Joel3:
...


N23,000 X 500,000 = N11,500,000,000 Per Month (Red Flag)

N11,500,000,000 X 12 = N133,000,000,000 Per Year (Red Flag)

N133,000,000,000 X 2 = N276,000,000,000 Two Years. (Red Flag)

Where will the federal government get all this money from?

This NPower scheme didn't reflect in the national budget. some body should help me with where is this money coming from?

honmusa:
You can as well use you trusted scan tool to diagnose alternator issue.
Follow this simple procedure
1.Start you engine and plug your obd2 scan tool in the appropriate obd2 DLC.
2 .On your scan tool ,look for PID for alternator voltage and observe the reading .On idle with no load ,the voltage is expected to be well above 13volts.
3.Then try load your car by turning on the accessories one by one and observe the voltage reading ,
4.Note that if there should be drastic reduction of alternator voltage to near the battery voltage ,the alternator need to be changed .
5.A good alternator should fall slightly in value and maintain the same voltage with increase in load.

that all ,

Sequel to the post on “How to sell a used car”, I feel obliged to also be the buyer advocate in order to sensitize buyers of Nigerian used cars the things to look out for when making a purchase.

If you are buying a used car, you really need to understand that there are reasons of which the owner wants to sell it and you should really have and cross-check that information. If there is no way for you to verify the information, don’t believe it yet. Just take it with a grain of salt and proceed to check out the following:

State of maintenance: This should be on top of the list when buying used cars. You need to evaluate the general state of the car and how it has been maintained and taken care of. When you take a look at a car, you can tell if it has been well taken care of. Is there a dirt or trash all over the interior? How about the body? Is there dents everywhere that is too numerous to count? Cars are meant to take us from point A to B but some people are so rough and many others tend to take their problems and frustrations on their car. To buttress this point, we often hear car dealers selling used cars saying that a particular car was used by a woman and thus had no issues. This is because of the general belief that women are gentler and will probably not use their cars in a rough manner. However, this might be a bit misleading because many people who want to sell their used car will subject it to thorough washing and cleaning but with a little bit of experience and thorough observation, you can spot the difference.

Budget: So many people have made the mistake of driving a car that is beyond their means. For instance, you see a car that will normally cost between 2.5m to 3m but because one ‘yahoo boy’ has ran out of cash and needed to fling one of his cars to remain afloat, he sold it for about 800k or you bought a used SUV for quite less amount that it normally would have cost. This is really where the problem starts. A lot of times this luxury cars comes with luxury problems that your not-so luxury pocket can take care of. You might pay a token or less to purchase the car but the real cost of the car is in the operation, the maintenance, and the repair. Most luxury cars consume more fuel per mile and if any part fails and needs to be replaced, that could set you back financially. Overtime you’ll find out that you are not really driving that car. The car is “driving” you and is driving you so crazy that you wish that you never purchased it in the first place. So make sure you buy a used car within your means. A car that you can fuel and maintain without going broke. So budgeting is not just about what you can afford now. It’s also about operation of the car and being able to maintain the car at the long run. Any car that you cannot maintain is beyond your means. It doesn’t matter whether you purchased and paid for it the first time.

Get a specialist: Don’t just get any mechanic to check the used car you want to buy. Get a specialist in the type of car you are about to purchase to check it out. If possible, pay the specialist to do a thorough a job. He should pay attention to things like engine, transmission, the cooling system, the exhaust system among other things.

To recap, a car you wish to buy should do what’s it’s intended to do. Take you where you want to go, it’s reliable and most importantly doesn’t cost you much in repairs and maintenance. Do you love SUVs? This is not meant to discourage you but just a pointer to what you’ll likely experience. If you have driven other cars such as the Honda Civic or Nissan Altima, you’ll find out the huge difference with the SUVs when it comes to fuel consumption. SUVs are so thirsty no matter the season. The thing I do tell people is this – if you can look at the big SUV tires and go to a tire shop and buy a new one without fussing, maybe you can maintain an SUV otherwise leave it alone. Another recommendation, do not buy an SUV as your first car and let it not be your only car. It is advisable to have a second but smaller car and use the SUV sparingly and occasionally. So be practical about purchasing a used car. Do your homework.

Have you purchased a nigerian used car before? How long has it served you? Let us know your experience.

Source:http://carblognaija.com/how-to-buy-a-nigerian-used-car/

dearpreye:


I fault your comment on the Chelsea bridge linking Elelewon; that bridge is very far from being completed.

shevon:



In as much as I am happy with the road being commissioned due to the reconstruction currently going on on YKC-Alcon Road, the commissioner for works should drop this lie about the Wike administration inheriting the road at the earth work stage. The brgide was already 90% completed before Amechi left, it was just the circular road axis that was complete like 6months ago.

Report Outlines Funding Of Secessionist Movements Across Africa By Corporation

A report, obtained by SaharaReporters, condemns the actions of the Canadian company Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd. The report, entitled Crude Exploitation, and written by Maria Fsadni, accuses Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd of purchasing oil and mineral assets worth billions from secessionist groups across sub-Saharan Africa from 2012 to 2014.

Among the nations listed were Angola, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. The report argues that the terms of these deals may incentivise violent conflict in these regions. For example, the deal struck in Cameroon included a clause requiring the separatist group to achieve “full independence” encouraged the separatist group to ignore peaceful methods of settling their grievances.

Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd argued that all funds they dispersed were earmarked for education, diplomacy, humanitarian, and legal purposes. However, Ms. Fsadni noted that several of the separatist movements which signed deals with Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd have violent histories.

According to the Crude Exploitation Report, the secretive nature of many of these dealings makes it exceedingly difficult to ascertain the true intentions of Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd or the separatist groups. The report also questioned the company’s ability to aid these groups in the development of their oil and mineral resources.

The possibility of other corporations following in the footsteps of Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd was also raised.

Ms. Fsadni called for Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd to release more information regarding their dealings with these separatist groups as well as all of the terms and conditions of these arrangements.

The full report can be viewed here.

The full press release of the report can be viewed below:

Listed company buys multibillion dollar oil assets from separatist movements

Publicly listed company, Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd, claims to have bought multimillion and multibillion oil assets from secessionist groups across sub-Saharan Africa in eight oil and mineral deals from 2012 to 2014. A report released this week reveals that these opaque agreements may be incentivising violent conflict in these regions and would deprive the potential independent states of much of the benefit of their natural resources.

The company has bought up rights to some of the most valuable mineral assets in the world in regions like the Angolan enclave of Cabinda and in Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. The company claims it is buying these rights from ‘governments’ of new states, in reality these groups are separatist movements who have yet to achieve independence or gain control over the assets they are selling.

Kilimanjaro Capital claims that funds are contractually earmarked for education, diplomacy, humanitarian and legal purposes with royalty funds being subject to audit and escrow requirements. However several of the separatist movements identified as signing deals with Kilimanjaro Capital have violent histories. In the case of Cameroon the requirement of the deal to achieve full independence incentivises the movement to ignore the peaceful alternatives recommended by the international community.

Kilimanjaro argues that this is a positive move for the countries involved, yet the identity of those they are buying rights from is often elusive or hidden, and the way they describe these partners misleading. This opacity raises concerns that private individuals could be benefiting at the expense of citizens.

There is also little evidence to indicate the company’s financial capability or expertise to develop oil and mineral resources. There is a lack of transparency around the terms and conditions of the agreements. It is unclear therefore what the company really intends to do with its assets if these movements were to achieve national independence.

This raises questions over whether these deals reflect the best interests of citizens in a potential newly founded state. It also raises the question of where the company’s money is being spent; whether it could be subsidising violence in these regions. These findings should be of concern to the international community as the company attempts to lay claim to some of the largest oil assets on the continent.

