₦airaland Forum

THE Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Exchange Limited, Temi Popoola, has commended Access Holding Plc’s contribution to the Nigerian growth story and assured NGX’s commitment to collaborating with institutions driving growth in the Nigerian economy.

He said this during the closing gong ceremony hosted by NGX to commemorate the Access Holdings’ successful restructuring into a holding company structure, and the listing of 35.545bn ordinary shares of Access Holdings Plc on NGX on Thursday.

The chief executive officer noted that the Exchange was proud to be part of the progress that Access Holdings had successfully achieved over the past 20 years.

He assured the stakeholders the company would find a worthy partner in the Exchange as it commenced its new journey.




Speaking at the event, the Chairman, NGX, Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, congratulated the board of directors and executive management of Access Holdings and the parties to the transaction, Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited, Coronation Securities Limited, Aluko & Oyebode, and Africa Law Practice NG & Company.

He said, “NGX has emerged from a recent restructuring and is better positioned to support our stakeholders in their quest to raise long-term capital.

“The Exchange is better positioned to lead government advocacy efforts for listed companies, promote technology advancement and digital innovation for the capital market, and increase retail investor participation in the capital market aimed at building a market for the future and addressing the prevailing challenge of financial inclusion.



“We welcome Access Holdings Plc to a renewed NGX and look forward to deepening our collaboration to develop and push for disruptive, out-of-the-box ideas financial products that will dimension the next curve for the capital market.”

Delivering his remarks, Chairman, Access Holdings Plc, Mr Bababode Osunkoya, said, “The significance of this event as our first external engagement as Access Holdings Plc is not lost on us.


“Access Holdings Plc is an evolutionary expression for us which signifies our moving away from what was known as Access Bank into a financial institution.

“We acknowledge the impact of our collaboration with The Exchange over the years and we look forward to continuing this mutually beneficial partnership to take Nigeria and Africa to the world.”

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Investors recorded a slight gain of N1.7bn at the end of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange on Wednesday.

The NGX All-Share Index rose from 48,568.57 basis points oto 48,571.75 basis points, while the market capitalisation of equities listed on the NGX rose from N26.183tn to N26.185.

Eighteen companies recorded gains at the end of trading on Wednesday, while the equities of 23 companies depreciated in price.
A total of 246.7 million shares valued at N2.32bn were traded by investors in 5,033 deals.

Academy and Wema Bank topped the gainers’ list as their share prices rose by 9.92 per cent and 9.88 per cent to N1.33 kobo and N3.67 kobo each; while Cadbury and UPDC’s share prices rose by 9.68 per cent and 9.09 per cent to N8.50 kobo and 0.96 kobo, respectively.

Ikeja Hotels and Lickstock topped the losers’ list as their share prices fell by 9.68 per cent and 9.5 per cent to N1.40 kobo and N1.62 kobo, while Chi Plc and Union Bank’s share prices fell by 9.38 per cent and 6.25 per cent to 58 kobo and N6.00 kobo, respectively.

Cordros Capital research said, “For most of today’s session, the Nigerian equities market traded quietly; however, gains recorded in BUACEMENT (+1.0 per cent) and Guiness (+7.5 per cent) ensured the market closed higher amid profit-taking on some banking names.

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There are indications that Twitter’s agreement with the Nigerian government will be reviewed in the months as Elon Musk sealed a takeover deal with the firm yesterday at a transaction value of $44 billion.

Musk had earlier proposed to buy Twitter for $43 billion in cash, which he called his “best and final” offer for the social media company.

Musk yesterday struck a deal to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, in a victory by the world’s richest man to take over the premium social network.


Recalled that last June, the Federal Government had banned Twitter operations in Nigeria. Nigeria suspended the social media platform after it deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Federal Government accused Twitter of being sympathetic to secessionists.

However, after 222 days (seven months) and economic losses of about N546.5 billion, the Federal Government yielded to pressure, lifting the ban.

The FG said the ban was lifted after Twitter agreed to its demands, which include the microblogging platform registering in the country, appointing a designated country representative, complying with tax obligations in Nigeria; enrolling Nigeria in its portal for direct communications between government officials and representatives to manage prohibited content that violates Twitter community rules and respecting extant local laws.

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had said that Twitter would open its Nigerian office within the first quarter of 2022. Almost a month into the second quarter, nothing of such seems to be in the pipeline.

Telecoms analyst, Kehinde Aluko, said there could be a need for the firm to review its agreement with Nigeria, should Musk eventually take over the firm and reshuffle the board as envisaged.

“Of course, whenever there are any management changes, many things come under review. I won’t be surprised if Musk, when he takes over the firm, calls for a review of existing agreements, including that of Nigeria. Twitter also had an issue with China, Russia, North Korea, Myanma, among others. Let us keep our fingers crossed till the deal is sealed,” he stated.

Executive Secretary, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Ajibola Olude: “Now that the management will change if Elon Musk buys Twitter, he may call for the review of the agreement the social media platform had with the Nigerian government if he thinks that the agreement will not promote the business of Twitter.”

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More than 100 people have been killed following an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in Nigeria's southern state of Imo, official and local sources said.
More than 100 people have been killed following an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in Nigeria's southern state of Imo, official and local sources said.
The explosion occurred late Friday at the illegal oil refinery in Egbema local government area, a boundary area between the southern states of Imo and Rivers, an official added on Saturday, confirming more than 100 killed so far, Xinhua news agency reported.
There was a fire outbreak at an illegal bunkering site affecting over 100 people burned beyond recognition," Goodluck Opiah, the Commissioner for Petroleum resources in Imo, told Xinhua.
Opiah said unidentified burned bodies littered the area, disclosing that the government had already declared wanted the operator of the illegal oil refinery, who is said to be currently absconding.
The explosion was suddenly heard in the forest between the states of Imo and Rivers, with thick smoke engulfing the entire area, according to Collins Ajie, a community leader and President-General of the Supreme Council of Oil and Gas Producing Areas in Imo.
"It is unfortunate; a tragedy no one dreamed of where about 108 burned bodies have been counted so far," Ajie told Xinhua by telephone.
Such illegal oil refineries operate by tapping crude oil from pipelines owned by oil companies and distilled into products in improvised tanks.
Oil pipeline vandalism and oil theft are frequently reported in Nigeria, causing huge economic losses.

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Despite presence of few local seafarers in the maritime sector, Nigeria has continued to lose its qualified seafarers to other nations due to its stringent tax laws.

This is partly, because, while seafarers in some maritime domains across the world are exempted from paying taxes since the World trade and globalization depend on them, Nigeria appears to be the only country in the world where seafarers are subjected to compulsory taxes and pension before receiving their salaries.

We learnt that this is the reason qualified seafarers now prefer foreign shipping companies to the domestic shipping firms.

A typical example is the Nigeria LNG Ship Management Limited (NSML), a subsidiary of Nigeria LNG Limited.

Speaking during an annual conference, with the theme: “NLNG Vessels Movement and Challenges organised by the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria (SCAN) in collaboration with NLNG, the Fleet Manager, NSML, Hambali Yusuf, said said that Nigeria is losing so many seafarers to foreign countries due to tax issue, adding that in India, there are exceptions to tax payments for seafarers.

According to him, this problem has seen many top seafarers jettison the NLNG shipping after attaining global status.

He explained: “In India, if you are not in the country for seven months, you won’t pay any tax. But in Nigeria, if you are not around for a whole year, you are still going to pay taxes and you know the tax es are graded depending on your grade.

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“If you are a seafarer, and you see where you can go and be paid fully without tax being deducted, won’t you like to go there?”

He said that there is a need for advocacy to let the government know how these things are done outside the country.

“There needs to be advocacy to let the government know what is obtainable elsewhere. Some international seafarers don’t border for pensions.

“Imagine that you’re a seafarer and Company A will pay you $100 monthly and Company B in Nigeria will also pay $100 but deduct certain percentage as pension and certain percentage as tax. You’ll definitely want to work with company A where you get all your money. It’s only in Nigeria that seafarers pay taxes.

“In India, seafarers would spend over seven months on sea and taxes will be waived but Nigerian seafarers spend the whole year and still pay taxes and pension,” he said.

He said that in Nigeria, pensions are deducted in Dollars but paid back to them in Naira.
Managing Director, NSML, Abdulkadir Ahmed, said company is vigorously implementing the Seafarers Continuous Development Program (SCDP), in conjunction with NIMASA, to ensure development and continuous supply of certified, competent, and qualified Nigerian seafarers

According to him, the over 107 Nigerians have successfully completed their training under the Maritime Centre of Excellence (MCoE).

Meanwhile, he said the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Ship Management Limited, Bonny Terminal, has been the first port in sub-Saharan Africa to be certified as the Ecoport Port Environmental Review System (PERS) certification.

He added that the Ecoport Port Environmental Review System (PERS) certification is the only port sector specific environmental management standard, mainly achieved by leading ports, terminals globally.

However, he explained that as part of the services, MCoE was saddled with the responsibility of administering the Seafarers Continuous Development Programme (SCDP); an NSML scheme aimed at providing training berth spaces for Nigerian cadets onboard the NSML-managed vessels.

