₦airaland Forum

Fed Govt saves $1.7b on JV Cash Call arrears
Posted By: Yusuf Alli On: December 19, 2017
A cash-call exit agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Joint Ventures partners, the Federal Government has saved about $1.7billion.

It will repay the Cash Call arrears of $5.1billion within five years.

These facts are contained in a document titled “The new JV Self-Funding Model/ Cash Call Exit: Issues and implications”, which has been presented to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

A critical part of the document, which was obtained by our correspondent, borders on “Key Negotiated Terms” on the lingering JV Cash Call arrears.



The terms were part of issues discussed at the November 21 session of the FAAC Post-Mortem Sub-Committee meeting.

The key terms are as follows: “On JV Cash Call arrears, the full and final settlement of the arrears amount to $5.1billion which represents 75% of the reported arrears of $6.8billion.

“The negotiated amount ($5.1billion) is inclusive of indigenous JV partners ($436.09m). The duration of repayment is five (5) years.

“The $1.7billion reduction write-down will not qualify as a tax- deductible expense by the International Oil Companies JV partners for PPT determination.

“No tax payable on arrears to be repaid. Receipt by the IOC JV partners of the repayment of Cash Call arrears of $5.1billion represents refund of advances made on behalf of NNPC and is not revenue to IOCs. Therefore, it is not subject to any tax, fee or levy.”

It was also agreed that the “repayment source will be NNPC’s share of incremental production from JV activities after payment of royalties.



“100% of PPT from incremental Crude Oil Production is payable to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) after deduction of related cost of production and accumulated arrears.”

On the 2016 JV Cash Call funding shortfall, the terms indicated that there will be “phased payment of the shortfall to manage impact on the foreign reserves.

“The parties will set up a mechanism to ensure the remaining future approved 2016 JV Cash Call funding shortfalls are settled installmentally up to April 2018.

The NNPC and its Joint Venture partners had on December 15, 2016 signed a cash-call exit agreement. The JV Partners are Shell, Total, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and Oando.

At the ceremony, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said with the agreement, the Upstream petroleum sector will soon be upbeat in a flurry of activities.

”This event is significant because it has taken us to a point where we can compete with our colleagues all over world.

“We have dealt with the downstream, and this is probably the most important item in the upstream and that is obvious we will begin to go into the policy measures and infrastructural development and the rest after the signing ceremony,” he said.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC GMD, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the exit cash call agreements comprised three components which are: the process of settling the pre-2016 cash call areas; the process of sustaining the cash call payment from 2017; and agreement and settlement over performance in 2016.

NNPC, through its General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Nu Ughamadu, had said: “Under the new arrangement the entire NNPC equity Oil and gas revenues are now to be paid directly into the Federation Account.

“Hitherto, competition from other appropriated items of expenditure in the Federal Government’s budget has always limited the deduction of technical cost required to fund the cash calls on monthly basis.

“It is expected that execution of this agreement would end the long standing cash call challenges that have impacted the Nigerian oil and gas industry over the years.

“With this arrangement, the Federal Government will continue to receive royalties, taxies and profit from its equity share of JV oil and gas production while the cost of operation is deducted upfront.

“The agreement provides that the outstanding cash call arrears will be repaid within a period of five years through incremental production revenues without impacting the established based production revenue.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/fed-govt-saves-1-7b-jv-cash-call-arrears/

Osinbajo: Buhari and I poorly paid
Posted By: Augustine Ehikioya, On: December 19, 2017

The President’s and the Vice-President’s pay is low, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday.

He criticised the private sector for not respecting the national minimum wage law, which puts the lowest pay at N18,000.

Speaking at the end-of-year seminar of the State House Press Corps at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Prof. Osinbajo said he earns about N1.5m as Vice-President; President Buhari earns about N1.75 million.

To him, the pay is not commensurate with the offices they occupy.



The vice president also expressed misgivings about the remuneration of journalists and lawyers, saying journalists’ case is unique because many media owners make big revenue but simply refuse to pay good wages.

He recalled his brief encounters working with media houses as legal adviser and how in all the months he worked he was not paid despite the irregular hours he put in.

Osinbajo spoke of entry into journalism as not rigorously regulated or enforced by professional bodies because untrained persons are allowed in.

He added: ”I realised first of all that this (journalism) is not a profession from which one could make a decent living in the first place unless you find a really good way of doing so.

”But more importantly for me is that you are just on your own. Journalism as a profession is so wide open.

”There are a few reasons in my view why remuneration is poor.



”The first is that it is just simply cheating. There are owners of media that are just cheats. They just want to get something from nothing and that is not uncommon, it is a general malaise, it is not necessarily restricted to the media.

”It is also the same in the legal profession. There many lawyers if they tell you what they earn, you will certainly not want to be a lawyer.

”The private sector does not respect the minimum wage. Even if a minimum wage is set nationally, it is not necessarily respected by the private sector and this is something that should be factored in to the status of a company and whether a company is even complying with the requirements.”

The Vice-President urged journalists to brighten their prospects and future by always seeking ways of improving themselves and getting better job opportunities with attendant improved income.

Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Al-Makura, represented by the Commissioner for Information, Mohammed Kwara, was the chairman of the ceremony.

He said: “It is important to note that a good retirement plan starts the very day you are employed, knowing that whatever has a beginning has an end; 35 or 60 mandatory years of service are certainly not eternity.

”It must also be stressed here that it is not too late to plan even where you have just few years to retire from service.

”The most important thing is that you have a plan either of money saved or of the job you intend to carry on after retirement. Put every other factor in place such as your age, strength and the mental capacity to carry on.” he advised.

He added “It is important to state, therefore, that the uncertainty on payment of entitlements has continued to worry Nigerian workers, making them fear retirement.

”This has led to prospective retirees falsifying their age just to enable them stay put in the service.

”In this regard, a lot of corruption induced activities have continued to infiltrate the MDAs and the organised private sector responsible for managing pension,” he said.

Kwara listed 10 ways to prepare for retirement, including saving, knowing your retirement needs and contributing to an employer’s retirement savings plan.

Others, according to him, are learning about employer’s pension plan, considering basic investment principles, not touching your retirement savings, asking employer to start a plan, think of creative ways to be self sustaining, find out about one’s social security benefits, and asking questions.

The guest lecturer and Chairman of Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu, said retirement should not be synonymous with being tired or giving up as it should be a stepping stone.

He advised working journalists to pursue their purposes with passion, stressing the need to increase capacity in readiness for the next phase

He said: “Entrepreneurship is not a function of age. Set your milestones and work towards accomplishing the milestone.

”Entrepreneurs are resilient; they persevere to succeed. You don’t need to give up easily, it requires sacrifice, discipline.”

Others who presented goodwill messages were Minister of Information Lai Mohammed; Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and Special Adviser (Media & Publicity) to the President Femi Adesina.

http://thenationonlineng.net/osinbajo-buhari-poorly-paid/

Presidents will come and go. Important thing is to do the right thing for the country and her people.

Will Mbaka deny this news? Time will tell.

How strong is APGA in Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia and Imo state?

Where is Madam Peshe to come and learn humility and decorum?

raker300:
Who ever typed this lie, e no go better for am

They only bring light here by 11pm till 1am

All of you wicked souls lying against the people..e no go better for una

What you want is bad news. So, any good news about this Govt or about Nigeria makes you sad.
You may not have light now, but this news shows that in a matter of months, your light situation should improve like some have improved and will keep improving. Do you know the difference between power generation, power transmission and power distribution? I don't think you do. Curse yourself from now till tomorrow, by the grace of God, it will not stop Nigeria from progressing

