Economy
Ndume Insists on Tax Bills Withdrawal, Calls For Governance Reforms
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“I’m still insisting that the Tax Reforms Bills be withdrawn for more consultations and by-in of critical stakeholders like state, local government and private sectors,” Mr Ndume said.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 Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has said Nigeria may not run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for any loan.
He disclosed this in a chat with Arise Television on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
The Minister affirmed that Nigeria has no reason to approach the global lender, adding that the nation is currently relying on relatively cheaper borrowing sources from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
He also argued that Nigeria does not have a balance of payments problem and therefore will not need the short-term financing intervention by the Bretton Wood institution.
“I can imagine the headlines if you saw a situation whereby you were saying Nigeria approaches the IMF for funding. But the reality is that, of course, as a developing country, requiring investment, funds for the government, and investment in key infrastructure to improve the enabling environment for business, we do need funds, and we have the need to borrow.
“We have relied on relatively cheap funding from the multilateral, from the World Bank, from AFDB, and the whole spectrum of funding has been used.”
He also said that the country will tap a range of instruments to help finance this year’s budget deficit and improve the economy.
“We have relied on Nigerian savings by convincing them of the macroeconomic plan of the president, and what it holds in terms of the prospects for growth of the economy and business, and improvement of the business environment.
“Of course, we have approached the Euro bond market, which is, of course, the commercial end of financing. So we’ve done that whole spectrum. When it comes to IMF financing, typically financing from the IMF is to help with short-term balance of payments issues and crises.
“In the case of Nigeria, we have a positive trade balance. We have a positive current account balance. Our reserves are growing. The Governor of the Central Bank recently announced that we had achieved upwards of $10 billion improvement and increase in the reserves.
“We need to use equity. We need to rely on crowding in the savings, particularly of the private sector in Nigeria and the private sector around the world in the form of foreign direct investment. We have to remember that at this time, we have had significant gains in terms of improving the economic environment,” Mr Edun stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose further by 0.33 per cent on Thursday, January 23, as appetite for unlisted stocks continued to grow.
During the trading session, the value of the bourse went up by N7.6 billion to N1.767 trillion from the N1.76 trillion it closed in the preceding session, as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) made an additional 10.33 points to wrap the trading day at 3,120.3 points compared with the 3,09.80 points recorded at the midweek session.
Business Post reports that the share price of Okitipupa Plc increased on Thursday by N4.35 to end the day at N47.90 per unit compared with the previous day’s N43.55 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc gained 14 Kobo to settle at N1.74 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1.60 per share.
On the flip side, Impresit Bakolori Plc suffered a decline of 10 Kobo yesterday to trade at 95 Kobo per unit versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1.05 per unit.
When the exchange closed for the session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went up by 70,008 per cent to 407.4 million units from the 581,160 units transacted a day earlier.
Equally, the value of shares traded during the session jumped by 16,665.9 per cent to N391.2 million from the N2.3 million recorded at midweek, and the number of deals increased by 65 per cent to 30 deals from the 20 deals posted on Wednesday.
Impresit Bakolori Plc topped the activity chart as the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 406.5 million units worth N386.1 million, followed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.3 million units valued at N170.4 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units sold for N44.3 million.
However, Impresit Bakolori Plc snatched the top spot as most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 406.5 million units worth N386.1 million, as Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc dropped to second position for selling 26.3 million units sold for N6.3 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc occupied third with 9.2 million units valued at N44.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recovered about 0.26 per cent or N3.99 against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, January 23 after coming under pressure in recent times.
During the session, the exchange rate of the local currency to its American counterpart closed at N1,548.59/$1 in the official market compared with the previous day’s N1,552.58/$1.
Also, against the Pound Sterling, the domestic currency gained N3.32 yesterday to trade at N1,912.21/£1 compared with Wednesday’s value of N1,915.53/£1 and on the Euro, it improved by N3.82 to sell for N1,617.72/€1 versus N1,613.89/€1.
The forex market may be reacting positively to news that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would launch a FX Code, which will serve as a guideline to the banking industry to promote ethical conduct of Authorised Dealers in the Nigerian FX market, next week.
The code will further reduce speculative activities, eliminate market distortions, and give the CBN improved oversight capabilities to effectively regulate the market.
The bank noted that authorised dealers would subsequently conduct all FX transactions in the interbank FX market on the EFEMS approved by the apex bank where transactions will be reflected immediately.
However, in the black market segment, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback during the session to quote at N1,665/$1, in contrast to midweek’s rate of N1,660/$1.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was lively yesterday as attention is increasingly centered on potential policy developments under the government of President Donald Trump of the US.
On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order to ban the digital dollar and promote crypto and AI innovation in the country.
Meanwhile, the US data released recently showed the “all tenant rent” index, which leads the shelter inflation in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose at a slower pace last quarter. That has raised hopes that the US Federal Reserve will walk back on its hawkish December rate forecasts.
These helped Ethereum (ETH) gain 5.4 per cent on Thursday to sell at $3,394.79, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 4.4 per cent to $260.86, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 2.9 per cent to $1.00, and Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 2.6 per cent to $116.78.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 2.1 per cent to $1o4,978.31, Ripple (XRP) leapt by 0.7 per cent to $3.16, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 0.6 per cent to $0.3572, and Binance Coin (BNB) soared by 1.6 per cent to $710.31, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
-
Feature/OPED5 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism8 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years agoHow To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN