Not a few business owners in Nigeria have deliberately refused to register their companies to avoid multiple taxation and pointless dues. Aside from the general income tax, there are self-employment, sales, employment, and taxes resting on their necks.

To make matters worse, the business owners also have to provide their own infrastructure, from power to security. The situation is frustrating the country’s business environment and ‘ease of doing business’ ratings, thus repelling investors and stiffening business growth for many entrepreneurs.

Chairman and founder of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu, corroborated this point when he raised an alarm that the average Nigerian business pays 48 taxes. Until when do we have to tolerate this?

Read full article on: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/26/the-burden-of-over-taxation-on-nigerian-businesses/

The wave of reforms sweeping through Nigeria’s security apparatus has touched on the working hours of police officers and their right to use bullet guns. Police officers in Nigeria have been embroiled in countless allegations of extrajudicial killings and indiscriminate use of guns, but this latest move could be just about to truly reverse that.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/26/policereform-as-inspector-general-of-police-introduces-8-working-hours-and-stun-guns-for-nigerias-police-officers/

Not a few business owners in Nigeria have deliberately refused to register their companies to avoid multiple taxation and pointless dues. Aside from the general income tax, there are self-employment, sales, employment, and taxes resting on their necks.

To make matters worse, the business owners also have to provide their own infrastructure, from power to security. The situation is frustrating the country’s business environment and ‘ease of doing business’ ratings, thus repelling investors and stiffening business growth for many entrepreneurs.

Chairman and founder of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu, corroborated this point when he raised an alarm that the average Nigerian business pays 48 taxes. Until when do we have to tolerate this?

Read full article on: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/26/the-burden-of-over-taxation-on-nigerian-businesses/

For anyone who is familiar with the excesses of security agents in Nigeria, they will agree that many of them might truly be sick psychologically. If that’s not the case, how else will one justify a police officer who deliberately shot an innocent citizen dead just for asking a question?

We’ve had quite many terrible tales to tell of security operatives unleashing mayhem on Nigerians for no justifiable reason. The #PoliceBrutality and #EndSARS campaigns swept through the country for the most of last year, and this gave birth to the reform of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

But still, the remnants of police brutality are still much around. And it’s not just the police force. The nation’s armed forces, civil defence corps, the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agents (NDLEA), the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), and the Customs, all have their share of appalling excesses that digress from their lawful responsibilities, such that one would wonder if they are mentally stable...

Read full article: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/25/urgent-need-for-psychological-assessment-of-nigerias-security-agents/

Despite the government’s effort to make things right with electronic communication, promote transparency and keep frauds way, two-thirds of SIM cards are currently not captured. The bulk of this blame falls on SIM registration agents that appear in every corner of the country, who registers users the wrong way or connive with people to do fraudulent registration.

Efosa Idehen, NCC’s director for compliance monitoring and enforcement, explained that such perpetrators of fraudulently registered SIM cards will be charged with ‘felony’ and risk a 25-year jail term.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/25/sim-registration-fraud-95-million-nigerians-may-be-liable-to-25-years-imprisonment/

The nation was thrown into outrage on hearing the claims of Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, that there’s nothing like doctors insufficiency in the country. His position was that there’s nothing wrong with doctors leaving Nigeria en masse, since we have more than enough to cater to our 200 million-strong population.

Ngige’s claims are clear indications that the Federal Government has no idea about the challenges facing the nation’s health sector, which have made it impossible for many medical personnel to perform at optimum level. Many hospitals are grounded with old equipment and structures, among other woos.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/24/ngige-fg-has-lost-touch-with-the-reality-of-nigerias-health-sector/

Nigerians won’t quickly forget the craze and frenzy that greeted the popular Ponzi scheme, MMM in 2016. Ponzi schemes are investment scams promising high rates of return for older investors, but they do that with funds from new investors. This makes is prone to collapse at any moment, leaving investors with huge losses to bear.