Nigeria transmits 5,156MW electricity, highest ever – Official
December 14, 2017


The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, on Thursday disclosed that it recorded new national peak electricity transmission capacity of 5,155.9 Mega Watt, MW, on December 8.
The Interim Managing Director of TCN, Usman Gur-Mohammed, made the disclosure at an interaction with journalists in Abuja.
Mr. Gur-Mohammed said the new record exceeded previous national peak record of 5,074.70 recorded on February 2.
He said the nation’s average peak load capacity at the beginning of the year was about 4,000 MW.
He added that the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP) which sought to decentralise significant aspects of project implementation to regions was designed to further increase the national peak transmission capacity.
He said TREP had attracted financing for several projects from donor agencies, adding that the completion of the projects would result in expansion of the grid transmission capacity to at least 20,000MW in four years time.
He also revealed that TCN engineers had been involved in installation of transformers at substations in the country.
The TCN interim boss explained that installations were accomplished at less than 10 per cent of the cost hitherto paid to contractors over the years.
According to him, the company successfully installed 10 transformers in Bauchi, Funtua, Ejigbo, Ajah, Gombe, Aba, Umuahia, Auchi, Damboa and Zaria, saying that installations by TCN engineers saved several millions of Naira.


He also revealed that TCN had resolved several challenging and slow implementing contracts within the year.
The contracts, according to him, include the Kukwaba subsation, Katsina-Daura line, Yawuri-Kafanchan, Mbalano-Ohafia-Umuahia, Nnewi-Onitsha and Maiduguri substations.
He said the completion of some ongoing projects would add about 1,000MW transmission capacity to the grid before January 31, 2018.
Mr. Gur-Mohammed also said that within the year, TCN entered into collaboration with several partners to reposition the company for better service delivery.
According to him, some of the collaborations include the Agip and NNPC joint venture in respect of towers 94 and 98 on Okpai-Onitisha DC line.
He noted that TCN was also collaborating with government of Japan on development of capacitor banks in Apo and Keffi substations and rehabilitation of Apapa, Akangba, and Isolo substations.
He said discussions were ongoing with Japan Government to rehabilitate Ikeja West and Ota substations.
He added that the European Union (EU) had also pledged to provide 25 million Euros grant to support TCN on solar Independent Power Plant (IPP) evaluation.
(NAN)

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/252530-nigeria-transmits-5156mw-electricity-highest-ever-official.html



MONITZ:
Nope sir,I ain't done any of the above,I am very sorry for being too forward...

Bro, I know you are being satiristic. But it is important that whatever we pay to Govt in form of tax is judiciously used. We have to hold Govt accountable, but payment of tax is the law. That is how Govt can fund development.

Ifeanyi4491:
google is everyone best friend

Ngwanu

MONITZ:
Re the taxes paid by the gainfully employed used judiciously used?,nope I guess because a larger part of it is still pilfered/salted away..

Which one comes first? The chicken or the egg? You have to pay first before you complain. Have you ever paid tax? Have you ever received income or gift?

Ifeanyi4491:
In nkoli nwa nsukka voice ''ATU MU NGEGE''

Ifeanyi, translate..

Yes, Nigerians pay Tax on some goods and services like other countries . But our VAT is one of the lowest in the world, especially on luxury items. What the honourable Minister is alluding to, is called Personal Income tax.
In fact in some countries, once you are above 18 years, you must pay tax. The amount may be zero naira or a certain percentage of all you earnings including gifts. That is where Nigeria should be and that is where we will be eventually.
Unknown to maNy, this is one of the structural change that is happening under this Govt. It may be slow but gradual...

https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/blog/onesource/vat-gst-management/vat-increase-nigeria/

The IMF has recommended Nigeria increase the VAT rate and improve the tax collection. Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and has one of the lowest VAT rate's in the world at 5%. Nigeria is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and follows the ECOWAS model VAT law.Feb 12, 2016

GavelSlam:
Some people love to wail sha.

I've been through the Lagos airport from many travels without ever needing to pay anyone for any reason so what exactly do you mean by extortion?

Are you carrying contrabands requiring you to bribe?

They wail for a living

Icon79:
Huh

What has this got to do with PMB, biko?



O pari

Buhari do, na problem, Buhari no do, another Wahala. Thank God say, man no be God.