“The MCoE is also currently supervising the construction of a newbuild LPG vessel of a Nigerian company in the Hyundai Mipo Shipyard in Korea. This is a further testament of NSML’s capabilities of delivering complex maritime projects to the overall benefits of her clients-specifically- and the nation generally.

“NSML’s success stories, anchored on the core values of Professionalism, Teamwork, Efficiency and Caring, all point to the steady and remarkable progress in the last 12-years since it commenced operations.”

Ahmed stressed that NSML was strategically positioned to ensure that it continues to play a leading and enabling role in the global maritime sector, enhancing the business of NLNG as a primary stakeholder and by extension the global energy market. On paucity of qualified and competent officers globally, Ahmed noted that there was a global shortage of skilled officers in the maritime industry.

He said: “Industry sources point to an increasing demand for qualified seafarers, particularly the officers, and this situation is expected to persist into the future. Diminishing attractiveness of a career at sea, coupled with rising man-berth ratios and a continued fleet growth is likely to result in the highest shortfall of officers in the coming years.”

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Nigeria’s crude oil production crashed by 744,000 barrels in March 2021 when compared to what the country produced in the preceding month of April, figures released on Tuesday by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, showed.

In OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report for April 2022, the organisation outlined the oil production volumes of its member nations and allies, as it revealed that the output from Nigeria dropped in March.

An analysis of the document by our correspondent showed that Nigeria’s oil production dropped from the 1.378 million barrels per day recorded in February 2021 to 1.354 million barrels per day in March, indicating a daily plunge of 24,000 barrels of crude oil.

This implies that for the 31 days in March, the country’s oil production dropped by a total of 744,000 barrels, despite the current financial crisis confronting the Nigerian economy.

Further analysis of the report showed that the country’s oil production had been falling since January this year.

It was observed that while the country produced 1.413 million barrels of crude oil daily in January, this dropped to 1.378 million barrels per day in February and plunged further to 1.354 million barrels per day in March.

The situation confirmed concerns by both government officials and International Oil Companies operating in Nigeria that crude oil production in the country had been on the decline since 2021.

This, they said, was due to the massive oil theft that had bedeviled the sector since January 2021 till date, though they noted that efforts were ongoing to address the issue.

On March 24, 2022, for instance, The PUNCH reported that the total value of Nigeria’s crude oil stolen between January 2021 and February 2022 was about $3.27bn (representing N1.361tn at the official exchange rate of N416.25 to the dollar), according figures from the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

International oil companies and their counterparts in Nigeria also stated recently that the massive oil theft across the country posed a threat to not just their existence, but to the Nigerian economy.

But the NNPC’s Group Managing Direction, Mele Kyari, had announced recently that measurable outcomes against the massive crude oil theft in the Niger Delta would be visible in three weeks’ time.

Kyari had said, “As we speak now there is a massive disruption to our operations as a result of the activities of vandals and criminals along our pipelines in the Niger Delta area.

“This has brought down our production to levels as low as we have never seen before. Today we are doing less than 1.5 million barrels per day simply because some criminals have decided that they should have some infractions on our pipelines.”

Nigeria’s oil production quota by OPEC has revolved around 1.8 million barrels per day. The country has repeatedly missed this target due to oil theft.

“And that clearly is the biggest form of business disruption that we are facing today,” the NNPC boss had stated.

He added, “This kind of engagement, the certifications that we have today around our systems and processes should be able to respond to this. And part of the response is to bring in the best framework possible to contain this situation.

“I’m happy to tell us that enormous work is going on between us and the Federal Government recognised security agencies, our partners, particularly those on the corridors that are impacted and also the community members.

“And I’m very optimistic that within the next two to three weeks some very measurable outcomes will come so that our businesses will continue. As we speak now, the Nigerian Navy is launching a massive operation to contain oil theft in the Niger Delta.”

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The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Muhammad Nami, has said that with the prevailing challenges in the country, the economy required right financial and fiscal policy interventions. Nami, who disclosed this during the inauguration of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers’ Academy,

explained that the establishment of the Academy came at the right time. He noted that the CIS Academy would be the frontier of knowledge, skills and competence needed at this cruel time to cope with the increasing digital revolution and competitiveness in the business landscape. He predicted that the Academy would improve the performance of the Nigerian economy.

According to him, it is expected that the CIS Academy will set and maintain high standards, for capacity development not only for practitioners in the investment and securitas market in Nigeria but for all workforces in the financial public sector of our economy.

The Academy is expected to deliver high standard structured professional and post-graduate training for capital market operators, investors and the general public. In his goodwill message, the Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Yuguda Lamido, who was represented by the Director, Lagos Zonal office of the Commission Mrs. Hafsat Rufai, commended the management of CIS for the establishment of the Academy.

According to him, since its establishment in 1990, the CIS has been an important contributor to the development of the Nigerian capital market with giant stride in building and maintaining its pride of place, providing training and certifications for Securities and Investment professionals in the market and the financial services sector.

“Today’s event, yet marks another important milestone in the institute‘s drive to reposition itself to more effectively and efficiently meet the knowledge and competences needs of current and old-age finance professionals, including members and non-members of the Institute,” he said.




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The claimants say Aiteo has failed to pay back $2 billion it borrowed from them, but the oil firm claims no responsibility after declaring force majeure.

A high court in England has ruled that Shell Plc, Africa Finance Corporation, and seven Nigerian banks have established their right to block Aiteo Eastern E&P Company Limited from taking legal action when a suit initiated by them against the oil firm has not been resolved.

The verdict approving the “final anti-suit injunction” was delivered on April 1, according to court documents seen by.

Aiteo had urged the court to set aside the interim anti-suit injunction that had been granted ex parte. An anti-suit injunction is an order of a court restraining a party from commencing a legal action in relation to a dispute subject to an ongoing arbitration.

The claimants are Africa Finance Corporation, a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Nigeria, Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited, and several Nigerian banks including Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Fidelity Bank plc, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank plc, Sterling Bank plc, Union Bank of Nigeria plc, and Zenith Bank plc.

Outstanding Debt
The case concerns a debt allegedly owed by Aiteo to the nine claimants. Details seen show that based on two agreements dated September 2, 2014, Aiteo borrowed some US$2 billion from the lenders in order to purchase an interest in Nigerian oil fields and facilities. They include Shell’s OPL 29.

About 75 per cent of that funding came from AFC and the banks, regarded as “the onshore lenders”, via a Nigerian-law governed facility agreement known as “the Onshore Facility Agreement”. The rest came from Shell in the form of vendor financing via an English-law governed agreement and was dubbed “the Offshore Facility Agreement”.

In October 2018, the parties began to correspond in relation to sums which the lenders said were due to them from the borrower. On August 19, 2019, the lenders alleged certain breaches of the agreements and asked the borrower to remedy them. On September 10, 2019, the borrower denied that any sums were due in a letter addressed to the lenders.

On October 23, 2019 the lenders’ Nigerian lawyers, Aluko & Oyebode, sent a letter demanding payment of the outstanding debt within seven days.

Eight days later, Aiteo commenced proceedings against the lenders (and four other parties) in the Nigerian Federal High Court, asking the court to declare that it was not liable as alleged in the demand letter.

understands that the basis of the claim concerned allegations of force majeure which led to requests by the borrower to restructure the facility agreements. Force majeure is an unforeseeable circumstances that prevent a party from fulfilling a contract. The borrower argued that since the lenders refused to restructure, there was no default.

Aiteo subsequently obtained an injunction in from the Nigerian court restraining the banks from taking legal action and “…acting in any way or manner or taking any step to interfere with the res of this dispute by giving effect to the content of the [Demand Letter], or taking any step to enforce any right in respect of alleged indebtedness of the plaintiff (being contested and disputed in this suit)”.

The court injunction also restrained the banks from “…acting on or taking any step pursuant to or in furtherance of the [Demand Letter], from taking over, obstructing, or interfering in any way or manner howsoever with the running of the business of the Plaintiff…”.

The banks appealed against the court injunctions, and sought an order dismissing the borrower’s suit.

Both parties have since engaged in commercial negotiations over the alleged debt. In one of its written evidence, the claimants argued that the loans, being in “extremely large amounts”, were “systemically important loans within the Nigerian banking system” and “represent significant credits on the books of the Onshore Lenders and a default under the loans would be a very serious matter for each Lender”.

The court documents stated that no progress was made with the Notice of Appeal for a number of reasons. In early 2020 there were two adjournments, and between 24 March 2020 and 4 May 2020, court sittings were suspended on account of COVID 19. The high court and court of appeal only returned to full operation on September 28, 2020, it stated.

By October 2020, one of the claimants said that it was becoming clear to all the lenders that the negotiations were stalling and although some lenders continued to hope that they would be successful, others began to doubt that there would be a successful restructuring.

On November 23, 2020, an attempt by the CEO of Sterling Bank, one of the lenders, to break the impasse with the borrower failed.


Subsequently, in December 2020, the lenders prepared arbitration proceedings and an arbitration claim in the English court seeking an anti-suit injunction.

Arguments
In the UK court judgement, the judge noted that the commencement of proceedings in the High Court of Nigeria by the borrower seeking declarations of non-liability was a breach of the arbitration agreement in the Onshore Facility Agreement and the continuation of those proceedings was a breach of the arbitration agreement in the Offshore Facility Agreement.

