₦airaland Forum

“Yo @ZenithBank, what kind of madness is this? I sent ₦100k to my Zenith account and saw ₦63k as balance. What’s going on?” he wrote.

I remember when I wrote this:

My question about this tax law to the government is:

1. For those who are unemployed without a salary account, who determines what is income from inflow of money into an unemployed person's account?

2. How would the tax be paid by such an individual, would it be deducted automatically from his account(if it is, who did the separation and calculation to determine what was income and what was inflow?), if it is not automatically deducted, do they expect such an individual to do that himself when we know most Nigerians will likely not want to do that?

3. If the 1 and 2 here are not effective, what incentives and direct benefits have the government provided for the citizens to encourage citizens to pay their taxes?

4. If the number 1, 2 and 3 are not effective for both the government and the citizens, is this not a failed tax law?

5. Why is the government compelling citizens to comply like citizens of foreign countries while the government doesn't want to comply to behave like governments of foreign countries?

In Nigeria, fighting insecurity differs from region to region in most cases, some of the insecurity you see today are ideologies and products of ideologies, so tackling them may require a different strategy from insecurities that are not products of ideologies, that's one of the reasons why U.S failed in Afghanistan after spending 2 trillion dollars and about 20 year.

They were fighting an ideology and products of that ideology not just a war, that is the issue with Boko-haram and most of the insecurities happening in the north.

Jamie248:
It's clearly a lie na...

If someone keeps telling you that he is a billionaire but everyday he keeps borrowing up and down, to the extent his creditors dey constantly embarrass am for public place, won't you realize that he is lying to you?

What is a lie?

lawani:
We don't know yet if they are going to take more loans but loan or no loans it is still a good development that the oil revenue has dropped as a percentage of government revenue. I believe all governments should spend less than their revenue. It is possible to be debt free. Sokoto state is debt free. However if you have an urgent project, loans too are not bad

But in Tinubu's case the debts are piling up, so what is the justification?

This guy and Nigeria Customs service

lawani:
Nigeria is free from oil dependence

I read earlier from a lady in government that oil revenue is now less than half of government revenue in Nigeria and I wrote it like that during a debate with someone online only for someone to oppose me then for me to find out via AI that as at first quarter 2025 that oil revenue was less than 25 percent of total federal government revenue in Nigeria. Nigeria is officially no longer majorly dependent on Niger delta oil but on incomes from avenues like VAT, CIT, customs and etc. This is a good news that should be celebrated by all Nigerians.
It explains why most states now have big budgets
The country is a country of over 200 million and it can be like western Europe if it is organized like western Europe. There is nothing they do in Europe than everybody pay tax to make life easier for everybody.
It is like what President Bola Tinubu did in Lagos he has successfully done it at Abuja.
The feat was achieved without any special law. I project that with the new law, oil and gas revenue will become less than ten percent of federal government revenue by December 2026 and maybe less than one percent in two years

So what is Tinubu still taking loans for?

In Nigeria, fighting insecurity differs from region to region in most cases, some of the insecurity you see today are ideologies and products of ideologies, so tackling them may require a different strategy from insecurities that are not products of ideologies, that's one of the reasons why U.S failed in Afghanistan after spending 2 trillion dollars and about 20 year.

They were fighting an ideology and products of that ideology not just a war, that is the issue with Boko-haram and most of the insecurities happening in the north.

MIKOLOWISKA:
keep telling yourself that

I will also tell you...

MIKOLOWISKA:
if truth is never satisfied any will anyone care about your truth

The truth is the truth...

May their souls rest in peace.

KobolanderSegun:
This is a Beautiful post and I totally agree with a lot of what you wrote.....but what of the Biafra ideology that has made people sit at home on Monday for years ? How much money has been lost on Monday ? How many Ibo business men have lost billions of Naira over the years. How many people have been killed by " daring " to disobey unconstitutional authority of Nnamdi Kanu ? How many children have died on Monday because they could not go to hospital. Please stop pretending that the ipob thing is not a problem in iboland. If people support ipob blindly at the expense of the lives of their own people why would they complain when others are doing the same thing supporting religion at the expense of their own people.

