Economy
VAIDS Aims to Capture Four Million New Taxpayers—Adeosun
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has disclosed that Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) launched mid last year was aimed to bring in four million new tax payers into the nation’s tax net.
Mrs Adeosun made this disclosure this week when she spoke at a conference at the United Nations office in New York, where she was part of experts who discussed ways to stop Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) in Africa.
She explained that the tax amnesty was targeted at increasing the tax payer base, raising at least $1 billion revenue and regularising the tax status of many Nigerians.
“We are using technology to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the programme. Project Light House is using advanced data mining and data analytics techniques to: identify tax defaulters, establish their tax liabilities and send notifications.
“The computer software, which drives Project Lighthouse, aggregates data from multiple sources such as bank accounts, land registry records, company registration data, tax filings, customs’ records, asset ownership records, etc to identify and track tax evaders.
Commenting on IFF in Africa, the Minister affirmed that it was a problem that urgently requires global focus and actions towards the realisation of significant developmental progress for Nigeria and other developing countries.
“The IFFs are driven by the desire to hide illicit wealth, hide the proceeds away from the public eye and law enforcement agencies and also conceal the ways and means by which illicit wealth was created.
“This makes it difficult to trace the associated money flow.
“Developing countries, including Nigeria, collect significantly lower levels of tax, as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), than wealthier States. This is partly because the income and wealth being created, is taken out of the country illegally, without being taxed,” Mrs Adeosun said.
Quoting the report of former South African President Mbeki’s High-Level Panel on IFFs, the Minister said Africa loses $80 billion annually to IFFs, with a significant percentage of the loss coming from Nigeria.
She disclosed that Federal Government had engaged a leading international Asset Tracing and Investigation Agency (Kroll), to trace and track illicit flows and assets.
In addition, she said Nigeria had signed the Multilateral Competent Authority on Common Reporting Standards, which allows for exchange of financial account information.
The country, according to her, is expected to effect the first exchange by 2019 as soon as the domestic legal framework was completed.
“Nigeria has adopted the Common Reporting Standards and the Addis Tax initiative aimed at improving the fairness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the tax system.
“Furthermore, as part of open government partnership Nigeria has included in the national action plan a commitment to establish a public register of beneficial owners.
“To this end, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the custodian of Nigeria’s company registry, is pursuing relevant amendments to the Companies and Allied Matters Act to comply with global standards,” she said.
As part of measures to tackle IFFs, Mrs Adeosun called for the tightening of Nigeria’s tax codes and tax laws that encourage tax avoidance as well as strengthening of the tax system to make it more efficient.
Advocating more responsibility on the part of destination countries of IFFs, she said beneficial ownership registers should be established to allow authorities track money in financial investigations involving suspect accounts/assets held by corporate vehicles.
The Minister further called for the elimination of safe havens that provide incentives for transfer of stolen assets and illicit financial flows abroad, and also the development of a supportive, efficient and speedy process for returning assets to originating countries.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has asked retail investors interested in investing in the FGN savings bonds to begin to talk to their financial advisers.
This is because subscription for the retail bonds for March 2026 has commenced and will close on Friday, March 6, according to a circular issued by the agency on Monday.
The debt office is selling two tenors of the debt instrument, with the shorter note maturing in two years’ time and the longer maturing a year later.
Details of the notice showed that the two-year paper is being offered at a coupon of 12.906 per cent, and the three-year paper at 13.906 per cent.
Both notes are sold at a unit price of N1,000, with a minimum subscription of N5,000 and in multiples of N1,000 thereafter, subject to a maximum subscription of N50 million. They can be purchased via approved stockbroking firms in Nigeria.
The FGN savings bond qualifies as a security in which trustees may invest under the Trustee Investment Act. It also serves as government securities within the meaning of the Company Income Tax Act (CITA) and the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) for tax exemption for pension funds, amongst other investors.
It can be used as a liquid asset for liquidity ratio calculation for banks, and is listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited for trading at the secondary market.
The bond is backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and charged upon the general assets of the country.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria has broken up the OPL 245 oil block into four new assets to be operated by Eni and Shell, potentially settling the future of the field at the centre of one of the oil industry’s biggest historic corruption trials.
According to Reuters, the agreement clears the way for the development of OPL 245, one of Nigeria’s biggest deepwater reserves that has remained untapped for almost three decades amid overlapping lawsuits in multiple countries.
The final contracts are expected to be signed starting Monday, the report said, citing a source familiar with the situation.
The Nigerian government had signalled for years that it was keen to find a solution that would bring the block into production. The source wished to remain anonymous as they are not authorised to comment on government policy before an official announcement.
Located in the Niger Delta’s deepwaters, the field has languished since its initial award in 1998 to Malabu Oil and Gas, a shadowy firm controlled by Mr Dan Etete, Nigeria’s oil minister at the time. The block is estimated to hold up to 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent in reserves—enough to rival Nigeria’s entire proven reserves if fully developed.
Mr Etete controversially awarded the lucrative licence to his own company for a nominal $20 million fee, sparking immediate controversy over conflicts of interest.
The saga escalated in 2011 when Malabu sold its rights to a Shell-Eni joint venture for $1.3 billion.
Italian and Nigerian prosecutors alleged that over $1 billion of that sum was siphoned off through bribes to politicians, middlemen, and Mr Etete himself, including hefty payments to then-President Goodluck Jonathan’s associates.
The two European energy giants and some of their former and current executives, including Eni CEO, Mr Claudio Descalzi, faced trial in Italy but all were acquitted in 2021, having denied all wrongdoing.
Shell and Eni have consistently denied wrongdoing, insisting the payments complied with due diligence.
The anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has pursued parallel probes, recovering over $200 million in frozen funds, but progress stalled amid political shifts.
Operations at the Nigerian oil block have been halted for more than a decade by a series of trials and competing legal claims.
In 2023, the federal government withdrew civil claims totalling $1.1 billion against Eni, ending the long battle.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, has been increased by at least N100 per litre at the pump.
This followed the recent increase in the price of crude oil in the global market as a result of the bombardment of Iran by the United States and Israel over the weekend.
The air strikes killed the Supreme Leader of Iran, Mr Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several others.
Iran has responded by firing missiles at US facilities in some Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, and others.
Crude oil prices rose to about $80 per barrel on the market from about $70 per barrel before the Middle East crisis.
Oil marketers in Nigeria have responded to the tension and have raised the prices of petroleum products.
At most MRS Oil retail stations in Lagos, the new price notice showed an increase of about N100 per litre.
As of Monday, the price of PMS was N837 per litre, but on Tuesday morning, it had changed to N938 per litre, while at NNPC retail stations, it was N930 per litre instead of the previous N830 per litre.
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