By Adedapo Adesanya

One of the fiercest critics of the tax reform bills, Mr Ali Ndume, has insisted on the withdrawal of the entire process, saying it is coming at a time the Nigerian economy is in crisis.

The former Leader of the Senate declared on Sunday that the North is not parasitic in nature, particularly when matters of economic survival are concerned.

President Bola Tinubu in September transmitted four tax bills to the parliament for approval. These are the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.

The bills have generated controversies since they were forwarded to the legislative arm of government and earlier this month, President Tinubu directed that the concerns be addressed.

Northern statesmen have since advised Mr Tinubu to hold on before pushing the controversial tax reform bills, claiming they will not favour the region.

In particular, Mr Ndume, who represents Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, noted that all states, zones and regions in the country need each other to survive no matter how economically advantaged they are.

“The North was, is and will never be a parasite or dependent on any region or even the country. We are assets not liability to Nigeria. Those who think that the current tax reforms is only against Northern interests are naive. As it is the law is against all the low and middle-income Nigerians,” he stressed.

He insisted that the tax reform bills were coming at the wrong time, and said the economic hardship being suffered by Nigerians may get worse.

“I’m still insisting that the Tax Reforms Bills be withdrawn for more consultations and by-in of critical stakeholders like state, local government and private sectors,” Mr Ndume said.

He advised that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) should expand its tax net just as he called for greater demonstration of accountability.

“The FIRS should concentrate on expanding the tax net and collecting more. Also, accountability and transparency should be increased,” he stated.

Mr Ndume also called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to beam its searchlight on commercial banks to ensure that banks which declare huge profits every year should pay more taxes.

Ndume outlined his concerns with the bills, citing issues such as the wrong timing, the question of derivation, Value Added Tax, and the lack of consensus or buy-in from Nigerians.

According to him, “Yes, reform. But even with reforms, you have to prioritise, time it correctly, and ensure the buy-in of Nigerians because this is a democracy. It is the government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

“First in Nigeria, what we need to do is reform the government. Our personnel and overhead expenditure for 2024 is about 50 to 60 per cent of the budget itself. We are here in November, and 20 per cent of the budget has not been implemented. But if you check the recurrent expenditure, it has already been exhausted.

“So, that means over 15 to 20 trillion Naira is going into personnel, debt servicing, and recurrent expenditure. We should reform the government, not only the Executive – we need to reform the government holistically,” he added.

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited recorded 1.76 per cent week-on-week growth last week on the back of a continued buying interest.

The demand for Nigerian stocks has continued to grow as a result of renewed investor confidence in the domestic equity market because of its resilience amid challenging macroeconomic environment.

Last Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that inflation rate jumped by 34.60 per cent in November 2024, but despite this, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation appreciated by 1.76 per cent to close the week at 101,129.09 points and N61.303 trillion, respectively.

In the same vein, all other indices finished higher except the industrial goods and sovereign bond sectors, which depreciated by 0.86 per cent and 0.06 per cent, respectively while the ASeM index closed flat.

In the week, 61 equities appreciated versus 51 equities in the previous week, 26 shares lost weight versus 35 shares of the earlier week, and 66 stocks closed flat versus 67 stocks of the preceding week.

MRS Oil topped the gainers’ chart after it chalked up 36.36 per cent to trade at N180.00, Eterna appreciated by 32.36 per cent to N29.45, Honeywell Flour expanded by 31.52 per cent to N6.05, Livestock Feeds jumped 30.16 per cent to N4.10, and Coronation Insurance increased by 26.87 per cent to N1.70.

On the flip side, John Holt lost 18.67 per cent to N5.88, Multiverse shed 18.58 per cent to trade at N4.60, University Press declined by 16.27 per cent to N3.50, Tantalizers slumped by 13.04 per cent to N1.60, and PZ Cussons dwindled by 8.00 per cent to quote at N23.00.

Business Post reports that in the trading week before Christmas, investors bought and sold 2.536 billion shares worth N91.382 billion in 51,406 deals, in contrast to the 2.729 billion shares valued at N49.845 billion traded in 43,298 deals a week earlier.

Financial stocks led the activity chart with 1.680 billion units sold for N23.486 billion in 22,766 deals, contributing 66.24 per cent and 25.70 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.

ICT equities followed with 201.287 million units worth N3.155 billion in 2,840 deals, and services shares recorded a turnover of 182.275 million units valued at N7.961 billion in 3,019 deals.

The trio Sterling Holdings, Wema Bank and eTranzact accounted for 623.895 million shares worth N3.981 billion in 1,544 deals, contributing 24.61 per cent and 4.36 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited recorded its first loss in nine consecutive sessions after it finished in the red territory on Friday by 0.12 per cent.

This decline suffered by Customs Street was caused by profit-taking in the industrial goods sectors, which tumbled by 0.31 per cent at the close of trading activities.

It upturned the gains recorded by the other sectors, as the banking space grew by 1.66 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 1.05 per cent, the consumer goods index appreciated by 1.03 per cent, and the energy sector gained 0.31 per cent.

When the market ended for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 118.93 points to 101,129.09 points from 101,248.02 points and the market capitalisation shrank by N72 billion to N61.303 trillion from N61.375 trillion it ended a day earlier.

Despite the poor performance, investor sentiment was bullish as the bourse finished with 39 price gainers and 15 price losers, representing a positive market breadth index.

Multiverse lost 9.80 per cent to trade at N4.60, Aradel Holdings tumbled by 9.09 per cent to N664.00, International Energy Insurance slumped by 8.13 per cent to N1.47, Coronation Insurance declined by 4.49 per cent to N1.70, and Nigerian Breweries moderated by 3.33 per cent to N29.00.

On the flip side, UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to close at N30.25, Honeywell Flour also increased by 10.00 per cent to N6.05, Universal Insurance jumped by 10.00 per cent to 44 Kobo, Learn Africa rose by 9.92 per cent to N3.88, and NAHCO improved by 9.89 per cent to N46.10.

During the session, investors transacted 515.6 million shares valued at N16.5 billion in 11,554 deals compared with the previous day’s 411.4 million shares worth N26.3 billion traded in 10,260 deals a day earlier, indicating a decline in the trading value by 37.26 per cent, and growth in the trading volume and number of deals by 25.33 per cent and 12.61 per cent, respectively.

Zenith Bank was the most traded stock for the session with 60.4 million units valued at N2.7 billion, UBA exchanged 43.5 million units worth N1.5 billion, Sterling Holdings sold 43.3 million units for N216.3 million, Universal Insurance transacted 28.3 million units valued at N12.4 million, and GTCO traded 23.5 million units worth N1.3 billion.