoc Committee in the 9th Senate and should be allowed to talk. He was permitted by Akpabio.
While explaining his role in the saga, Musa accused Ndume of deliberately misleading the Senate, insisting that the final report was signed by Ndume, and therefore he can’t feign ignorance of what transpired.
Thereafter, Akpabio, without further recourse to Ndume, ruled and suspended the consideration of the motion already captured in the day’s Order Paper. An attempt by Ndume to reintroduce the motion was frustrated by Akpabio.
A member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) from Nasarawa State, Aliyu Wadada insisted on debating the motion.
However, Akpabio ruled him out of order and refused to allow any debate on the issue.
An angry Ndume accused Musa of peddling falsehood against him. Ndume said as an experienced senator, it was wrong for him to have been accused unfairly and insisted that the issues in the motion were too germane to be ignored.
Again, Akpabio refused to allow a debate on the motion. The issues were still pending, when the deputy leader of the Senate, David Umahi, who stood in for the Senate leader, Bamidele moved to the next item in the Order Paper.
Former Governor of Oyo State, Rasheed Ladoja has said the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari refused to listen to complaints raised by him and other Nigerians.
Speaking with the reporters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Ladoja said most of the complaints Tinubu is acting on now had already been raised with Buhari.
The former governor said the activities of the suspended Econoamd Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, and the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, were raised with Buhari.
Ladoja, therefore, said he is in support of the removal of fuel subsidy and decisions made so far by President Bola Tinubu, adding that the Nigerians will not be disappointed.
He said: “I am in support of the decisions made so far. All of us know there is the need for us to adjust and rejig Nigeria. It is even not a question of palliatives now. It is a question of how do we re-distribute wealth.
“So, it is not about giving five million people N5,000 each. The President promised to give a living wage to workers. This means he knows the workers are not earning a living wage. I am sure he knows what he is doing and by the grace of God, we will get there.
“Most of what we blamed Buhari for was that he just turned a deaf ear to our complaints. Most of the complaints Tinubu is acting on now had already been raised with Buhari.
“The issue of [Abdulrasheed] Bawa, former EFCC chairman and [Godwin] Emefiele, suspended CBN governor was raised with Buhari. So, we can assume that Tinubu knows what he is doing. If we can take away a lot of corruption, there will be speedy progress. Tinubu does not need to police people. They will police themselves.
“Now, for instance, we don’t need to police the borders on account of people taking subsidised petrol out of the country, as long as Nigeria is getting all the money that is due to it and there is no subsidy.
“It is for the Benin Republic to collect taxes from people who are bringing it into its country. Governance will be easy when you don’t need to police anything. Everything will become liberal and there will be competition that will force the price to come down.
“Look at GSM when they started, the SIM was aboutN30,000. But now, they are even ready to give people free of charge. Once there is competition, things will get better and I am sure the president knows that, having come from the private sector.”
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said that it will reconcile fuel subsidy deductions with the Federal Government, after stating that no fuel subsidy payments were made to marketers since January 2016.
The company stated this on Tuesday, July 4 when it posted a before and after fuel subsidy factsheet via their official account on Twitter.
It is important to also note that two days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced an end to fuel subsidies in the country, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited said the Federal Government owed it over $6 billion (N2.8 trillion). This is the exact amount that the NNPCL has paid to keep fuel cheap.
Meanwhile, in the Nigeria Development Update report from the World Bank, it was stated that the recent decision to remove the fuel subsidy marks a crucial initial step towards restoring macroeconomic stability, creating fiscal space, and improving growth prospects. The World Bank report stated that the removal of the subsidy will improve Nigeria’s fiscal position.
This is because it sets the foundations for a more resilient, faster-growing economy. However, the overall fiscal impact of the decision will depend on several factors, including how the Government plans to use savings from the fuel subsidy regime.
Other facts the NNPCL posted on Tuesday, were:
Payments
Before – No marketer is paid petrol subsidy by NNPC Limited as marketers buy below-cost price
After – Marketers will now pay the cost price as determined by the market
Debt burden
Before – Federation continuously in debt for subsidy payment
After – End of a burden, the beginning of a new era of renewed hope and opportunities
Settlements
Before – NNPC Limited pays suppliers either cash or delivers the equal value of crude oil volumes as settlement.
After – Crude oil swap deals will phase out
Supplies
Before – Suppliers import products on commercial terms for NNPC Limited on the back of their credit abilities.
After – NNPC Limited will no longer be the sole importer of petroleum products