These questions can only be dispelled by making more information publicly available about this company, which individuals signed these deals and a full disclosure of all terms and conditions of these agreements.

“The fundamental question left is what is to stop other companies following Kilimanjaro? There is no clear legal precedent internationally, so apart from the obvious financial risks, what is to stop a company buying natural resources from a rebel movement and altering the course of history purely for its own profit?” says Maria Fsadni, author of the report.

“These questions can only be dispelled by making more information publicly available about this company, who they made deals with and a full disclosure of all the terms of these agreements,“ added Fsadni.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/11/27/report-outlines-funding-secessionist-movements-across-africa-corporation

Mortiple:
Umu agbogho Igbo na emebo kwanu Ndigbo ogenile.

andresia:


bia nwokem, have you no shame?

“The customer is always right.” This expression has been drilled into the psyche of most established businesses so much so that budding business owners simply have no choice but to kowtow to the very many unreasonable demands of their clients. But the truth is, the customer is not always right, and to think otherwise can lead to a grievous disservice to your business and to your clients as well.
Most business owners still adopt this expression simply because they fear that if they act or say otherwise, the customer or client might leave and they lose the business. Therefore, many generations of business owners have sustained this erroneous belief to agree with the customer every step of the way. Here are a few scenarios that may result when you do that:

– When the customers are aware that you don’t hold or defend your position, you risk being bullied by customers, receive your payments late or even lose payment for services rendered, inadvertently hurting your business.

– You might end up producing a low-grade, inferior work that is below the known standard of your business, just because a customer made terrible design demands. But remember, your product speaks for you and your brand. People do not care to know what went down between you and your customer before the production to warrant such an inferior output from you.

Read the full gist here https://www.jamoobizpages.com/the-customer-is-right-not-always-2/

3 Principles you need to succeed in any business

Regardless of the type and nature of your business, the success of any business rests on three basic principles. Though unaware of it, many business owners or entrepreneurs have followed these principles and have been very successful in their business venture. Others have neglected it or are ignorant of it resulting in business failures. Success can be reduced to a formula. And failure can also be reduced to a formula. You need to apply the one and avoid the other. Success can truly be yours when you understand and employ these three basic business principles:

1. Inspiration – As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, inspiration is “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.” Inspiration is that 'somebody' or 'something' that makes you want to be better, more successful; the reason why you want to create or do something. It is the passionate, burning desire that emanates from the core of your being that leads to the fulfillment of a goal. Inspiration is that which motivates you to act.

Often we see inspiration as something that occurs in a flash or by accident. However, as the Dictionary states, inspiration is a process – a constant process of re-alignment and re-evaluation. So many things can be a source of inspiration and people can be inspired in different ways. People, things and situations can be a source of inspiration. Coming from a poor background can be a source of inspiration for you and motivates you into success. Seeing other people who have succeeded in your line of business can also inspire you into action.

The best form of inspiration occurs when you are totally dissatisfied - dissatisfied with the present state of things in your life, in your family, in your community or in the country. Inspiration can come as a result of your dissatisfaction of the way your business is running. Being dissatisfied converts the magic of desire into reality. To be dissatisfied, you must want something so badly that’ll you’ll do something very positive to try to get it. It is hard and sometimes impossible to inspire those who ‘feel’ satisfied. Inspiration is very key to the success of your business. It keeps you on your toes, energizes you and keeps you focused towards your goal.

What is it that lights you up or wakes you in the middle of the night? Once you can get a grasp on it, stay with it and use it to inspire yourself into action.

2. Knowledge – Let’s get back to the Dictionary again. Knowledge is “the information, understanding and skills that you gain through education or experience.” It’s that state of knowing a particular fact or situation or simply the knowing about something or how to do something.