Let us all stop this finger pointing and start pointing our fingers at our own ethnic groups.

I'm Yoruba but extremely Pro-Ibo, maybe that's why I can see very well because I refuse to stay in one ethnic group but embrace all ethnic groups. We are all human beings.

Firstly the forceful sit at home has stopped in the south east, anybody doing it now is only doing it voluntary, you can check news outlets and confirm if you have seen anyone of recent.

Secondly so many attacks attributed to IPOB has nothing to do with IPOB, in fact there are cases of government sponsored attacks, some are cultism, kidnappers and so on but because of agenda they also label them IPOB, so don't get deceived.

Thirdly, I'm not a blind supporter of IPOB, in fact I don't agree with some of their actions and behavior especially with MNK and Simon Ekpa, I can go on and list the things I hate about their actions and strategy, I wished they handled things a lot better.

So back to the ideology issue, let me just make something clear, I use to tell Tinubu supporters that if Tinubu had restricted this his politics and ideology to the south west alone, I may not have had any problem with him, same with the north.

Part of my annoyance is them trying to impose these ideologies on others who don't believe in it, that's not what Igbos are doing, Fulani herdsmen are going round the country killing people and forcefully taking their lands, the shariah states are busy imposing shariah on those who are not Muslims, same with how they handle public offices at the federal level with nepotism and quota system.

Then you come to the Yorubas and Tinubu is busy trying to impose Yoruba ideological system on everyone, reason why the north is gearing up to fight him, they were not expecting him to go this far with it.

Now for the Igbos, even the sit at home you talk about, IPOB does not even tell Igbos outside the south east to do sit at home, not to talk of trying to impose it on the whole Nigerians...

So these are very different situations that should not even be compared, IPOB is clear about what they want, they want their own country, how is that imposing ideology on people who are not Igbos or who don't believe in it, unlike the tribal Yorubas(not all) and the Islamic north who want their ideologies to be imposed on everybody ?

That's why Nigeria is where it is today, Buhari did his own, Tinubu is doing his own now, look at the trajectory, increased terrorism and increased bad economy, now I'm not trying to call other presidents saints either, but when you have leaders who come to impose either their ethnic or religious ideology for the purpose of supremacy, Nigeria is the result you see today.

There are leaders I can support in Yoruba land because I know they will not want to do what Tinubu is doing, sadly many Yorubas may not support those type of leaders same with the north, and those are leaders that will actually move the country forward, but it seems like to these set of people their ideological supremacy is more important, so they will rather reject such people and pick people like Buhari and Tinubu.

Now I'm not trying to paint all Igbos as saints, but this is where the Igbo ideology makes more sense to me:

On an average, the Igbo man is more individual driven in nature, in the sense that he looks out for his benefit first even if his tribes man is involved in an issue, what am I trying to say?

if you tell an Igbo man to support an Igbo man just because he is an Igbo man and he stands nothing to benefit or might even suffer for the support, but you tell him to support a Yoruba man and he will get benefit, he will most likely support the Yoruba man.

This is the mindset most Igbos carry into election especially at national level, so the ideology overrides blind support for tribe in most cases, give me an Osinbajo or Akinwunmi Adesina against OUK, Hope Uzondinma, Ikpeazu, Rochas, I will pick the first 2 as an Igbo man and be very happy I did.

If all tribes behave like that during election, it will suppress most tribal or religious ideologies and unite and move the country forward.

beyondPen:
No

So what's your own people's ideology?

To lead 6 million of your people to the slaughter. You no wise at all

And your own is to kill the 6 million people for trying to defend themselves ?