Mavrodi Mondial Movement (MMM) came into Nigeria in 2016, with a promise of a 30% return on investment within a month. It quickly garnered 600, 000 registered members, who considered it a wonder bank. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and a few other financial agencies launched the #Don’tDoIt campaign to dissuade greedy Nigerians, but it all fell on deaf ears.

Earlier this week, the EFCC arrested one Babagana Dalori, for defrauding no fewer than 27, 400 Nigerians to the tune of about N7 billion through fake promises of mouth-watering returns on their investment in his companies.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/24/unsatisfied-with-the-outcome-of-mmm-nigerians-squander-another-n7bn-on-ponzi-scheme/

No thanks to the reign of malpractices in almost all the examinations in Nigeria, our academic qualifications have been put to question globally. Higher institutions are filled with students who may have had their secondary school leaving examinations, or university entry tests written on their behalf.

The failure to curb this menace until now could be traced to the absence of administrative “or political” will to put measures in place to prevent cheating in exams. Examinations centres, schools and supervisors have also been complicit in the crime, thus making it more stringent to tame.

But now, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the organisers of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), have launched a project that could totally kill students’ interest in examination malpractice.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/23/jamb-set-to-rid-nigeria-of-examination-fraud-with-10-year-probe-of-utme/

While Nigeria is yet celebrating the little victories over Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, the nation is being held active by blood-thirsty bandits whose notoriety is more daring, with every part of the North feeling their heat. Both the states and the federal government had initially thought these were mere criminals until death counts started numbering hundreds. It was then that the military were deployed to tackle the menace.

The killings, kidnappings and attacks were definitely gruesome, especially in Zamfara, where the bandits wreaked the most havoc. But what is more disheartening was the news that some traditional rulers are conniving with the bandits to perpetrate crimes.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/23/zamfara-attacks-emirs-allegedly-selling-out-their-own-subjects-for-selfish-gains/

On virtually every Nigerian street you get to, you will find retailers selling drugs and medicinal products, popularly called chemists. The bulk of them are operating unregistered, and owning a shop only takes a few months of apprenticeship in a pharmacy store. This provides an avenue to produce and sell fake, unregistered drugs and contrabands.

No thanks to this menace, Nigerians have become prone to high mortality rates, morbidity, and loss of public confidence in the health sector. It’s even worse that these drugs manage to find their way into health centres and some standard pharmacy stores. The convincing packaging won’t enable just anyone to spot the fake ones.

Unfortunately, the two major agencies in the country charged with the responsibility of preventing both the production and the proliferation of fake drugs, have failed to protect Nigerians.

Read full article: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/19/nafdac-and-ndlea-are-to-blame-for-the-proliferation-of-fake-drugs-in-nigeria/

Investors couldn’t trust the Buhari administration to drive economic growth or implement the right policies for ease-of-doing business and investor protection. There is also insecurity on one hand, and various global reports of slow growth about Nigeria. The atmosphere just wasn’t favourable enough for anyone to commit his billions.

Now that Nigerians have re-elected Buhari for another four years, his officials are making moves to sell the ‘fertility’ of Nigeria to foreign investors.

Lai Mohammed, who is currently in the United States to woo investors, has been lying about realities in the country.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/19/wooing-foreign-investors-with-propaganda-only-makes-nigeria-look-stupid/

In countries such as the United States, China and a few others, an electric car is the new gold.

Companies like Tesla are disrupting the car-making industry with this innovation, forcing Ford, General Motors, and other major manufacturers, to also open laboratories for non-gasoline cars.

However, Nigeria may remain at the backseat of this global pace longer than one would have thought, as senators rejected a bill ro introduce electric cars into the country.

Read the full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/18/the-nigerian-senate-flushes-out-the-prospect-of-having-electric-cars-in-nigeria/

Nigerians have long been calling for the restructuring of the Nigerian Police (NP). The campaign was fuelled by police brutalities and unprofessionalism that were very rife until recent months. But the argument eventually shifted focus on the inefficiency of the police force because of certain elements its 42-year old act.