Do you have a firm knowledge of the business you are engaged in? Do you know the processes involved in your business from start to finish? If you are a manufacturer, do you know the sources and alternative sources of your raw materials? If one or two of your raw materials is scarce, is there a good alternative you can leverage on without adversely affecting the quality of your finished product? What about bookkeeping? Many businesses fail because the owners are so impatient to learn the rudiments of the business or acquire the knowledge that would have helped them succeed in the business.

How can you acquire knowledge? Simple! By learning from those who are willing to teach, from other’s experiences, and from books. Concentrate your efforts in gaining from those who are willing to teach you and from books. You can gain knowledge from experience when you are inspired into action. Knowledge can also be gotten from history and by casual observations of events around you. But these various sources of knowledge need to be organized in order to be useful. In other words, you must know what you know. It takes less work to succeed than to fail when you have the right knowledge about your business.

To acquire knowledge, ask advice from the man who can give it, and remember, almost anything can be found in a book. It’s never too late to learn – so never you stop learning.

3. Know-how - If knowledge is knowing how to do something, know-how is doing that something the right way, repeatedly, with skill and effectiveness and with little time and effort. In other words, know-how is the application of knowledge successfully and repeatedly. It’s a habit and evolves naturally from experience. Know-how is one of the three principles of business success. It develops through practice. It is said that practice makes perfect – for practice develops skill and technique through the application of knowledge. Practice overcomes handicaps. Through practice and repeated efforts, failure is turned into success and every setback is turned into a resounding comeback.

When you master these principles, you’ll discover that it takes less work to succeed than to fail. It takes less time to achieve success when you concentrate your thought and effort to acquire the necessary knowledge, know-how and inspiration to achieve your business goals and objective.

Ignorance of these three principles or failure to use them is the reason many a person who is successful in one business or endeavor may be a failure in another. Many successful people in a business or profession often fail in a new venture. These are people who have gained skill through experience and have risen to the top of their career. But when they find themselves in a new business, they fail to acquire the needed knowledge and experience to succeed in the new venture. Those who recognize and apply these three principles always succeed in any business they venture. They are those we often recognize as having the Midas touch. We say that whatever they touch turns into gold. They are not doing anything extra-ordinary. They merely apply their knowledge, know-how, and are inspired to action in whatever business they do.

Finally, the three principles are a trio and it wouldn’t be if you fail to apply any of the constituent parts. They must go together.

Source: https://jamoopages.com/3-principles-you-need-to-succeed-in-any-business/

If You Love Credible Elections, Then You Must Thank The Rivers State Governorship Tribunal By Chinedu Ekeke

The tribunal empanelled to determine the issues and complaints that trailed the Rivers state governorship election, headed by the very Honourable Justice Suleiman Ambrosa, took a clear departure from the onslaught his colleagues in so many other governorship tribunals had been mounting on Nigeria’s efforts to deepen her democracy, with very laughable pronouncements.

In judgements that pretended that the matters before them were about 2003 or even 2007 elections, the judges completely disrespected the kernel of the historic 2015 elections: Card Readers and INEC’s guidelines on their use.

In a jurisdiction where lots of judges had been compromised by politicians in the past, it is difficult not to conclude that many of the tribunals sold justice to the highest bidder and thereafter sought to tie their judgements to technicalities.

Take as example the same case of Rivers state election tribunal. Justice Suleiman Ambrosa was not the original chairman of the panel. It used to be headed by a judge called Mu’azu Pindiga. But he was later removed by the President of Court of Appeal. (The Court of Appeal President is the officer who constitutes members of state election tribunals). And that removal was not for want of what to do. Sahara Reporters reported that Mr Pindiga was bribed by Nyesom Wike, the PDP governor of Rivers state whose declaration by INEC was being challenged by the APC candidate in the election. That report by Sahara Reporters stated that Pindiga was bribed with N200 million to thwart justice and uphold Wike’s election. The report also said that the Department of State Security had a proof of this bribery, and they showed it to the Court of Appeal President before he got convinced to remove Pindiga as the tribunal chairman.