And the figure wasn't up to 6 million...

tunjilana:
So which ideology did Obi display when he paired with a northern islamic fulani as his deputy in 2019...And what ideology is he currently displaying as he is pairing with Northern islamic fulani leaders like Kwankwaso, El-Rufai, Atiku...

And which ideology did the south east display when the voted for Bashir Tofa against Abiola in 1993 simply because Tofa's vice candidate was an Igbo man called syslvester Ugoh.... which ideology made the South east to vote for Shagari against Awolowo simple because Shagari's deputy was an Igbo man called Alex Ekwueme... which ideology made Azikiwe insist that secession be excluded from our constitution and got everyone locked in by force....which Ideology made Zik to prefer the Northern islamic fulanis of Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa in 1959-1966...

And which ideology made a group of major igbo young officers to murder military and civilian leaders across every part of Nigeria while sparing their own only to tag it a "National revolutionary coup"....which ideology made Ironsi to proclaim his unification decree to weaken sub-nationals and strengthen the center while weakening our system of regional govt....Nigeria didnt start in 2015 and for the better part of Nigeria's existence, yorubas were in the opposition and did it peacefully without spewing bullshit or accusing others when they exercise their civil right to vote....

which ideology made the SE to give 97% of their votes to their son while still harassing SW people who marginally gave only about 60% to their own son

When I say ideology, it's actually a supremacist ideology, that's what the northern Muslims and south westerners tribalists have....

And these are the major factors destroying Nigeria today...

kernniejay:
You claim yorubas have tribal ideology against other tribes, yet other tribes succeed among the yorubas in the South West better than how those other tribes succeed in their own region.

What is your proof?

lawani:
If you are an average citizen, can you use 440 to plan your business? What you can use to plan is the true value of the naira not any phantom CBN rate

Is the government an average citizen?

Did they ever complain of the exchange rate, please stop this diversion tactic...

ceejayluv:
There has been POS, but it was later used for cash withdrawals from mid 2010's which blew the popularity.

In the early 2000's there was nothing like POS, I think it was around mid or late 2000's that happened...

cash withdrawals started in 2013 by the CBN under Jonathan

lawani:
Are you saying Buhari was right by devaluing the naira and trying to fix the rate?

I'm not here to defend Buhari, what does your question have to do with the topic on ground?

lawani:
During Buhari time which one is the correct rate that someone in the economy without government connections must use? That one is the real rate than any other

Is the state or federal government someone?

We are talking about the government here, so what is your point?

When did the topic leave government and switch to individual?

lawani:
In Japan the chief owners of forex are companies like Toyota and etc. In Nigeria it is the FG. How will it possible for them to be starved of dollars?.

So why then are you making excuses for their official exchange rate given to them by them by the CBN for their planning, budgeting and allocation?

Does the black market affect them?

lawani:
Is the CBN using the market rate? You flood the economy with naira and you refuse to sell your oil dollars at what people are asking for it. You also go ahead to confiscate people's dollars by not allowing people to freely use domiciliary accounts. You sell dollars only to your cronies at 40 percent of what people are ready to pay. It was a swindle. They are printing naira recklessly but want to prip up the value

Did the government ever tell you they were starved of dollars from the CBN?

lawani:
What is the real rate is what matters. Not what FG says. If one million people buys at 740 and ten thousand people bought at 350. What is the real rate?. What is the rate that matters to the average importer or exporter?

Listen to yourself, Was the FG buying at 740?

Was the FG selling at 740?

Was the FG planning budgets at 740?

Was the FG selling crude oil per barrel using 740 as the exchange rate to a dollar?

Listen to yourself, we are talking solely about government here both state and federal not private individuals that got and spent dollars at the official CBN rate...

lawani:
Buhari was using dual exchange rate and Tinubu stopped it. People with privilege were buying millions of dollars at 440 even 350 and crossing the street to sell it at 750. The dual exchange rate was in place in 2022

Buhari never used dual exchange rate, he used only the CBN exchange rate and that is where he based all his plannings, revenue budgetings, allocations and expenditures from...