After considering arguments from lawyers of both parties, the judge noted that the Nigerian Court of Appeal has recently dismissed the borrower’s application for injunction restraining the lenders from proceeding with the London arbitrations.

“That dismissal sits unhappily with the suggestion that the Lender’s Notice of Appeal had caused the Lenders to have lost their right to arbitrate,” the judgement reads in part.

With regard to the Offshore Facility Agreement, the court found that there has been no waiver of the right to arbitrate and that decision binds the borrower and the sixth claimant. It follows that the borrower remained in breach of the arbitration agreement in the Offshore Facility Agreement in December 2020, the judge noted.

“Thus, there is in the present case a clear case of a breach of the agreements to arbitrate. The court will in such a case grant an anti-suit injunction unless there are strong reasons for not doing so,” the judge declared.


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Nigerian stocks retreated by 0.33 per cent in value on Monday as investors were reluctant to plough in money into equities, with bank shares being the worst for it.

Yet, investors’ disinclination for financial services stocks is just one piece out of a bundle as the broader index is equally marked by a liquidity squeeze, which has been making shares a hard sell for days, with the liquidity, with the liquidity that made the market comparatively buoyant at the beginning of the year steadily fading out.

Zenith Bank, UBA and FBN Holdings drove the pullback. The failure of many companies that have posted impressive earnings results and declared good dividends and bonuses to draw buyers to their shares underscores the limit to which strong corporate performance and improved shareholders’ compensation could boost share prices.

“We expect the equities market to remain relatively lull as investors continue to take profits off the table especially in the absence of any expected positive trigger,” analysts at United Capital said.

“We note that the market is approaching oversold territory which could spark some short-term bargain hunting.”

The upside of Monday’s could be found in the market breadth, which closed in the positive, with 22 gainers compared 19 decliners.

The all-share index slid 155.01 points to at 46,687.9 while market capitalisation scaled down to N25.2 trillion.
The index has gained 9.3 per cent since the year began.

TOP FIVE GAINERS
Red Star Express led gainers, appreciating by 10 per cent to close at N2.97. NAHCO rose 9.79 per cent to N4.71.

Meyer grew by 9.72 per cent to end trade at N0.79. Veritas Kapital went up 9.52 per cent to N0.23. UPDC traded up 9.21 per cent to N0.83.

TOP FIVE LOSERS
Regal Insurance declining by 9.68 per cent to close at N0.28. Japaul Gold shed 8.82 per cent to end trade at N0.31.

Wapic fell to N0.41, losing 6.82 per cent in the process. WAPCO slumped to N22, recording a 6.78 per cent depreciation. Linkage Assurance closed at N0.47, going down by 6 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES
Altogether, 219.5 million shares estimated at N1.9 billion were traded in 5,168 deal

Transcorp was the most active stock with 28.9 million of its shares worth N28.5 million traded in 176 deals. Fidelity traded 23.5 million shares priced at N80 million in 266 transactions.

UBA had 15.1 million shares valued at N113.7 million exchange hands in 220 deals. Zenith traded 12.6 million shares estimated at N278.4 million in 455 transactions.

Access Holdings traded 12 million shares valued at N116.2 million in 202 deals.

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Agba noted that his Ministry, in line with its mandate and Presidential approval, has reached an advanced stage in the development of Nigeria Agenda 2050.

While commending the FIRS for achieving a collection feat in 2021 with its over 100 per cent target and crossing N6.405 trillion tax revenue thresholds for the first time in the history of Nigeria, Agba said the task of improving Nigeria’s tax revenue collection and funding position was urgent and a task that must be done without fail.


In his keynote address at the retreat, with the theme: “Consolidating on the Gains of the FIRS Reforms: 2019 to Date”, the minister observed that financing of the National Development Plan (NDP) would rely heavily on domestic resource mobilisation, especially from non-oil revenue sources.

According to him, the revenue profile of the government has been seriously challenged in the recent past due to multiple factors.

For instance, Agba noted that aggregate investment in exploration declined from $525billion in 2019 to $341b in 2021, while investment in wind, solar and other renewable sources is soaring.


“FIRS has the onerous task of improving Nigeria’s revenue situation. There is a need for everyone to work as a team to achieve the set goals”, he added.

For its part, the Federal Government has put in place the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI) and the annual Finance Act to mobilise domestic funds necessary for human capital and infrastructure development that are both drivers and enablers of sustainable economic growth and development incremental changes to the tax laws via the annual Finance Act.

The Executive Chairman of FIRS, Mohammad M. Nami, said the two-day corporate retreat aimed at bringing all members of the establishment to sit together, reflect, motivate one another and streamline individual strengths of members towards shared objectives.

President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Adesina Adedayo, reiterated that taxation remained a sustainable tool for economic development, adding that the system of administration and collection should be improved by leveraging technology.

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Determined to ensure gender equality, Heirs Insurance Limited, has launched a motor insurance plan for women, named Her Motor Plan.

The plan offers its subscribers 24-hour road rescue and vehicle repair services.

Speaking during the launch in Lagos on Thursday, the Managing Director, Heirs Insurance, Dr. Adaobi Nwakuche, said that the plan comes with access to an exclusive community of like-minded businesswomen.

According to her, the plan is the outcome of the extensive research the company has conducted to understand the lapses in the industry.

Nwakuche stressed the importance of inclusion for women in the quest to deepen insurance penetration expressing confidence that the new product will champion this cause.
“Women face several challenges at work, home and generally in the society yet they stand strong. This is what we are celebrating with Her Motor Insurance Plan. We believe that the drive of women should not be hindered by the challenges they face. Through this launch, we emphasize our commitment to making insurance accessible to everyone. Our message to all women is simple, keep driving, keep moving”

Meanwhile in her welcome remark, the Chief Marketing Officer, Heirs Insurance, Ifesinachi Okpagu, noted that the product further emphasises the company’s overall ambition of creating products that offer value and make better the lives of customers.

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Following gains recorded by MTN Nigeria and 15 other stocks, yesterday, the capital market rebounded after two days of bearish trading, as market capitalisation increased by N33 billion.

The all-share index (ASI) inched higher by 61.39 absolute points, representing an increase of 0.13 per cent to close at 46,904.48 points, while the overall market capitalisation value gained to close at N25.279 trillion.

The market gain was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; MTNN, Eterna, Ardova, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and Ikeja Hotel.


GTI Securities Limited said: “The market recovered slightly yesterday after two days of losses. As Inflationary pressures persist, investors appear indecisive in their trading activities and might tend to tilt towards the fixed income market as yields rise. We expect to witness mixed sentiment in the coming trading days.”

Vetiva Dealing and Brokerage said; “Despite the slight recoveries seen in some of the sectors today, the market continues to trade bearish as sell-off activities outweigh demand, especially in the banking sector (NGXBNK down 593bps WTD). In tomorrow’s session, we expect the market to trade mixed with a chance of recovery in the banking sector given this week’s negative activity.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 16 stocks gained, while 15 others constituted the losers’ chart.

Cornerstone Insurance and Ikeja Hotel recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at 66 kobo and N1.32 respectively, while Eterna followed with a gain of 9.82 per cent to close at N5.48 kobo.

Meyer Plc rose by 9.09 per cent each to close at 60 kobo, while Chams appreciated by five per cent to close at 21 kobo.


On the other hand, Cadbury Nigeria led the losers’ chart by 6.67 per cent, to close at N8.40 kobo. Japaul Gold and Ventures followed with a decline of 5.88 per cent to close at 32 kobo, while PZ Cussons Nigeria declined by 5.36 per cent to close at N10.60 kobo.

Royal Exchange shed 5.22 per cent to close at N1.09, while Wapic Insurance and Multiverse Mining and Exploration depreciated by 4.17 per cent each to close at 46 kobo and 23 kobo respectively.

However, the total volume traded declined by 6.1 per cent to 201.28 million units, valued at N2.62 billion, and exchanged in 4,017 deals. Transactions in the shares of ETI topped the activity chart with 61.89 million shares valued at N742.03 million. Access Holdings followed with 29.47 million shares worth N294.92 million, while Zenith Bank traded 15.836 million shares valued at N361.8 million.

Fidelity Bank traded 11.373 million shares valued at N35.64 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 9.84 million shares worth N9.81 million.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Nigeria and other developing economies to raise significant amounts of revenue from personal income tax.

The tax—levied on wages, salaries, and other income—is a suitable instrument for revenue generation in developing countries where many people earn a living at low incomes, the IMF said in a blogpost titled ‘Personal Income Tax Has Untapped Potential in Poorer Countries.’

The Washington-based lender added that PIT is a suitable instrument for countries aiming to achieve a durable economic recovery from the pandemic.

In addition to bringing in revenue, the IMF said that tax “is progressive—imposing steeper rates on those with a higher income—and reduces inequality measurably.”

In most emerging market and low-income countries, the IMF said, such taxes are still in their infancy.

“Revenue from this source averages only 2.5 percent of GDP in these countries, in part because of their narrow tax base, and it does little to lessen inequality,” it said.

“But gradual changes have been taking place. In the two decades preceding the pandemic, income tax revenue more than doubled in low-income countries, rising from the equivalent of 1 percent of GDP to 2.1 percent, while emerging markets saw an increase from 2.1 percent to 3.1 percent.