With Biafra colour wrist watch? Kwantinue

SalamRushdie:
You should know I meant 80 million ...it as a typo and its been fixed

With your antecedent, it is not hard to conclude that you will call black, white and vice versa..

free2ryhme:
Safety first

A welcome maintenance development

This Okechukwu Buhari, na helele. If not for bad belle, the man by now should be a hero in SE

Nobody is wailing yet...

Finance Minister: only 40 million Nigerians pay tax
Posted By: Kofoworola Belo-Osagie and Adenike Abayomi On: December 14, 2017

Out of 70 million taxable adults in Nigeria, only 40 million of them pay taxes, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has said.

She spoke at the first annual lecture of the Lagos State Professorial Chair of Tax and Fiscal Matters held at the Ade-Ajayi Auditorium of the University of Lagos.

Mrs Adeosun who chaired the lecture, said about 13 per cent of the active tax payers have their taxes deducted at source under the Pay as You Earn (PAYE) category.

She said tax policies cannot be rigid and needed regular reviews so that many more of the 30 million defaulters pay their taxes.



She said: “I have kept asking why the 30 million people have refused to pay taxes. Another major challenge is the fact that many Nigerians have other sources of income, yet they are only taxed only through the PAYE. Yet, they earn so much from part-time jobs, and extra businesses.”

According to the minister, new tax policies in the country must capture online businesses, entrepreneurship and others such as the film industry, otherwise regarded as nollywood.

Mrs. Adeosun, who reiterated the importance of taxation to national development, noted that every developed country has a well developed tax policy and that Nigeria cannot be an exception.

In his lecture titled: “Policy, Legal and Administrative Imperatives in the Quest for Eradicating Multiplicity of Taxes (MOT) in Lagos State” Prof Abiola Sanni of the UNILAG Law Faculty, lamented the intractable nature of “the phenomenon called multiplicity of taxes in Nigeria despite the effort aimed at addressing it and need to consider fresh interventions from the dimension of tax policy.”

Sanni said Lagos State had nine tax laws from which the government gets income but a review revealed that only three of them – hotel occupancy and restaurant law, land fees and land use charge, and wharf landing fees law are currently been administered in the state.

He further said the Federal Government should admit that an important aspect of Value Added Tax (VAT) on intra-state supply of goods and services was within the taxing powers of states and should be allowed to use it.

http://thenationonlineng.net/finance-minister-40-million-nigerians-pay-tax/

deomelllo:
Aregbeshola.

Waoh... This is beautiful and impressive. Kudos to Ogebeni Aregbesola and the good people of Osun state

olasaad:
*Jacob Zuma statue in Imo
*Nelson Mandela park in Osun
Who knows next will be Robert Mugabe Stadium in Kaduna.

Nawa for all this our leaders ooo

The Nelson Mandela is just the name of the park and nothing more. This is not comparable to a statue. Osun state residents and other Nigerians will enjoy the park.
Moreover, Nelson Mandela is known worldwide as a symbol of peace, freedom, justice and equality.
The comparison is just wrong.

Chai....There is God o

diadem10:
Exactly. You hit the nail on the head.

They rather prefer to team up with the "illiterate North'' than the educated smart SW because they thought it would be easier to lord over the illiterates than the SW. They never knew that the "born to rule" North would never allow for such despite their illiteracy.

Except for these political powers which the North never let go, Ibos occupied all the juicy federal ministries and jobs because they were literates and had the North's favours while the Yoruba were sidelined in all of these yet they were never satisfied. They wanted powers at all cost and went ahead to plung Nigeria into her first coup, killing every regional leaders in the process except the Ibos!

How they can still play the victim is beyond me.

But they later paid dearly for it through the Civil war. There is a God who watches over the Yorubas... Yorubas are the most liberal and "careless", but whatever pit they dug for us, they end up falling inside it themselves.

diadem10:
Exactly!

They had everything in the 60's. They not only oversaw the affairs of the federal government but were also the ones overseeing most of the jobs in the SW, for example unibadan staffs but they were never contented. They went out to kill every regional leaders except the Ibos, plunged Nigeria into crisis and lost all in the end yet have the nerves to play the victim?

