Economy
Nigeria Working Towards 24-Hour Port Operations – NIMASA
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said it was working with stakeholders in the maritime sector on how to begin 24-hour operations at ports in the country.
This was one of the discussions at the second edition of the monthly meeting of heads of maritime parastatals held at the NIMASA headquarters on Tuesday.
The key stakeholders present at the gathering included the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), the Nigerian Shipping Council (NSC) amongst others.
According to a statement signed by NIMASA’s spokesperson, Mr Philip Kyanet, issues bordering on maritime safety and security, port efficiency, intermodal transportation, as well as synergy among agencies in the sector were also discussed.
Led by the Director-General of NIMASA, Mr Bashir Jamoh, the forum of executives of the agencies had given the maritime industry a platform to grow and contribute more to Nigeria’s economic development.
Quoting Mr Jamoh, it was noted the heads of agencies agreed to play their respective roles to facilitate the operation of 24 hours a day, seven days a week port services.
This, he said, would help to decongest the ports and tremendously impact on the Ease of Doing Business initiative of the federal government.
The meeting constituted a committee to produce a work plan for the 24-hour port system and agreed to carry communities around the port environments along in order to ensure safe operations within the port vicinities and beyond.
“We are looking at the workability of 24-hour port services to ease the pressure on our ports in terms of congestion. We also agreed to work with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) on how the movement of cargoes from the ports can be done by rail to reduce the pressure on our roads.
“Our focus is also to ensure containers are moved by barges to dry ports outside the port environments. All these would help in the efficiency and effectiveness of our ports,” he said.
Also present at the meeting, the Managing Director of NPA, Mrs Hadiza Usman, emphasized the need for an intermodal transport system in and around the port environments to reap the benefits of shipping and port activities.
She substantiated the necessary need of maritime agencies agreed to work with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to facilitate the movement of cargo from the ports by rail.
Also, the Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Mr George Moghalu, said safety formed a major part of the discussion.
He said all the maritime agencies had agreed to work together to rid the Nigerian waters of unsafe craft and practices that endanger passengers and other users of the waterways.
Executive Secretary of NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, said the new synergy among the heads of maritime agencies was a significant building block for efficient economic activities within the country’s maritime domain.
He said the ultimate aim was to make Nigeria a maritime hub in Africa through efficient and effective maritime operations and infrastructure.
The monthly meeting, which was the second in the series, was also attended by the Registrar, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (CRFFN), Mr Sam Nwakohu; and Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Mr Oron, Duja Effedua, who joined via Zoom.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) says the rollout of electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) will strengthen tax compliance, curb revenue leakages and improve transparency in tax administration as it moves to fully digitise the country’s tax system.
The Project Lead for the NRS e-Invoicing Project, Mr Mohammed Bawa, stated this at the DigiTax E-Invoicing Compliance Breakfast Session held in Lagos on Wednesday.
The event, organised by DigiTax, an NRS-accredited e-invoicing platform, formed part of efforts to support the agency’s ongoing education and sensitisation campaign on the e-invoicing mandate.
Mr Bawa said the initiative aligns with global trends in tax digitisation and is expected to help improve Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio, which remains one of the lowest in Africa.
According to him, the system will provide the NRS with greater visibility into transactions across sectors, formalise activities within the informal economy and standardise invoice formats nationwide using globally recognised invoice schemas.
He added that e-invoicing would improve operational efficiency for both businesses and tax authorities while supporting the NRS’ transition from manual and electronic tax administration processes to a fully automated system-to-system interaction model.
Mr Bawa noted that the legal framework for implementation is backed by the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, which prescribes penalties for non-compliance.
He disclosed that the NRS has completed onboarding large taxpayers and is preparing to enforce compliance with defaulting entities.
According to him, medium taxpayers are expected to begin compliance in the third quarter of 2026, while onboarding of emerging taxpayers will commence in 2027, with full adoption targeted for all taxpayers by the end of 2028.
Mr Bawa urged taxpayers yet to be onboarded onto the platform to begin the process and work with accredited service providers to ensure compliance.
On his part, Country Director of DigiTax Nigeria, Mr Olumide Akinsola, urged businesses to look beyond their internal systems and assess the compliance status of suppliers and counterparties.
He warned that businesses whose suppliers fail to transmit invoices through the MBS platform risk losing eligibility to claim Value Added Tax (VAT) input credits on such transactions, describing the resulting supply chain exposure as a significant commercial risk that many organisations have yet to quantify.
Mr Akinsola also announced the launch of DigiTax’s white paper, The State of E-Invoicing Readiness in Nigeria, which examines compliance adoption trends and the readiness gap across different taxpayer segments.
He added that DigiTax operates in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), noting that experience from those markets shows businesses that integrate early are better positioned to avoid disruptions when enforcement begins.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The names of about 100,000 companies registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) are about to be deleted for inactivity, especially for failing to file their annual tax returns, Business Post reports.
This information was disclosed by the CAC via a notice signed by its management on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
The list contains organisations like the Nigeria-Poland Chamber of Trade Invest Ltd, Alariwo of Afrika Ltd, Ovation Sports International, First Union Pension Fund Administrators, Investopedia Limited, Baptist High School Abuja Ltd, and Yobe Aluminium Manufacturing Industries Ltd, amongst others.
In the statement, the commission said its decision to strike off the names of the affected firms from the register aligns with the provisions of Section 692(3) (3) and (4) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020.
However, the affected companies can still salvage the situation by filing all outstanding annual returns and regularising their records within 90 days.
“Please note that companies that fail to comply within the stipulated timeline shall be struck off the register without further notice,” it declared, expressing its continued commitment to providing prompt and efficient registration and regulatory services to the satisfaction of its valued customers.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange gained 1.75 per cent on Wednesday, July 15, pushing the NASD Security Index (NSI) up by 74.20 points to 4,316.51 points from 4,242.31 points, as the market capitalisation added N44.54 billion to finish at N2.590 trillion compared with the preceding session’s N2.546 trillion.
During the session, there was an 11.5 per cent rise in the value of transactions at midweek to N72.7 million from the preceding session’s N65.2 million, as there was a 3.7 per cent growth in the number of deals to 28 deals from the previous session’s 27 deals, while the volume of securities slumped by 64.5 per cent to 4.9 million units from 13.7 million units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended as the most active security by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, with the second spot occupied by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc after selling 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and the third position was taken by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which exchanged 74.3 million units for N5.3 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was negative yesterday, as there were two price gainers and three price losers.
11 Plc added N22.36 to its value to close at N250.00 per share versus N227.64 per share, and CSCS Plc improved by N7.95 to N90.35 per unit from N82.40 per unit.
On the flip side, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.37 to end at N150.00 per share versus N151.37 per share, UBN Property Plc depreciated by 6 Kobo to N1.75 per unit from N1.81 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc dropped 1 Kobo to close at N2.49 per share versus N2.50 per share.