“These were also reflected in (the) share of the tax in overall tax intake, which went from 5 percent to 8 percent of total tax revenue in low-income countries and from 9 percent to 11 percent in emerging markets.”

The IMF said that policy changes have targeted top and bottom statutory rates as well as the level of exempt income, even though it hasn’t contributed much to the increase in revenue in low-income countries.

“And in emerging market economies, this shift has sometimes actually reduced revenue. This is the case in part because many emerging markets have introduced flat tax systems with low rates and those with progressive schedules have reduced rates over the last two decades,” it said.

“Economic variables, on the other hand, played a very important role. We looked at increases in per capita incomes and the size of the public-sector wage bill and the reduction in the size of the informal sector, as measured by the share of self-employed workers in the labor force and the share of agriculture in the economy.

“These developments have clearly been the driving force behind the growth in personal income tax revenues. As economies develop, we can expect this tax to take on greater importance.”

The IMF added that improvements in tax administration also potentially play a role in boosting revenues, though that also extends to other taxes.

The accelerated shift into digitalized services because of the pandemic can pave the way for better income tax design and enforcement, it added.

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Transactions on the equities market on Monday closed negative, due to selloffs in some stocks mainly in the banking industry.

The selloffs were in stocks of Unity Bank, FCMB, Zenith Bank, NPF Microfinance Bank (NPFMFB), Caverton and Transcorp.

The NGX-ASI dropped by 0.15 per cent to close at 46,893.86 points from 46,964.23 points recorded on Friday, representing Year-to-Date (YtD) of 9.78 per cent decrease.

Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N38 billion to close at N25.273 trillion from N25.311 trillion traded on Friday.

A breakdown of the price movement chart shows 18 gainers against 16 losers.

Beta Glass led the gainers’ table in percentage terms increasing by 9.92 per cent to N52.95 per share.

PZ followed with 9.68 per cent to close at N9.30, while Livestock Feeds added 9.03 per cent to close at N1.55 per share.



Linkage Assurance gained eight per cent to 50k, while Jaiz Bank was up by 6.06 per cent to close at 66k per share.

Niger Insurance increased by 4.76 per cent to 21k per share, while Multiverse gained 5.35 per cent to close at 23k per share.

Conversely, Learn Africa shed 9.68 per cent to close at N2.17, while Unity Bank trailed with 8.16 per cent to close at 49k per share.


Caverton dipped 7.09 per cent to close at N1.27, while First City Monument Bank (FCMB) dropped 6.89 per cent to N3.34 per share.

Similarly, Transcorp was down by 6.54 per cent to close at N1.07 per share.

Japaul Gold and NPFMFB shed 6.06 per cent and 5.98 per cent to close at 33k and N2.51 respectively.

Also, the volume of shares traded increased by 103.2 per cent with an exchange of 359.89 million shares valued at N2.61 billion in 5,163 deals.


This was against a total of 177.09 million shares worth N4.18 billion in 3,873 deals achieved on Friday.

However, the total volume traded rose by 11.00 per cent to 1.289 billion shares worth N7.919 billion, and traded in 4,735 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Transcorp topped the activity chart with 92 million shares valued at N92.76 million.

Sterling Bank followed with 50.738 million shares worth N76.62 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 46.68 million shares valued at N153. 61 million.

Linkage Assurance traded 30. 51 million shares valued at N15.27 million, while Access Corporation transacted 15.46 million shares worth N156.40 million.

(NAN)

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Africa Prudential recorded significant success in its diversification into digital technology solutions provider in 2021 while reinventing its traditional registrar business.

These were among the key messages delivered by the company’s leadership at its ninth yearly general meeting held in Abuja on the 23rd of March, 2022.

Despite significant macroeconomic headwinds, including double-digit inflation and a weaker naira, the company recorded 71 per cent growth in registrar maintenance fees in 2021 while adding 19 new clients in the associated business line.

Over the same period, Africa Prudential hit significant milestones in its digital technology business, culminating in a 58 per cent rise in revenues in the business line.

Overall, gross revenues increased by 0.4 per cent to N3.5 billion despite the 12 per cent decline in interest income as the non-interest income lines strengthened. Profit before tax (PBT) was up 1.3 per cent to N2 billion while the firm maintained its dividend payout at 50 kobo per share for the year 2021, the same payment it paid in 2020.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Eniola Fadayomi, said: “Amid a slow economic recovery but still challenging business environment, the 2021 performance reflects the impact of deliberate efforts to diversify the business and to deploy business solutions to strengthen our business and that of our clients for superior value creation. We look forward to recording greater success in this regard in the coming years”.

During the 2021 fiscal year, Africa Prudential made further investments and partnerships to broaden and deepen its service offering.

It launched its Biometric Identification Management Solution as its latest offering, enabling a wide range of companies to capture and authenticate the biometric information of their customers.

The company also launched the Reddeals platform, which aggregates discounted deals on a web-based platform. Commenting on the 2021 performance, CEO of Africa Prudential, Obong Idiong, said: “The 2021 performance provides further evidence of the success of our evolution as a business solutions provider even as we strengthen our traditional Registrar Business for superior value creation to our customers. Revenue from digital technology business has risen from one percent of total revenues in 2019 to 18 percent in 2021, amid an expanding clientele across the public and private sector space.

“Meanwhile, we are using technology to redefine the experience of customers in our Registrar Business and this underpinned new customer acquisition in the past year. We continue to challenge business leaders to imagine a future where they can recalibrate their business for growth, efficiency and the rapidly evolving competitive landscape and look forward to helping them build the tools that they require to get there.”

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Nigerian stocks headed back to the negative territory on Thursday as the benchmark index contracted 0.43 per cent after a momentary recovery at the previous session.

Investors took to dumping financial services stocks just a day after their buy interest in the same set of equities lifted the broad index for the first in one week even though the upward movement could hardly pass for a rise. GTCO, Zenith and NGX Group led the retreat.

Thursday’s slide marks the weakest level reached by Nigerian stocks since January 31, and the new low is the culmination of a liquidity squeeze that has set daily transaction volume on a free fall lately, more evident in the 20 per cent drop on Thursday alone.

“This week, we expect to see the last of Q1 rallies as investors will purchase stocks for remaining on the register for dividend payments,” said analysts at broker United Capital in an outlook note for this week seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

“However, we expect the equity market to trade relatively sideways in the coming week,” they added.

Market breadth, an indicator of investor sentiment towards trade, was positive as 16 advancers were reported relative to 15 losers.

The all-share index edged down 202.32 basis points to 46,961.62, while market capitalisation dwindled to N25.3 trillion.

TOP FIVE GAINERS
Veritas Kapital led gainers, appreciating by 9.52 per cent to close at N0.23. FCMB grew by 7.46 per cent to end trade at N3.60. Custodian went up by 7.14 per cent to N7.50. Oando rose to N5, notching up 6.38 per cent in the process. GSK completed the top 5, climbing up by 6.06 per cent to N0.70.

TOP FIVE LOSERS
GTCO declined by 11.54 per cent to close at N23. RT Briscoe fell to N0.65, losing 9.72 per cent in the process. Consolidated Hallmark dipped to N0.60, recording 9.09 per cent depreciation. Sterling Bank shed 3.80 per cent to end trade at N1.52. Flour Mills closed at N31, going down by 3.12 per cent.

TOP 5 TRADES
A total of 214.7 million shares estimated at N2.6 billion were traded in 4,003 deals.
Transcorp traded 48.3 million shares worth N157.3 million in 228 deals. GTCO shares of 26.1 million units, priced at 607 million, exchanged hands in 689 transactions. Zenith Bank had 20.2 million shares valued at N540.4 million traded in 513 deals. UBA traded 18.3 million shares estimated at N139.7 million in 170 transactions. Custodian Investment traded 17.5 million shares valued at N210 million in 16 deals.


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The House of Representatives has passed for second reading a bill to establish a regulatory framework for tech startups in Nigeria.

The bill, an executive bill sent to the House of Representatives on March 3 by President Muhammadu Buhari, seeks to provide the legal framework for the operation of tech startups in the country.

Section 31(1) of the bill proposes 35 per cent tax holiday for eligible employees of start-ups in Nigeria for a period of two years from the day of engagement.

“An eligible employee of a labelled startup shall be entitled to personal income tax exemption of 35% on the income of the employee for a period of two years from the date of engagement by a labelled startup,” the section reads.

The bill was considered on Tuesday by the lawmakers and passed for second reading.

The bill is coming amidst the revelation of abuse of workers by some major startups in Nigeria.

On Monday, Tech Cabal, had published a story on the working conditions at a leading fintech, Benzo Africa.

The story had caused outrage on Twitter, as employees of some of the major tech companies revealed their experiences in those companies. #Toxicworkplace was trending on Twitter on Monday and currently trending at number 8.

However, this bill is silent on working conditions in the tech sector.

Highlights of the bill
The bill seeks to create National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship with the mandate to provide the policy direction for the council, which includes the creation of the Startup Support and Engagement Portal.

According to section 10(2a) of the bill, startups in Nigeria must get permit and licence from the council to operate in Nigeria.

Section 13 of the bill provides the criteria for a company to be labelled a startup.