Curiously, such publication bothers on defamation of character, and a judge so accused, if innocent, would be expected to seek redress in court. Justice Pindiga hasn’t uttered a word since then, which suggests admission of guilt. It is likely that the evidence against him is weighty, and to save himself further embarrassment, he took to silence, hoping the news gets forgotten soon.

You can tell that if Muazu Pindiga had been allowed to continue with the case, he would have upheld Nyesom Wike’s election – adjudged by both local and international observers to have fallen short of every known standard for a free and fair election. And in upholding it, he would have had the law as an easy excuse. ‘The petitioner could not prove his case beyond reasonable doubt’. And as has always happened in the past, the rest of us will be advised to look elsewhere for whom to blame, that the law is an ass, and that the justices of the tribunal did the right thing.

Since the judgements started pouring in, one could sense that some sections of the judiciary are reluctant to cleanse themselves of their immediate past; a past steeped in corruption.
It is inconceivable that with the success we made of the 2015 elections, certain tribunals boldly rejected a special recognition of the single factor behind the success of that election.

When Justice Theresa Egoche of the Ebonyi governorship petition tribunal was reading her judgement upholding the election of the PDP governor in the state, she made a strange pronouncement that would have been laughable, but for the seriousness of the matter. Her tribunal held that the INEC electoral guidelines were mere instructions and had no force of law against the offenders/defaulters and as such cannot be a ground to challenge an election. She noted that a breach in the electoral guideline as alleged by the petitioner cannot be a ground to nullify the election.

In other words, INEC guidelines should be discountenanced in an election that only INEC is the only lawfully empowered institution to organize. Nobody should bother to heed INEC’s rules. If you can kill everybody to get elected, please do; the courts are there to help you insist that only the wordings spelt out in the Electoral Act have the force of law. See how far people can go in trying to justify the unjustifiable!

Apart from Justice Theresa’s pronouncement, another tribunal of interest was that of Akwa Ibom. Ishaq Umar of the governorship petition tribunal, while reading his judgement of confusion, made a pronouncement that reduced the card readers to naught, dismissing INEC press statement that mandated the use of card readers as the only legitimate means of voter verification.

This judge declared before an open court, that INEC’s ‘’press release concerning the card reader report is null and void, as it offended (?) the provisions of Section 49 of the Electoral Act which deals with the process of accreditation in an election.’’

Of course he went ahead to nullify elections in 18 out of 31 local governments of the state, but remained silent on whether or not the governor – who doesn’t have the constitutionally required 25% of votes cast in two-third of the constituent LGAs of the state – should vacate seat or not. In a state with 31 LGAs, a governor needs to have scored 25% of votes cast in at least 20 Local Governments, as well as the majority of valid votes cast, before being declared winner.

Let’s ignore the error and move into his reasoning of INEC’s guidelines being a nullity.

There are two issues here: INEC Press Release concerning Card Reader use and provisions of Section 49 of Electoral Act.

Now, the Press Release in question is the one by INEC, emphasizing the content of its published Manual For Election Officials wherein it insisted that voter accreditation would only be performed with the use of Card Readers. A judge declared that null and void. And then his reason for so doing was that it contravened Section 49.

First, the bedrock of voting is voter verification. If a voter is not verified, how will an electoral officer know that he registered in the particular polling unit where he wants to cast his ballot? It is the process of this verification that is called accreditation. During accreditation, the

INEC presiding officer wants to first ascertain that you are the true owner of your voter’s card and that the Polling Unit where you intend to cast your vote is actually where you registered to vote. INEC also wants to make it impossible for people to vote in more than one polling unit. In summary, the idea was to institute the practice of one man, one vote. To achieve this, INEC insisted, for the sake of transparency, that it would perform its accreditation with the help of technology.