The Senate Chief Whip, Olusola Adeyeye, recently said that the current form of the Nigerian Police will never provide us with the needed peace and security, urging his colleagues to pass a police reform bill before the expiration of the 8th Senate.

Sequel to this, the Senate, on Wednesday, passed a bill seeking to reform the Nigeria police force.

The adopted bill has eight key clauses, which will implement major changes on the running of the NP and conduct of police officers.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/18/policereform-newly-passed-bill-introduces-eight-items-to-restore-the-efficiency-of-the-nigerian-police/

To an average Nigerian, we have only one natural resource, and that’s crude oil. The Nigerian government has made it seem so with its 50-year reliance on oil as the nation’s stream of revenue.

We’ve spent years investing and re-investing in oil exploration, refineries and facilities maintenance so much that we left other lucrative minerals including gold, diamond, bitumen and copper untapped. Perhaps it’s evidence of the incapacity of Nigerian leaders to implement strategies for revenue mobilisation.

Nigeria lost about ₦353bn in gold smuggled out of the country and sold in the international market between 2016 and 2018 without any revenue accruing to the government.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/17/gold-mining-fgs-nonchalant-attitude-causing-nigeria-huge-economic-losses/

Not a few Nigerians in the diaspora have soiled the country’s name through crimes and other various ignoble deeds. One of these conducts is staying illegally in these countries, which may now earn Nigeria visa restrictions from the United States.

President Donald Trump is said to be considering imposing travel restrictions on countries including Nigeria whose citizens often overstay short-term visitor visa, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ

While President Trump and the United States has every right to make rules for their visa issuance, such restriction would extend to too many innocent Nigerians, who have always been law-abiding.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/17/visa-overstay-united-states-punishing-nigerians-for-the-mistakes-of-a-few/

Four months after a panel set up by the Federal Government to investigate the crisis in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) recommended the immediate dismissal of the Executive Secretary of the agency, Prof Usman Yusuf, the presidency has kept an ignoble silence on the case.

The NHIS crisis began in 2017 when Yusuf was accused by members of staff and the organised labour of diverting public funds to private use. He was also said to have brought in 13 officers from other government agencies and gave them undue promotion.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/16/nhis-crisis-four-months-after-his-indictment-why-has-the-presidency-refused-to-sanction-usman-yusuf/

When reports started flying one week ago about impending fuel scarcity, the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were quick to dismiss it as a mere rumour. The NNPC claimed to have enough petrol to supply Nigerians for up to a month.

It was in the heat of this that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) charged Nigeria to do away with fuel subsidy in the interest of its development. Since the call, the Buhari administration has vaguely implied that subsidy will eventually be a thing of the past.

The palpable tension the FG’s stance brought to the petroleum industry, led to a national fuel shortage, which has created long queues for the product in different parts of the country.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/15/how-federal-governments-subsidy-delusion-brought-back-fuel-scarcity/

The failure of successive governments to put our refineries to full use could only imply that the Federal Government can’t efficiently handle the business administration involved.

Unfortunately, the current administration doesn’t seem to have learnt from this precedent, with its insistence on funding the renovation of the nation’s refineries as a government enterprise.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/15/nigeria-wasting-billions-of-naira-by-refusing-to-privatise-refineries/

The administration of President Buhari has fallen short of many expectations, but his approach to youth unemployment is perhaps the most deplorable. The percentage of out-of-job youths has more than doubled in the last three years, as the economic condition remains stagnant.

This is evident in the spate of crimes, financial frauds, youth restiveness, cultism and rise in poverty. The Federal Government has been complacent with the absence of appropriate policy to address the issue of unemployment. Instead of focusing on resolving this, Buhari and his team have insisted that the unemployment figure is only a ruse.

Their position was that recent developments in the agricultural sector have created several jobs, but all figures and statistics from the labour market have proven this wrong. Amidst all this back-and-forth, youth employment has now reached the point of crisis.

Now, the Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr Dikko Radda, has just corroborated this when he commented that the unemployment situation in Nigeria had reached a crisis level.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/12/youth-unemployment-becoming-a-national-crisis/

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on Nigeria to remove fuel subsidy in its totality to give room for more funds for citizen-centric projects in areas such as healthcare, power, and infrastructure.