A startup is eligible for labelling under this Act, where –

(a) it is registered as a limited liability company under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, and has been in existence for a period of not more than 10 years from the date of incorporation;

(b) its objects are innovation, development, production, improvement, and commercialisation of a digital technology innovative product or process;


(c) it is a holder or repository of a product or process of digital technology or the owner or author of a registered software;

(d) it has at least one Nigerian as a founder or co-founder of the startup, provided that the Nigerian founder or co-founder will share from profit or revenue from the sale of shares; and


(e) In the case of a sole proprietorship or partnership, it satisfies the conditions set out in paragraphs(b), (c) and (d) of this sub-section.

Section 17 of the bill provides the process of withdrawal of the licence of a startup.

The bill also seeks to create a startup investment seed fund to be managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.

The fund is to provide a labelled startup with finance, provide early-stage finance for a labelled startup and provide relief to technology laboratories, accelerators, incubators and hubs.

Section 25 of the bill proposes that a labelled startup may get “exemption from the payment of income tax or any other tax chargeable on its income or revenue for period of four years, provided that the commencement date of the tax relief shall be the date of the issuance of the startup label.”


The bill proposes over tax incentives for employing graduates without work experience and access to loans and grants by the CBN.

In addition, “an angel investor, venture capitalist, private equity fund, accelerators or incubators which invests in a labelled startup shall be entitled to an investment tax credit equivalent to 30% of the investment in the labelled startup,” section 30(2) read.

While 30(3) “Capital gains tax shall not be charged on gains that accrue from the disposal of assets by an angel investor, venture capitalist, private equity fund, accelerators or incubators with respect to a labelled startup.”

The debate
Speaking on the bill, the Chief Whip, Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno), said the government is committed to providing support for startups in Nigeria.

Other members, Uzoma Abonta (PDP, Abia) and Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu), also spoke on the bill. However, they appeared not to have read the bill nor have an idea of what startups are.

The Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase, who presided over the session, said the government had done sufficiently in supporting the sector.


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Yes, its a good project that can lead to great development of our nation.





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…FG hails Dangote, hopeful of $400m inflow from fertiliser export
President Muhammadu Buhari alongside other dignitaries yesterday, predicted an agriculture and economic boom for the country following the coming on stream of the $2.5 billion Dangote Fertiliser Plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
They spoke during the inauguration of the plant, with an installed capacity of producing three million metric tonnes (mt) of urea yearly.
Specifically, President Buhari noted that the plant is already exporting fertiliser to the United States of America (USA), India and Brazil, among other countries and is expected to trigger huge job creation opportunities, wealth, and secure the country’s agricultural future.
The plant, situated on 500 hectares of land in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, is reputed as Africa’s largest Granulated Urea Fertiliser complex and expected to add well over $400 million in foreign exchange to the Nigerian economy from the exportation of the products to other Africa countries.
Buhari noted that the plant would result in Nigeria becoming self-sufficient in fertiliser production.
According to him, the Federal Government is now determined more than ever before to provide enabling environment for private sector investors to thrive, adding that his government would continue to improve on infrastructure, power, security and enact relevant laws and regulations that would drive investments in the economy.
He said: “The fertiliser plant we are commissioning today has the capacity to provide multiplier effects on our economy, including job creation, which is a key goal of my administration. The nation also stands to gain extensively in earnings of foreign exchange from the excess production of the plant. I am informed that we have already started exporting to the USA, Brazil and India.
“The coming on stream of the plant is creating huge opportunities in the areas of employment, trade, warehousing, transport and logistics. This will drastically create wealth, reduce poverty and secure the future of our nation.
“In agricultural sector, which is another focal point of our economic policy, we expect a boom, as fertiliser is now readily available.
Many Nigerians, who hitherto practised subsistence farming because of the non-availability of necessary inputs, can now take up agriculture as a business. We expect a rise of a new breed of agropreneurs who will add value to farming, and make the nation self-sufficient in food production.”
The President noted that along with several other subsidiaries, the Dangote Group is the second biggest employer of labour in the country, after the Federal Government.
He commended the chairman and CEO of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, for helping to rebrand Nigeria through his investments across Africa.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele described the commissioning as an “emotional” one for himself and the bank.
He said, “I am delighted, extremely elated indeed that a Nigerian in the person of Alhaji Aliko Dangote has taken not just this great initiative of helping to solve a perennial petrochemical imports problem, but has taken advantage of the emerging huge market opportunity presented by recent developments.”
Emefiele further described the event as a “stellar” realisation of President Buhari’s vision and timely in the light of the war in Europe.
He added: “This fertiliser plant is timely when one considers recent developments in global markets, where prices of wheat, fertiliser and crude oil spiked by over 30 per cent following the Russia -Ukraine war, in addition to the lessons we learned from the protectionist actions of countries during the early days of Covid-19.”
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu said former Governor Bola Tinubu conceived the Lekki Free Trade Zone LFTZ in 2003 to attract investments to the state.
He said the LFTZ also hosts the 650,000BPD Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant and the Lekki Deep Sea Port within the same axis, making it a prime investment destination.
Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment Niyi Adebayo noted that although the fertiliser complex is just one part of the Dangote Refinery project, “this part alone offers unquantifiable value” to the economy.
Adebayo said: “I am aware that this facility has the potential to produce three million metric jobs yearly of urea fertiliser in phase one alone.
“This will go a long way in bridging the current fertiliser gap and improving soil and farm yields.
“One of the Federal Government’s key ambitions is for Nigeria to be both self-sufficient in food production, and also to be a net exporter of food and value-added products. The Dangote Fertiliser Plant goes a long way in realising this vision not just for Nigeria, but for the entire continent.”
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, also lauded Dangote for the project.
Earlier, Alhaji Dangote said the fertiliser plant would drastically reduce the level of unemployment and youth restiveness through the generation of direct and indirect employment.


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The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday decried the negative impact of the increasing oil thefts on the economy.

Specifically, it said the situation was affecting the accretion of the country’s foreign exchange reserves and government revenue.

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who is also the chairman of the MPC, disclosed this after the committee’s meeting in Abuja.

While reading the communiqué after the meeting, he also announced the retention of the lending rates in the banking sector.

He said the MPC “retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 11.5 per cent; asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR; Cash Reserve Ratio at 27.5 per cent; and liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.”

While the rates were not retained by unanimous votes by the MPC members, he disclosed that three members voted to raise the MPR by 25-basis points, one member voted to raise MPR by 50-basis points, while six members voted to hold all parameters constant.

“The committee thus decided by a majority vote to retain the MPR,” Emefiele said.

Speaking on the impact of oil on the economy, he said before the Russia-Ukraine war, the MPC was optimistic that the moderate decline in inflation was sustainable due to the positive impact of good harvest on price levels.

He, however, said the MPC was worried that the rising global oil prices had been compounded by the shortage of supply of petroleum products.

Emefiele said, “In the short-run, the MPC urges the NNPC to take urgent steps to ensure an adequate supply of petroleum products in Nigeria so as to reduce the rate of arbitrary increase in the price of petroleum products by oil marketers.

“The committee noted, with grave concern, the unprecedented rate of oil theft recorded in recent time, and its debilitating impact on government revenue and accretion to reserves.”

In the medium-term, he said, the MPC was hopeful that the proposed take-off of the Dangote Refinery in the course of the year would help to improve the supply of petroleum products in Nigeria.

He said the MPC also noted that the rising price of diesel was compounded by the problem of inadequate electricity supply which had adversely impacted domestic prices.

“MPC advises the CBN management and the fiscal authorities to take specific and urgent actions to avoid many power generating stations shutdown for turn-around maintenance, resulting in the current unwarranted shutdown of generating assets,” he said.

Emefiele also said the committee reviewed the performance of the bank’s various interventions to stimulate productivity in manufacturing, industry, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and micro, small and medium enterprises.

Between January and February 2022, he said the bank disbursed N29.67bn under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme for the procurement of inputs and cultivation of maize, rice, and wheat, the three crops that hitherto were significant concerns of FX demand.

“These disbursements bring the total under the programme to over 4.52 million smallholder farmers, cultivating 21 commodities across the country, comes to a total of N975.61bn,” he said.

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Nigeria recorded N1.94tn foreign trade deficit in 2021, figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed on Tuesday.

According to its ‘Foreign trade in goods statistics Q4, 2021 report’, this was an improvement from N7.37tn trade deficit recorded in 2020.

Also, the data revealed that Nigeria’s total foreign trade rose by 22.61 per cent in 2021 to hit N39.75tn.


The NBS also disclosed that total export for 2021 stood at N18.91tn while total import stood at N20.84tn, leaving a trade deficit of N1.94tn.

Total trade for 2020 was valued at N32.42tn, with the value of total imports amounting for N19.89tn and exports amounting for N12.52tn. According to NBS, the trade deficit for the year stood at N7.38tn.

It said, “In 2021, the value of total trade stood at N39.75tn which is 57.60 per cent higher than the value recorded in 2020.

“The value of total imports in 2021 stood at N20.84tn which is 64.11 per cent higher than the value recorded in 2020, while total exports was valued at N18.91tn showing an increase of 50.99 per cent than the value recorded in 2020. Overall in 2021, merchandise trade recorded a deficit of N1.94tn.


