https://thestreetjournal.org/lagos-govt-mulls-imposing-tax-on-alcohol-tobacco-gambling/

The Lagos State government is considering an imposition of a State Excise Tax on harmful goods like alcohol and tobacco as well as on betting and gambling.

This is contained in the state government budget performance appraisal report for the 1st quarter of 2023.
According to the report released by the state Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, the government recorded a revenue performance of 76 percent, that is, N269,609bn in the first three months of this year.

To increase revenue, the report said the state must focus on improving its currently low tax penetration and suggests that, “Lagos State impose a ‘State Excise Tax,’ particularly on harmful goods like alcohol and tobacco. These taxes can also be imposed on betting and gambling winnings, an industry worth over $2 billion per annum and rising as well as to establish a Strategic Management Unit to monitor and provide support in delivering all MDA mandates in the Lagos State civil service.”

During the period under review, the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) recorded 87 percent performance while Internally Generated Revenue performed at 36 percent.

With increasing investment towards infrastructural development, the report noted that the state government must begin to look towards creating business opportunities around proposed, ongoing, and established infrastructures.

“The Government must be a first-tier beneficiary of the economic value created by the infrastructures built, in terms of making informed decisions, enforcing regulations and standard of business conducted, generating tax from value added, coordinated infrastructure maintenance, and improved standard of living of its people as opposed to touting and hawking that has characterized most of the city centers and infrastructure sites.

“There is a need to identify State-Owned asset value through third-party claims, then financialize these assets by issuing asset-backed securities. The State must focus on improving its currently low tax penetration,” the report stated.

The report also revealed that recurrent expenditure recorded a performance of 61 percent (N113,227bn), Capex recorded a performance of 75 percent (N191,686bn), while budget performed at 69 percent (N304.913bn).

While raising taxes on one hand to improve revenue generation, the report suggested that the state government must increase spending on projects with the highest rate of social return to stimulate the economy.

“This will help to balance out the effects of raising taxes which often leads to slow economic growth. Total Capital Expenditure closed at 75 percent with Core Capital Expenditure at 79 percent and Repayment at 94 percent.

“Capital expenditure performance as at Q1 looks promising and is a reflection of government enormous spending to reduce infrastructure deficits particularly in the areas transportation, health, and creating a business-friendly environment,” the report added.

The report further revealed that total external debt as at December 2022 stood at $1.25bn, while total debt stock to GDP was 4.5 percent.

Also, total domestic debt as at December 2022 was put at N807.2bn, while domestic debt to external debt during the same period stood at 69 percent. Similarly, total revenue to total debt stock stood at 71.2 percent.

“The debt service to Gross State Income (GSI) ratio in Y2022 is 26.86 percent, a rise of 2.85 percent from Y2021, indicating a good balance between debt and revenue.

“While this may encourage additional borrowing, policymakers must consider the current realities of borrowing costs as global interest rates rise. Our Analysis suggested that the government focus on increasing transparency in debt contracts in order to encourage debt restructuring and build trust among current and future creditor groups,” the report explained further.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in January signed the State’s N1.768 trillion 2023 budget tagged, Budget of Continuity into law.

The 2023 Appropriation Bill has a capital expenditure of N1.019 trillion, representing 58 per cent of the 2023 budget. The recurrent expenditure, representing 42 per cent, is N748 billion, which includes personnel cost, overhead and debt services.

https://thestreetjournal.org/nscdc-arrests-father-for-sexually-assaulting-his-daughter-for-three-years-in-kogi-state/

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kogi Command, has apprehended a 41-year old father for sexually assaulting his 16-year old daughter.

Ahmad Gandi, the state’s Commandant at the NSCDC Command Headquarters, Lokoja, said the command received a complaint lodged by a Non Governmental Organization on May 5.

The complaint was lodged on a case of defilement, rape and incest in which the suspect is a biological father of the victim.

Gandi said that the abusive act continued for three years from 2020 to 2023, since when the victim was 16 years old.

The younger sister to the victim advised her to either commit suicide or kill their father to free themselves from the evil act.
However, their father admitted to committing the act, and would be charged to court after the investigation is concluded.

Gandi applauded the NGO for reporting the case to the command, and pleaded with other victims in the society who were dying in silence to come out and report such cases.

NSCDC refused to reveal the identities and names of both the victim and the suspect due to the sensitivity of the case to avoid victim’s stigmatization.

The victim explained how she has been sexually abused by her father since 2020 after her mother left home.

She further said that in 2021, her father impregnated her and took her to a clinic where they aborted the pregnancy she had for him.

She said she couldn’t leave the house because of her younger sister and was afraid her father could do the same thing to her sister.

Meanwhile, their father admitted to have committed the act, and confessed that he actually dis-flowered his daughter.

He said he was hypnotized after his wife left him in 2020.

He said committed the act but doesn’t know how he did it.

He further stated how he loves his wife so much and begged her to come back home but she never did for the past three years.

Mr Abdulrasak Ibrahim, the Executive Director of the NGO, the Islamic Centre for Communication and Creative Thought (ItrippleCT), applauded the NSCDC for doing a fantastic job by swinging into action to arrest the suspect.

Ibrahim emphasized that after hearing about the issue, the victim was immediately relocated to a safe place from her father’s house to protect her from further abuse.

Speaking on the matter, the Chairperson, Federation of Women Lawyer, Kogi, Barr Lilian Okolo and Amb. Idris Muraina, the Chairman, Kogi Network of NGO, also applauded the NSCDC for their diligence in handling the case.

Okolo assured that FIDA would make sure that the suspect was brought to justice to serve as warning to other irresponsible fathers out there.

Muraina also assured that the NGOs in Kogi would continue to put professionalism into play in such cases to ensure that the right of the girl-child was protected and that justice would always be served.