Fuel subsidy has been an issue of contention in Nigeria for a while now, and it has been virtually impossible for successive governments to take any rash step on it, irrespective of their reasons.

Recall the national revolt that greeted the subsidy removal of January 2012. Pump price jumped to ₦142 from the erstwhile ₦65. From the Nigerian Labour Congress to the private sector and transport workers, the country was grounded, to compel then President Jonathan to reverse his decision to remove fuel subsidy.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/12/imf-nigerias-economic-growth-could-be-impossible-without-removing-fuel-subsidy/

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, came on board the party’s leadership with the drive to instil political sanity, party supremacy and discipline in party members. He has crossed many hurdles successfully, including defeating Ogun and Imo state governors, Ibikunle Amosun and Rochas Okorocha, who disrespected the party.

But the party chairman’s overbearing influence on the leadership of the 9th Senate could undo all his achievements until now.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/11/9th-senate-oshiomholes-excesses-could-become-apcs-undoing/

Nigeria’s startup ecosystem experienced a unique spring of new technology companies between 2015 and 2016, with the likes of PayStack, Kobo360 and many more coming on board. Millions of dollars also rolled into the country, and Nigeria was appearing to become Africa’s next ICT hub after Kenya.

However, of the scores that cropped up, I’ve highlighted a handful (in no particular order) that has kept mouths opened, and businesses awake through disruptive technologies.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/10/10-tech-companies-disrupting-nigerias-startup-ecosystem/

Considering Nigeria’s reliance on the oil and gas industry, one would expect that the Federal Government would do everything to ensure 100% productivity in the sector. However, the reverse has been the case, with the situation getting worse with each passing year.

One challenge is the insecurity and gas flaring that have restricted daily production to 2 million barrels per day, but government’s reluctance and a poor approach to revitalising the sector has a much worse effect.

Nigeria has seven basins, namely Anambra, Benin, Benue, Bida, Chad, Niger Delta...

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/08/nigerias-oil-industry-confined-to-50-output-as-over-200-oil-blocks-remain-inactive/

Some events occur in Nigeria that can’t possibly happen in another country. One big example of that is the case of expatriates who assault Nigerians, usually their staffs, and get away with it most of the times.

In an apparent insult on our rights as Nigerians, a Turkish national, identified as Yalcin Oktem, allegedly stabbed the accountant of Slavabogu Construction Company, Oluwaseun Ojo, in Osogbo, Osun State. He claimed Ojo disrespected him.

The story began on April 3, 2019, when Yalcin allegedly approached Ojo for money to purchase drugs, which was given to him.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/08/the-alarming-rate-of-foreigners-assaulting-nigerians-in-nigeria/

The global business database, GlobalEDGE put Nigeria’s total import volume at over $31bn as of 2017. With trade balance also hovering above $13bn, it’s obvious that the country has been overly reliant on importation in many areas.

A significant contributor to this is the petroleum sector. Nigeria produces over 2 million barrels of crude oil per day, but less than 10% is refined locally. That means, after extracting crude oil from the delta, we’ve always had to export it to foreign countries, who then refine the product, and sell back to us.

However, the oil refinery being constructed by Dangote Industries Limited could reverse this significantly, by bridging the trade balance by $2bn each year. This was revealed in a recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/05/dangotes-650000-bpd-refinery-could-reduce-nigerias-export-dependence-by-2bn/

Since the economic recession ended in 2017, one would expect the federal government to concentrate on sustaining itself and touching the lives of citizens positively. But instead of that, we’ve adopted a new public finance style that relies on borrowing. It’s more worrisome that the rate of debt continues to increase year-on-year.

In the latest debt profile report released by the Debt Management Office (DMO, Nigeria’s total debt profile as of December 31, 2018, now stands at ₦ 24.387 trillion (trn). This implies a 12.25 per cent increase, from ₦ 21.725 trn in 2017 to ₦ 24.39 trn in 2018. That’s an additional ₦2 66 trn within a year only.