For the quarter under review, the statistics body said imports stood at N5.94tn in the fourth quarter of 2021 while export was N5.77tn

The NBS added, “Export in the fourth quarter 2021 was still oil-dependent. Crude oil exports recorded N4.27tn and it remained the major product in total exports (74.04 per cent), while non-crude oil was valued at N1.49tn or 25.96 per cent of total exports of which non-oil products contributed N810.88bn representing 14.06 per cent of total exports during the quarter under review.”

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Oil price continued to crash, yesterday, as speculators abandoned the volatile market, while Russia claimed it wants the Iranian nuclear deal to be signed as soon as possible.

This is coming as, again, Nigeria failed to meet the 1.8 million barrels per day oil production quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, clocking just 1.258m/d production in February, 2022.

Monthly Oil Market Report released by OPEC, yesterday, showed that Nigeria’s oil production last month fell by 10.07 per cent from the 1.399 million barrels per day production level it recorded in January.

In the international scene, Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell about 8 per cent to about $98.87 a barrel, its lowest price since late February. West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was down more than 8 percent at $94.43 a barrel.

Over the past week, crude prices have plunged by more than 20 percent, reversing much of the surge that came after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Also, tens of millions residents in provinces and cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are under lockdown amid an outbreak of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, most of the geopolitical premium from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been lost in a highly volatile market, which spooked many speculators. Concerns about Chinese demand in view of renewed lockdowns also weighed on sentiment.

Open interest in oil has dropped to the lowest since 2015, after futures exchanges have raised initial margins significantly since Putin’s war in Ukraine began, thus making trading the same amount of oil futures much more expensive.

Moreover, the spike in oil prices and the heightened volatility has led many hedge funds and speculators to close out long or bullish positions. Last Monday, Brent Crude traded below its 21-day simple moving average (SMA) for the first time since Russia attacked Ukraine, Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, said. “The war premium continues to deflate as speculators head for the hills and after the recent surges in diesel and gasoline have raised some demand concerns.”

Hansen added. Oil was plunging on Tuesday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Russia is in favour of the Iran nuclear deal resuming as soon as possible.

At the end of last week, the talks about the United States and Iran returning to the 2015 nuclear deal that would allow the Islamic Republic to legitimately export its oil were paused “due to external factors,” said Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Moscow has reportedly made last-minute demands that the sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine do not impede its trade with Iran. It will be recalled that oil prices had shot up after Russia invaded Ukraine, with the price of Brent crude oil hitting a near 14-year high at one point.

But in the past few days, the price of oil has dropped due to a number of factors, including hopes of progress in ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, and also expectations that demand from China will ease as Covid cases there surge.

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LAGOS- Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Sunday, said the Nigerian economy will get a boost of about $360 bn from the Lekki deep seaport in 45 years when the project is completed.
Amaechi stated this in Lagos, Sunday, shortly after inspecting ongoing work at the project cite.
The privately funded project, Amaechi noted is expected to allow investors recoup their money after which they will handover the seaport to the federal government.
He said: “The project will contribute about $360 billion over the years. It sounds much, but we actually need more of that money to accomplish what we want to achieve.
“But obviously taxes will be collected here and even them (contractors) will pay taxes. I am not sure there was any taxes mentioned in the agreement, but I doubt there is any tax exemption.
“So, we will collect taxes here, the confidence in giving them the project is because of the taxes that we will collect here that will help us in the construction of other projects”.
Speaking on the need to expand the seaport, Amaechi said the port was not spacious enough to deal with expected rise in economic activities in the future.
“It also depends on how much the economy will grow before then. The growth of the economy will put pressure on the expansion. The argument we had in cabinet is that the need for a deep seaport at Lekki was as a result of the fact that the demand for port activities in the country has exceeded the supply of Tincan and Apapa around Lagos.
“This is the first seaport in Nigeria. What we had all these while are river ports , Tincan is a river port, Apapa is a river port and port Harcourt too. Right here, you have 16.5 metres drafts which is good for the country, but the country needs more than just one of this port because of the increase in commercial activities in the future.
Lekki deep seaport for test run in December
“We need just more than Lagos deep seaport and for me before I leave office, I will emphasize on the construction of the Bonny deep seaport” he added
Amaechi expressed his willingness to connect the Lekki deep seaport to a rail line, lamenting however that paucity of funds remain a challenge.
“As Minister of Transportation, I imagine a lot of things that I could have implemented. I imagined that the Lagos-Calabar rail line would start from here, that was my imagination. But the Lagos-Calabar rail project needs $11.1 billion funding”, adding that there were no such funds at the moment for the project.
“Another advice I could give is if they (contractors) want to invest, they can invest in rail and then the government will either do tax reduction or do something to help them.
“If we get the $11.1billion as it is, we would probably have to divert the rail line, because Lagos-Calabar rail line actually goes into Lagos city. We can divert it to come to the seaport in Lekki, ” he added.
Amaechi expressed optimism that the project would be ready for commercial activities in September this year.
China Development Bank, Louis Berger International, China Harbour Engineering LFTZ Enterprise and China Communication Construction are the contractors handling the project.


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Google says it will charge 7.5 percent as value-added tax (VAT) from all taxable services provided to Nigerian customers beginning from April 1, 2022.
The company made this known in a statement over the weekend.
Facebook and Zoom have started charging 7.5% VAT on all services provided to Nigerian customers.
Google said the new rate was in a bid to comply with Nigeria’s legislation on VAT which came into effect on February 1, 2020, under the new Finance Act.
The tech giant said the VAT rate charge would be applicable to customers operating a Google business account.
“Due to new legislation in Nigeria, starting April 1, 2022, Google will be required to charge 7.5 percent VAT on all taxable goods and services,” the company said.
“No action is required on your side with regard to your Google business account.”
Google said the amount of VAT charged on purchases would appear as a separate line in customers’ business accounts, adding that invoices or statements will also show the amount of VAT charged.
“Notable changes to customers’ Google business account: the amount of VAT charged on your purchases will appear as a separate line in your account; your invoice or statement will show the amount of VAT charged,” it added.
“Google can’t advise you on tax matters, so please contact your tax adviser for any questions regarding this change.”

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he Director, Personnel Income Tax, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mr. Ayodele Adebayo, spoke with reporters on how the agency is reviewing the system to ensure tax features as one of the strategies of promoting the ease of doing business in the state. DANIEL ESSIET was there.
What level of infrastructure has been provided by the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) to make it easy for residents to honor their tax obligations?
I think to, a large extent, LIRS has achieved much in this regard. In the past years, during my early working years, what prospective payers encountered were large bundle of forms they had to fill in compliance. In the course of a prospective employee’s engagement, what one would confront are large A 4 pages, which sometimes takes ages to fill. By the time we came through the former chairman of the service, we decided to make the process easier for people to comply with. How? We had to set up a committee to deal with the number of forms people had to fill. You had put in the number of children, the number of dependants and all that. We set up a committee to look at the forms. After a lot of work, we were able to reduce the pages to two. From the exercise, we were able to compress the information on what will be accommodated in multiple pages to what can be done with two pages. What you need to fill was structured to be accommodated in the first page. We have made it user friendly. But we have since moved from there. From manual, we moved to electronic filling. To achieve this, we created software called e-tax, which is device. You can fill the forms from the comfort of your phone, iPad and other devices.The first step is to click on LIRS’ website. You will find yourself engaging with the process. You just log in at LIRS.ng and you will be led to begin the registration process by filling in your name and other details. You’re home and dry. As you progress, it will be giving you direction on what to do. What we have been able to accomplish is that we have brought tax filling to the people. It made it very easy for people to use the platform.That is how far we have gone.



Besides this, we have a team that is always on ground to handle any problem you might have on the platform.The team provides customer care. They provide support for people who might have questions or face challenges in the course of filling the forms. There is always somebody to assist. You don’t have to be present. There is somebody waiting to provide guidance on what you have to do and if there are issues in any area of taxation.
As you know, taxation is about complying with the law. If you have challenges understanding any section of the tax laws, we have people on ground that will always assist. By the time you interact with the customer care, we will find professionals that are technically grounded in relevant sections of the tax laws that can provide such advice. This, to a large extent, has reduced the pressure on tax payers. We have made filling of returns very easy. It is part of our way of enhancing ease of doing business in Lagos.
What new features have you introduced into tax administration, which became effective from January, this year?
Two years back, anytime we were having massive response to our call for people and organisations to fill in their returns, we had to put a lot of canopies outside. Sometimes, we could have up to 200 to 300 people outside. A lot of people came around to assist. We had to feed them, provide water and other amenities. May be thinking about millions of tax payers. In terms of corporate entities, we are talking about 30,000 people. Sometimes we may have up to 20 corporate organisations with people with specialist taxation expertise.There are organisations with personnel who lack adequate knowledge of taxation . Representatives of such organisations will be around. To a large extent we have we have reduced the pressure. This year, you may have fewer people come around.
There are lots of Nigerians without proper understanding of taxes and what roles they play in the economy. What have you achieved in terms of enlightenment and education of the citizenry?
Lagos is a major business destination. As a big destination, we have should have a one stop shop where we can assist you with business registration, land acquisition and all that. That was part of what informed the decision of LIRS to establish the electronic e-tax platform that is quite interactive for users and tax payers. You may not be aware but we have 60 main tax stations. We also have mini tax stations.The main tax stations have large number of staff working from bigger offices. It is the mini ones that deal with artisans and tradesmen. We have tax enlightenment teams which go out regularly to enlighten people. They meet with artisans such as panel beaters and others in this category. We go out to educate people. We deal with artisans associations. The associations, on the other hand, guide their members on tax matters. Generally, most of the members have access to email accounts. We reach them through such channels. We take advantage of associations to reach their members. It is cost-effective for us to deal with associations rather than their individual members. It makes the process easier for us. At the markets, we have the Iya Oloja-General of Lagos who superintends over others. In each of the markets, we have an Iya-Oloja. In the market we have a focal point. They are the ones that we relate with to interact with the traders. A part of the strategy we deploy in the market is to get the PIT and informal sector teams to participate in such meetings to give them talks on taxation and what needs to be done. To a large extent, we are getting positive responses from the market men and women, road transport workers. It has been a wonderful collaboration with the associations to being as many people into the tax net.