And in doing that, INEC derived its powers from Section 153 of the Electoral Act. Here’s what that Section says; ‘The commission (INEC) may, subject to the provisions of this Act, issue regulations, guidelines, or manuals for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this

Act and for its administration thereof.’

From the above, we can agree that INEC has the powers to make guidelines.

Let’s then look at Section 49 which the Akwa Ibom tribunal claimed INEC’s guidelines contravened.

49 (1). Any person intending to vote with his voter’s card, shall present himself to a Presiding Officer at the polling unit in the constituency in which his name is registered with his voter’s card.
(2) The Presiding Officer shall, on being satisfied that the name of the person is on the Register of Voters, issue him a ballot paper and indicate on the register that the person has voted.

There’s no provision as to ‘how’ to be satisfied in this Section. INEC, with sixteen years’ experience of voter verification had become certain that the capacity of some Nigerian politicians for mischief was limitless. The Commission had conducted many elections that turned out to lack credibility because of cases of impersonation during accreditation. This led to their decision to convince the Nigerian government to invest massively in technology to aid in voter verification during the 2015 election; hence the introduction of Card Reader.

The card reader machine is a device used to scan the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) to confirm its ownership by the presenter. It stores the voter’s information such as physical attributes, thumb prints and others. These information can only be read and accessed electronically

with the card reader. If you throw away the card reader, the permanent voter’s card is useless, because the information it has cannot be read/accessed by just looking at it with your eyes.

It was for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Section 49 that INEC insisted on procuring the ‘’how’’ of satisfying their officers that a voter’s name is in the voter’s register.

How then did the use of technology to verify voters contravene a section of the Electoral Act that gives INEC officers the powers to allow only those verified as having their names in the register to vote? How does enhancing the electoral process contravene the Electoral Act?

And, in any case, what is wrong with the INEC guidelines? Will any party in the election get hurt if INEC properly accredits voters first before allowing them to vote?

From the standpoint of the society, will it hurt Nigeria to insist that only genuine voters be allowed to vote? Why should anybody seeking to govern any part of Nigeria have issues with INEC’s rules insisting that only those properly accredited will be allowed to vote?

To underscore the weight of the powers INEC has to issue guidelines and rules for elections, the Supreme Court in 2011, in the case between CPC Vs INEC, declared; “By force of law, the Independent National Electoral Commission has the duty of conducting elections. Besides the constitutional provisions, it is guided by the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and the Election guidelines and Manual issued for its officials in accordance with the Act. These documents embody all steps to comply with in the conduct of a free, fair and hitch free election.”

The Supreme Court has the final say on these issues, and it already had said that in 2011. By next year when these cases drag to the apex court, the Justices there will be bound by the earlier pronouncements of the same court. The Supreme Court will not reverse itself, especially when doing so will make mockery of the efforts of the entire nation for democratic evolution.

Our yearnings for credible elections is facing its final battle in the hands of the judiciary. It survived the other two tiers of government before the election. The executive under President Goodluck Jonathan initiated it. The legislature approved of it. Some elements in the judiciary are bent on frustrating it. This is why the Supreme Court has a duty to save the country from receding into the dark days of massive electoral fraud by the political class.

But while we await the apex court to play this patriotic role, we must first thank the progressive judges of the Rivers governorship tribunal for their foresight and the courage to do the right thing. At the end of the day, it will become clear to those who still doubt the soundness of the judgement that it was the best thing that happened to the 2015 elections, after Card Reader itself.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/10/27/if-you-love-credible-elections-then-you-must-thank-rivers-state-governorship-tribunal

MTN has consistently prided itself as the foremost telephone company that is getting Nigerians talking the most. Now the South African company is about to set tongues wagging across networks with revelations that it has routinely been shipping billions of dollars overseas to avoid paying its fair share of tax in Nigeria.