If he used 2 exchange rates the accounts may never balance and it would have caused serious problems for his entire government...

lawani:
You can't use 440 and be right in your calculation when maybe ninety percent of people were buying at 740. Let us leave it at that. You maybe right as I said because I don't know what agreement they had on how to share the funds saved from oil subsidy removal. In principle it is federal government money. I only used a few states to show that the dollar value of state budgets are rising. Then allocations to states will drop if the revenue drops and the revenue is like fifty percent oil money which can drop anytime. I don't know anything about how they agreed to share the money saved from oil subsidy removal

Let me just state something clear here, government and its agencies whether federal or state do not use black market rates to base their exchange rate for budgeting, planning, allocation, purchase or payments, they use only the official CBN rate because that's where they source and deposit their dollars from both income and expenditure except when they want to steal....

So what excuse are you trying to give for them in my calculations here?

lawani:
Ok. I was not quoting 2025 figures for Osun that I quoted. I did 2023 and 2026. If we use 2025 then what is the valid exchange rate for 2023? It was a dual exchange rate at the beginning of the year and 900 by June. In early 2023 more than seventy percent of those who needed forex will get it at 740

That was why I used 2022 for it before Tinbu came on board and did the damage to the exchange rate..., the exchange rate for 2022 was fully under Buhari and the budget was passed in 2022 using 2022 exchange rate...

lawani:
Then I might be wrong because I don't actually know how they agreed to share the gains from oil subsidy removal. Federal government was borrowing money to pay the subsidy. It must also be realized that subsidy removal is not an increase in revenue but a reduction in government expenditure. The FG revenue is yet to increase but some expenditures has been removed. The revenue can sharply increase from the new tax law and that will automatically increase allocations to states. If there was no agreement on how to share the savings from subsidy removal then the FG will be right to keep the monies to itself since everybody is looking for money

So what is Tinubu borrowing for and how come has he borrowed more than all his predecessors in his first 3 years compared to their first 3 years?

Dude if you need the data for this I will start rolling it out for you again...


You guys seem not to understand the kind of damage Tinubu has done to Nigeria or you people just simply want to live in self denial...

lawani:
Dollar to naira in 2023. But this is something you can get yourself. Then there is no way the allocations would not have increased after the subsidy removal and if it does not increase can you blame anybody? Maybe the price of oil dropped. It is not something one person can do alone and the FG can not take more than it's percentage of revenue. It is a no brainier that allocations to states increased.

If the President is pocketing the money saved from the subsidy removal and not giving states and local governments their constitutionally approved share who is to blame? Or how is that possible?

Then the real exchange rate for 2023 was not 500 to one dollar. It was more like 700 on average. You can't even compare dollar value and be right because the forex market was not a free market as at early 2023.

You have not done calculation with AI, use AI to do your calculation based on verifiable exchange rates sourced by AI, that was what I did.

You can see all my calculations showed the references of the sources for the exchange rates it used to calculate, do the same....

lawani:
Rivers budget in 2026 was not 1.4 trillion as you claimed but 1.8 trillion

https://punchng.com/rivers-approves-n1-8tn-2026-budget/

I said 2025, go back to my post and see for yourself...

Kukutente23:
You really did a job on the agbadeau
But you shouldn't have bothered
Anyone using budget expansion to prove increase in revenue value is simply a dunce
Even the FG is yet to complete its 2024 budget in 2026
How many states can boast of just 70% budget performance
Add you pointed out to him, the main determinant for revenue increase is the allocation not budget. The allocation in dollar terms shows no substantial increase in value
More importantly, the real buffer for state allocation increase is VAT and electronic transfer levy not oil remittances from NNPCL
Oil remittances from NNPCL still remains poor so much so that their debts are now being written off to save face

Are you minding these guys, I believe deep down in their minds some of them know the truth but to them, they must defend their person in power even if doesn't make sense...