How has the recently introduced Finance Act affected your operations? Is it affecting taxation at the state levels?

Indeed, the Act has had positive and negative impact. For instance, it has stepped aside the issue of life insurance and the rest of it. In addition to that, it has simplified the issue of public objection to the claims we issue to customers. In those days, when a customer has an objection to make against the tax authorities claims, it followed a formal complaint process to institute it. You have to follow certain steps to raise objection in writing. But now, with the Finance Act in place, the customer can simply send in an email and it will be considered as a valid objection to tax assessment. The Finance Act has also addressed the issue of minimum payment of taxes. What it says is that only individuals who earn more than N30, 000 monthly should pay tax. But Nigerians, as usual, will want to manipulate the process by under declaring their salaries. On the other hand, the constitution gives the tax authorities the prerogative to request for any document from an organisation if we suspect you have given us false information. By the way if you give us false information it is a criminal offence. We have the prerogative to call for documents if you fill false returns just because you want to get lower tax relief. We have the right to call for documents and subject you to litigation if you are found to provide wrong information.

Based on the level of enlightenment by your agency, do you think individuals still need tax consultants?

People still need consultants. As you are aware, we do newspaper advertising for corporate organisations and individuals to fill their returns. I urge every Lagosian to fill their returns. Despite this, you find out that Nigerians will deliberately refuse to read some of the advertisements. At times once they read the first two lines of the adverts, they will just flip and move to the next page. We publish in multiple newspapers. We do radio jingles. This year, we did on CNN for you to know the extent we went if you are the type that tells us you don’t listen to local stations. You can’t tell us you don’t listen to CNN. We are on Channels TV Prime Time. I know a lot of educated people listen to Channels TV Prime Time News. The thing is that when such adverts are aired, people take their eyes away. It is a statutory requirement for people to fill their returns. It is not about Lagos; it is not about LIRS. It is in the Section 24: 1 of the Constitution.

What are your responsibilities as Director, Personnel Income Tax (PIT)?

My responsibilities have to do with managing taxes, with respect to Pay As You Earn (PAYE); withholding taxes, individual direct assessment taxes, taxes that are accruable to individual taxable adults and the rest. These are my primary responsibilities in terms of tax administration. The feeling is that tax authorities in Nigeria don’t make it easy for people to pay their taxes.

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The Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (ONICCIMA) has called on the Anambra State government to digitalize taxation processes to end revenue leakage for proper accountability.

The Director-General, Stanley Anyadufu made the call in Onitsha during a visit by the Justice Development and Peace Caritas (JDPC) in partnership with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

He lamented increasing non-remittance of taxes by illegal collectors, saying collection of taxes digitally would put an end to such an ugly trend.

He said, 90percent of taxes collected by touts are not remitted to the government, but go into private pockets.

“Collection of taxes in a more civilized manner, inclincludingude digitizing and creating tax offices at strategic points in the city will help people make their payments and documentation seamless.

“You don’t need to be stopping people on the road, blocking major roads, and causing traffic gridlocks in order to collect taxes.”

On the lingering Monday sit-at-home order, Anyadufu regretted its adverse effects on businesses in Southeast, particularly in Onitsha.

“Though some youths are enjoying the sit-at-home as they take advantage of it to exercise and catch their fun, for us in the business sector, it has been tough.”

“If businesses don’t open, sales are not made, income doesn’t come in, it shortens wages. What the state loses each Monday runs into billions.

“We’re even informed that businesses are relocating to neighboring towns where they can easily access the traders. But we’re hoping it will end soon,” he added.

Earlier, Project Manager, JDPC Onitsha/FCDO, Mr. Alphonsus Nwoye said recommendations from the engagement with ONICCIMA would be sent to the government for implementation.

As oil prices soared in the sharpest one-day jump since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, more than two dozen countries agreed on Tuesday to release 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves, aiming to send a “strong message” that there will be “no shortfall as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

But the announcement from the International Energy Agency was greeted as a bust by oil traders. Prices just kept climbing, topping $107 at one point before closing above $100 a barrel for a second day.

“The market is just very concerned,” said David Fyfe, chief economist of Argus Media, an energy research firm.

Russia’s increasingly violent war against Ukraine, forcing more than half a million residents to flee, has sparked intense volatility in the energy markets, partly because Russia provides 10 percent of the world’s oil and more than a third of the European Union’s natural gas. Western countries’ powerful economic penalties in response to the fighting have caused the ruble to crater, prompting worries that Russia may retaliate by curbing or cutting off its energy supplies, or that the sanctions may be scaring off buyers

While the Biden administration and the European Union have not moved to slow or block Russian oil and gas exports, some refineries and traders have stopped buying crude from the country, even shipments being offered at a deep discount. Refiners, shippers, insurers and banks are pulling back because they are afraid of running afoul of sanctions by dealing with Russia.

It is unclear how much Russian oil exports are falling and how long they may remain depressed, analysts said.

Gasoline prices in the United States have risen since the invasion, reaching $3.619 a gallon, up nearly a dollar from a year ago and raising midterm political worries for President Biden. And a series of announcements by Western oil giants this week that they will leave Russia may have also added to concerns about Russia’s oil exports. The latest, Exxon Mobil, said on Tuesday that it would end its involvement in three oil and natural gas fields it has been developing near Sakhalin Island in partnership with Rosneft, the state-controlled energy company. Exxon operates the fields and owns 30 percent of the project.

For traders bidding up the price of oil on Tuesday, the size of the release — 60 million barrels of oil, amounting to about 2 percent of the daily consumption if spread over 30 days — was not ambitious enough. Two million barrels a day is only about a quarter of Russia’s exports.

The decision was made at an emergency teleconference of energy ministers led by the U.S. energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm. The International Energy Agency, whose mission includes coordinating emergency releases of reserves, said the release was the fourth in its 48-year history

But some analysts said the release might still gain some traction if it was well executed. “It is a meaningful volume,” said Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at Energy Aspects, a research firm.

Western sanctions have been engineered to allow companies in Europe to continue to buy Russian energy. But Mr. Fyfe said the array of penalties for companies doing business with Russia meant that “there is a tacit restriction of energy exports out of Russia even if it is not explicit.”

According to the I.E.A., Russia typically exports 7.85 million barrels a day. About 60 percent of that goes to Europe and 20 percent to China, the agency said.

The energy agency, which has 31 members, declined to specify which countries would be contributing how much oil in the release, but it is assumed that the United States would be a large contributor.

The cost of energy. Oil prices already are the highest since 2014, and they have jumped as the conflict has escalated. Russia is the third-largest producer of oil, providing roughly one of every 10 barrels the global economy consumes.

Gas supplies. Europe gets nearly 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, and it is likely to be walloped with higher heating bills. Natural gas reserves are running low, and European leaders have accused Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, of reducing supplies to gain a political edge.

Food prices. Russia is the world’s largest supplier of wheat and, together with Ukraine, accounts for nearly a quarter of total global exports. In countries like Egypt and Turkey, that flow of grain makes up more than 70 percent of wheat imports.

Shortages of essential metals. The price of palladium, used in automotive exhaust systems and mobile phones, has been soaring amid fears that Russia, the world’s largest exporter of the metal, could be cut off from global markets. The price of nickel, another key Russian export, has also been rising.

Financial turmoil. Global banks are bracing for the effects of sanctions intended to restrict Russia’s access to foreign capital and limit its ability to process payments in dollars, euros and other currencies crucial for trade. Banks are also on alert for retaliatory cyber attacks by Russia.

A release coordinated by Washington in November did not have a lasting impact on the market. One problem — for that release and this one — is that additional oil comes from a reserve, not increased production, and so the bump up in supplies could eventually be exhausted.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a recent research note that disruptions to Russia supplies could lead oil prices to rise as high as $120 a barrel. Prices that high may be needed to lower demand enough to match reduced supplies.

So far, tankers of oil from Russia are being loaded normally, said Alex Booth, head of research at Kpler, which tracks shipping. These cargoes, however, were probably arranged before the invasion and the announcements of sanctions by many countries that spooked buyers, shippers and banks.

Beyond the agency’s action on Tuesday, other potential relief could come from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, which are expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss the oil markets. So far, there is little indication that the group is willing to do more than agree to go ahead with its usual 400,000 barrels a day of additional supply under an agreement reached in July.