An 11-month-long joint investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, Finance Uncovered and amaBhugane reveals that MTN has been running circles around Nigerian revenue authorities using a complex but noxious tax avoidance scheme called Transfer Pricing.

For any economy, it is a slow death.

The red flag was raised the moment our investigations showed that MTN Nigeria has been making payments to two overseas companies – MTN Dubai and MTN International in Mauritius – both located in tax havens.

It was discovered that in 2013 for example, MTN set aside N11.398 Billion from MTN Nigeria to pay to MTN Dubai. A similar transfer of N11.789 Billion was made by MTN Ghana to the same MTN Dubai, making it a total of N23.187 Billion that was shipped to the Dubai offshore account.

In a rare disclosure in 2013, MTN admitted it made unauthorized payments of N37.6 Billion to MTN Dubai between 2010 and 2013. The transfers were then “on-paid” to Mauritius, a shell company with zero number of staff and which physical presence in the capital Port Louis is nothing more than a post office letter box. The disclosure amounted to a confession given that MTN made the dodgy transfers without seeking approval from the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), the body mandated to oversight such transfers.

On the basis of an earlier management fees agreement that was technically quashed by NOTAP and on the basis of MTN’s reported revenues, it is estimated that N90.2 Billion could have been transferred out of Nigeria in management fees alone since the company was founded in 2002.

Transfer Pricing

For corporate organizations determined to escape the taxman but still cleverly staying on the right side of the law, Transfer Pricing is the new cellar door constructed by the most ingenious of accountants. It is a new global disease to which Third World economies are the most vulnerable.

Multinationals employ Transfer Pricing to move their profits offshore, leaving behind a shrinking tax base in their host countries and inexorable cuts to public services.

In Africa, tax avoidance has been named as one of the factors holding the continent back by starving governments of the revenues it needs for development.

A report jointly commissioned by the United Nations and the African Union and drafted by a high level panel led by former South African president Thabo Mbeki considered tax avoidance by multinationals to be an “illicit financial flow” and a significant drain on government resources across the continent.

In total illicit financial flows, which included corruption and the proceeds of crime, were determined to be costing the continent $50 Billion a year $50bn.

Just last year, South Africa’s deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa had harsh words for tax dodgers. He said: “Tax evasion is not only a crime against the state; it’s also a crime against the people of our country, ordinary people.”

Curiously, the same Cyril Rhamaposa was non-executive chairman of the board of MTN between 2001 and 2013 before he became South Africa’s No.2 man. In effect, the same tax practices which the deputy president strongly condemned in his country as financial crime is vigorously being promoted in Nigeria.

MTN is the largest cell phone company in Africa with 227.5 million subscribers. The company, which operates in more than 20 countries across Africa and the Middle East, has Nigeria as its biggest operation.

Until now, tax justice investigations had focused on computer giants, corporations in the extractive industry, food and beverages; in fact everywhere but the mobile phone sector despite the cell phone industry in Africa being one of the largest and most important industries for the continent.

Mobile phone has been a cheap and quick way of rolling out the vital communications infrastructure that has underpinned Africa’s growth story over the last decade. As a result the industry has seen explosive growth. With 685million mobile phone users in Africa, the success story means that cell phone companies are now the largest contributor to government revenues in many African countries. That is when they pay their fair share of taxes.

Artificial operating costs

To pay little or no tax, companies determined to cheat begin by seeking ways to create artificial operating costs in the country where they operate. For example, a company is in Nigeria but has a parent or subsidiary company in another country. It makes huge profit but decides to declare a much lower profit-before-tax. To achieve this, it pays the parent and/ or subsidiary company for services not rendered and ships cash to them. Where services are rendered, the costs are inflated. Such services may include royalty for the use of brand name, procurement services, technical services and management services.

Typically, the recipient company is located in an offshore territory under a different financial jurisdiction. MTN has a substantial network of subsidiaries in offshore tax havens, including the British Virgin Islands, Dubai and Mauritius.