The most annoying was Jonathan's regime. They basically sabotaged the regime and destroyed what could have been.. Very greedy and selfish folks.

Yes you are right. They had everything in the sixties except two things:
(1) Position of the Prime Minister
(2) Visionary and selfless leaders....

Because the North does not have many qualified personnel and the Yorubas have been sidelined, they occupy most of the important ministries and Federal positions.
But while they were busy fighting for and sharing positions, the "illiterate North" was busy industrializing the North. Example is the Kaduna textile, Kainji dam etc...

Very self centered and myopic people.

Hopefully our last match with Zambia or Cameroon will not have K-Leg o. Many Nigerians have started to purchase Russia plane and match ticket already.

diadem10:
Thanks bro.

I don't just understand the Ibos at times. They can dish it out but can't take it in return. Who does that? I'll keep saying that until Ibo tell themselves the absolute truth about the civil war, only then they will heal.

I have taken time to study them too. They are irredeemable. They have some anti social behaviours that beats ones imagination. Greedy and selfish.
Like someone rightly put it. If there are 10 things to share, if the Igbo man does not receive 15, leaving the rest of you to share minus five, he will still believe that he is marginalized. That is how bad their sense of entitlement and victim mentality is.

diadem10:
And who's stopping you from venturing around?

Look here, I don't care whatever the Ibos do! My problem is the way you often play the victims even when you are the ones who started the mayhem in the first place. From 1960 till today, Ibos were the one that destroyed the southern region!

First, Awolowo wanted a secession clause in our constitution but your Zik said No and convinced Ahmadu Bello against such idea. Let me remind you that Bello supported the idea at first until Zik changed his mind!

It was also Ibo that plunged Nigeria into her first coup, killing every regional leaders except Ibo leaders.

It was also an Ibo man, Aguiyi Ironsi that made the unitary decree and truncated our true federalism which is our bane today.

It was Ibo that brought their accursed biafra war into SW and the Mid-west region yet have the audacity to scream blue murder when we treated your fvck up.

It was Ibo that often sidelined other southern region to team up with the North from time memorial. E.g, Ahmadu Bello and Zik in 60's, Shagari and Ekwueme in 80's, Tofa and Ibo in the 90's, Ibo's man million march in solidarity for Abacha to spite the Yoruba who were waging war against Abacha govt and so-on.

It was also Ibo that turned Jonathan against the Yorubas who voted en mass for him. Imagine an Ibo man in the person of Arthur Eze calling Yoruba derogatory name (inconsequential Amala and Ewedu people) in front of the president of several ethnic groups and what's even more annoying? The buffon was seen laughing at our ridicule and stated that Ibo were the pillar of his government. How is that statement different from the 5% statement made by Buhari? At least, Buhari was talking about people that never voted him but how did you justify jonathan's statement when Yorubas actually voted en mass for Jonathan? And you expected Yorubas to vote him once again? Lol.

Ibos have always been the bane of the south and Nigeria as a whole. Your lots behave as "omo ti o rola ri" meaning "a child who behaves as if he has never seen wealth".. Once you have a little power, you will start behaving as Lord and Master and get drunk by it like you did in the 60's and during Jonathan's regime but when people treat your fvck up, you'll start to play the victim. Nobody is stopping you from acting your stupidity like you're known for, just don't play the victim when you're given the same treatment you dish out! Kapish!

I wish I can give you a million likes for this comment.
Kudos!

Only God knows when the 2018 budget will now be passed, as Saraki will continue to use his court case as a bargaining chip to get anything from the executive approved.

desreek9:
They brought it up to remind saraki not to try sh*t with apc
lol

Patience Jonathan was just asked to go and enjoy her loot by another appeal court. Any idea why they gave that judgement? APC and Buhari must be very magnanimous and lenient with Peshe.
How about the judgement that EFCC has no right to arrest and prosecute serving judges? Another APC wonder ba?