Saudi Arabia, a co-leader of the group, called OPEC Plus, has been talking with Biden administration officials about the oil markets, but a deal does not yet seem to have been reached. Discussions are likely to be complicated because Russia is the other co-leader of OPEC Plus.

And it is uncertain if there will be enough support at the meeting for an increase in production beyond the 400,000 barrels a day agreed to earlier. The United Arab Emirates, which along with the Saudis would be expected to be a source of additional oil supplies, recently abstained from the U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That decision “underscores the likely unwillingness” of some countries to bolster production at this time, wrote Helima Croft, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, an investment bank, in a note to clients.

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Stocks on Wall Street fell on Monday and commodity prices rose as the war in Ukraine entered its fifth day and a widening array of sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for its invasion began to bite.

The S&P 500 fell about 0.2 percent after dropping as much as 1.5 percent earlier in the day. Stock indexes in Europe also ended well off their lowest point of the day, with the Stoxx Europe 600 down about 0.1 percent.

In Russia, the ruble cratered, and the Bank of Russia responded by more than doubling its key interest rate to 20 percent to try to control the damage from the sanctions. The country’s central bank also said it would release about $7 billion worth of bank reserves that had been set aside as a buffer for unsecured consumer and mortgage loans.

The sanctions imposed by governments in Europe and the United States so far include financial measures against Russian elites, banks and nonfinancial companies; bans on technological exports to Russia and on flights by Russian airlines; suspension of the approval process for Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany; and measures isolating Russia’s biggest banks.





Over the weekend, the United States, the European Commission, Britain and Canada agreed to remove some Russian banks from the international system of payments known as SWIFT — a move that essentially bars the banks from international transactions and is seen as a steep escalation of the effort to impose financial penalties on Russia.

The measure could disrupt the country’s exports, and investors are already concerned that the impact on Russia’s ability to export its commodities, including oil and wheat, could have an inflationary effect on the global economy.



Russia produces more than 10 million barrels a day of crude oil, behind only the United States and Saudi Arabia. Oil prices rose about 3 percent on Monday, and shares of energy producers were among the best performers on Wall Street. Brent crude traded at just under $101 a barrel.

On Monday, the Treasury Department said that it would freeze assets of the Russian Central Bank that are held in the United States and impose sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund, while Switzerland said it would freeze Russian assets in Swiss bank.

European banks with major holdings in Russia were among the big losers on Monday. UniCredit of Italy fell 9.5 percent, and Raiffeisen Bank International in Austria lost 14 percent. The European Central Bank said that Sberbank Europe, a subsidiary of one of Russia’s biggest banks, was on the verge of collapse Monday as Western sanctions took a toll. The economic damage from supply disruptions and economic sanctions would be severe in some countries and industries and unnoticed in others.

The cost of energy. Oil prices already are the highest since 2014, and they have risen as the conflict has escalated. Russia is the third-largest producer of oil, providing roughly one of every 10 barrels the global economy consumes.

Gas supplies. Europe gets nearly 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, and it is likely to be walloped with higher heating bills. Natural gas reserves are running low, and European leaders have accused Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, of reducing supplies to gain a political edge.

Food prices. Russia is the world’s largest supplier of wheat and, together with Ukraine, accounts for nearly a quarter of total global exports. In countries like Egypt and Turkey, that flow of grain makes up more than 70 percent of wheat imports.

Shortages of essential metals. The price of palladium, used in automotive exhaust systems and mobile phones, has been soaring amid fears that Russia, the world’s largest exporter of the metal, could be cut off from global markets. The price of nickel, another key Russian export, has also been rising.

Financial turmoil. Global banks are bracing for the effects of sanctions designed to restrict Russia’s access to foreign capital and limit its ability to process payments in dollars, euros and other currencies crucial for trade. Banks are also on alert for retaliatory cyberattacks by Russia.

Big Wall Street banks were among the worst performers in the S&P 500. Citigroup fell 4.4 percent, while JPMorgan Chase was down 4.2 percent and Goldman Sachs dropped 2.5 percent.

Shares of BP, the British oil company, fell 4 percent in London after it said on Sunday that it would no longer hold its 20 percent stake in the Russian oil giant Rosneft. It did not say whether it would sell the shares or abandon them. The decision could lead to a write-down of as much as $25 billion for BP.

The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq on Monday halted trading of shares of several Russian companies, including the steel company Mechel PAO and the internet company Yandex. Halts are not suspensions or delistings; they are meant to give the exchange time to gather information about the impact of recent events on a company.

The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes, a traditional haven in crises, fell thirteen basis points to 1.84 percent.

Treasury yields had been rising this year in anticipation of Federal Reserve short-term interest rate increases aimed at combating inflation, but a surge of investor bids during the Ukraine crisis reversed that trend.

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The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed the sum of N574.7 billion to the three tiers of government.
The funds are meant to cover various financial needs, including payment of salaries of workers for the month of February.
According to FACC the N574.7 billion is the revenue generated in February 2022 which comprises distributable statutory revenue of N291.400 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N178.066 billion, exchange gain of N5.202 billion and non-mineral revenue of N100.000 billion.
The allocation goes as follows: The federal government got N204.580 billion, the state governments received N179.251 billion and the local government councils got N131.878 billion, while the relevant states shared N58.959 billion as 13 percent derivation revenue.

From the distributable statutory revenue of N291.400 billion, the federal government was given N122.749 billion, the state governments shared N62.260 billion, the local councils got N48.000 billion, while the relevant states received N58.391 billion as 13 percent derivation revenue.
Also, from the N178.066 billion distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue, FAAC shared N26.710 billion to the federal government, N89.033 billion to the state governments, and N62.323 billion to the local government areas.
The total VAT revenue for the month was actually N191.222 billion, but after the sum of N5.507 billion was allocated to NEDC and N7.649 billion removed as cost of the collection, the distributable balance stood at N178.066 billion
From the total exchange gain revenue of N5.202 billion, the federal government received N2.441 billion, the state governments received N1.238 billion, the local councils got N0.955 billion, while the relevant states received N0.568 billion as 13 percent derivation revenue.

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Bothered by the menace of illegal revenue collectors in parts of Benue state, Governor Samuel Ortom has warned that those behind the act will be treated as armed robbers when apprehended.

Th Governor said those who carry weapons to cajole innocent Nigerians to part with their monies on the roads and markets in the name of tax should not be treated otherwise because they are robbers.

The Governor who sounded the warning Monday in Makurdi while signing into law the amended Benue Internal Revenue Administration Law advised those indulging in the act to steer clear of the state or be ready to face the music.

He explained that revenue collection in the State had been contracted to consultants and urged interested persons to work with them, stressing that anyone caught operating illegally will be treated like a criminal.

The Governor acknowledged the decline in revenue generation in the state and the need to improve in all areas to be able to cater for the needs of the state.


He said: “We will not tolerate the criminality people commit by illegally mounting blockades on our roads and extorting people. Sometimes they also carry weapons to harass their victims.

“We will not have that on our roads because they are nothing but armed robbers and when caught they would be treated as such. So I advise those behind this act to stop it and those who know them should advise them stop it henceforth.


“There are designated points that the staff of Benue Internal Revenue Service, BIRS, mount their checkpoints and these points as known; anything outside that is certainly not of the Board.”

Governor Ortom thanked members of the Benue State House of Assembly for the speedy passage of the amendment and pledged a sustained cordial working relationship between the Executive and the Legislature in the state.

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THE Federal Government has reiterated its position that many Non-Governmental Organisations operating in Nigeria are working against Nigeria’s interests.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, re-emphasised this on Saturday when he featured on ‘Radio Link’, a phone-in programme of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
In the programme monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria, the minister said Nigerians should be circumspect about the activities of some NGOs.
He said the government was in receipt of reports that some of the NGOs were on the payroll of foreign agents, traducers with ulterior motives to destabilise Nigeria.
The minister gave the example of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project which sued the Federal Government when the microblogging site, Twitter, was suspended.
“There are many NGOs in Nigeria today that are not working for the interests of the people of the nation.

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“Otherwise, why will SERAP for instance take the Nigerian government to court because it suspended the operations of Twitter, an entity that is a platform of choice for people working to destabilise the country.



“This (Twitter) is an entity that was not registered in Nigeria, did not employ any Nigerian directly and is not paying tax in spite of the huge amount of money it is making in Nigeria.


“The same SERAP, when we later had an agreement with Twitter, wrote to my office to ask for the details of the agreement and we obliged,’’ he said.
The minister noted that the outcome of the suspension and the agreements reached for Twitter to resume operations in Nigeria were beneficial to both parties.
He said in addition to ensuring that only wholesome contents were posted by Twitter, the micro-blogging site agreed to open an office in Nigeria, engage Nigerians and pay requisite taxes to the government.
The minister queried the intention of SERAP in filing the suit if not for ulterior motives.
“We understand that in every case being filed by some of these NGOs, they receive subventions from their donors and sponsors and this should worry Nigerians.
“If you notice, one of the fastest growing businesses today is the NGO and the country is full of all sorts of NGOs which are being funded for ulterior motives,’’ he stressed.
The minister also gave the example of Borno where the Gov. Babagana Zulum complained about the proliferation of NGOs in the state.