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/05/₦24-4-trillion-public-debt-nigeria-now-surviving-on-borrowed-funds/

Despite the economic challenges facing Nigeria, those who take out time to address one or more of the country’s pressing challenges deserve some accolades. Some students of Caro Favoured Schools in Lagos have just taken steps to help government address road traffic in the nation’s commercial hub.

Lagos is widely known to be plagued by congested roads. It has become a norm with the majority of roads in the city, and the fear of the resultant stress is enough to discourage anyone from relocating there. But the students manage to find a connecting point between the traffic, and poor functionality of traffic lights.

To solve this, the four high school students, who are all from Ajegunle, a remote area of Lagos State, manufactured hand-held solar-powered traffic lights to ease off traffic congestion on roads.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/04/tech-innovation-high-school-students-produce-mobile-traffic-light-to-decongest-lagos-roads/

Nigerian workers have been agitating for an increase in minimum wage for more than a year now, but the government has been dragging its feet to improve workers’ welfare by granting their request. From the proposed ₦56,000, it got down to ₦30,000. Despite this, the minimum wage has remained on paper only

Is the president still concerned about workers' welfare?

Read full article here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/04/president-buhari-handling-the-minimum-wage-issue-with-a-baba-go-slow-approach/

Thanks to the economic slowdown, insecurity and perceived government incompetence, international companies are moving their billions of dollars outside of Nigeria. Global oil firm, Exxon Mobil joined the exodus by suspending operations at the peak of the recession of 2017.

Now, about two and a half years after the supposed temporary exit from Nigeria’s downstream oil sector, ExxonMobil is planning to sell off some oil and gas fields in the country.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/03/foreign-investments-slump-further-as-exxon-mobil-finalises-divestment-from-nigeria/

The Federal Government on Tuesday expressed its frustration and sadness over the execution of a Nigerian woman who was convicted of a drug-related offence in Saudi Arabia. The Nigerian was executed by Saudi authorities alongside four other nationals, including two Pakistani men and a Yemeni man.

Saudi Arabia has executed 53 people this year alone for drug-related offences. As a sovereign country, the Arab nation is free to make its laws, without recourse to sentiments from other countries, like Nigeria is currently doing.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/03/death-for-drug-trafficking-nigerias-anger-cant-stop-saudi-from-implementing-its-laws/

Until late 2016, the last time Nigerians enjoy stable pump price for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, was under former president Umar Musa Yar’adua between 2007 and 2010. Before then, and years after, we’ve had to grapple with hikes in prices and biting fuel scarcity at different times of each year.

It wasn’t resolved until the administration of President Buhari offset the bulk of fuel subsidy from government shoulder, raising the pump price from ₦87 to ₦145, but with a stable supply. With the majority of the citizens believing in the president, the price has remained at that for almost three years now.

Unfortunately, private depot owners in the country are about to sabotage this feat. The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) raised the alarm that some stakeholders are increasing the cost of a litre of fuel for marketers.

Read full story here:https://qwenu.com/2019/04/02/fuel-conspiracies-depot-owners-conspiring-to-make-nigerians-pay-more-for-petrol/

The North Eastern part of Nigeria has been under the siege of Boko Haram terrorists for a decade now. Successive government have failed to tame the evil, which has cost about 30,000 lives, and leaving more than 2 million others displaced.

It was one of the campaign promises of President Buhari to restore peace to this region, and his government has insisted on the technical defeat of Boko Haram since 2016. While there have been reduced attacks on civilians, this claim of victory has been rubbished by repeated attacks on military bases, including one in 2016 where more than 100 soldiers died.

This has been blamed on the remnants of insurgents who are hiding in forests and game reserves in the northeast. The military has now launched a new offensive to rid these forests of insurgents, a development believed to be a final blow to the jihadists.

Read full story here: https://qwenu.com/2019/04/02/war-against-terrorism-nigerian-army-launches-final-offensive-against-boko-haram-insurgency/