Because of the growing concerns that multinationals are using intra-company trading to shift profits around the world by overcharging for services delivered or in more extreme cases by creating artificial transactions where no services was rendered at all, respective countries have a maximum percentage of profits it can allow companies to pay out as management fees.

For example, in Senegal, accounts from the company Sonatel show that the company has a ‘cooperation agreement’ with parent company France Telecom that is capped at 1.43% of revenue.

Until 2010 MTN Nigeria had an agreement with MTN Dubai to pay 1.75% of revenues to the company for management, and royalties for the use of the MTN trademark. Nigeria requires that management fees paid by multinationals are approved by the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). The fee payments had been reversed following a failure to come to a new agreement on management fees with Nigerian regulators.

MTN’s previous agreement with NOTAP expired in 2010.

Notwithstanding, MTN has continued to make payments overseas. When we sent questions to MTN over these unauthorized payments, the company told us that this was because they expected NOTAP to approve a new deal and backdate it to the date of the expiry of the previous deal.

MTN’s financial activities are now being questioned by more than one tax authorizes in Africa.

In Ghana the MTN subsidiary, Scancom, has been paying vast management fees to companies located offshore. Our investigations reveal that Scancom paid 758m GHS in management and technical fees to MTN Dubai between 2008 and 2013. This was 9.64% of the company’s revenue. Normally the maximum fee level allowed in Ghana is 6%.

We can reveal that the high levels of fees attracted the attention of Ghana’s intelligence services, which launched an investigation into “economic fraud” between 2012 and 2013.

MTN’s management fees need approval from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC). The Ghanaian “National Security Taskforce” has called for a “review of all technology transfer and management service agreements currently held by GIPC to remove sections which are inapplicable and wrongly provided for” and upgrading and training of state systems and staff.

In response to this, MTN in Ghana told us: “The technical and management services agreements between Scancom and Investcom were duly approved by the GIPC.”

The current head of the GIPC is Mrs. Mawuena Trebarh, who between 2007 and 2012 was responsible for government relations at MTN Ghana. This reporting team asked Mrs Trebarh to comment on whether her previous role could be perceived a conflict of interest. She did not respond to our requests.

In response to our enquiries MTN confirmed that the company paid 12 billion West African Francs in 2012 and 14 billion West African Francs in 2013 in management fees to MTN International. The figure for 2013 is equivalent to 5% of the revenue made by MTN in Cote d’Ivoire.

Dubai paradox

Dubai is one of the places MTN ships huge profits to. Meanwhile, MTN does not operate any mobile phones in Dubai, yet it has significant operations in the small city state.

MTN told us that it employs around 115 people in Dubai who provides services to the MTN group such as group procurement, group finance, legal services, human resources and other corporate functions.

One tool that campaigners have said will be helpful is to look at company reporting on a country by country basis. If a company is making huge revenues in a country where it has few employees but there is a low tax rate, which would suggest that there may be some profit shifting taking place.

In Uganda, a dispute between the Uganda Revenue Authority and MTN has revealed that the company is paying 3% of its turnover in management fees to MTN International.

The fees have been challenged by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) who issued MTN with a “notice of assessment” in 2011. This was for a number of tax issues between 2003 and 2009, but a large portion was to do with a dispute over management fees, most of which had been paid to Mauritius.

Correspondence between the URA and MTN seen by us show that the URA questioned the legitimacy of these fees, and pointed out that MTNI, the company providing “management services” to MTN Uganda had not spent any money in the years they had looked into. The URA said this could only mean two things: that management services provided to MTN Uganda had either already been paid for by MTN Uganda (and so MTN was in effect charging twice for the same thing) or they were never provided at all.

The Ugandan authority told the company: “We have repeatedly asked for evidence of specific work performed by MTN Group for MTN Uganda for each of the tax years 2003 to 2009. We have only been provided with very little information relating to 2009 and the latter years. This information is very far from justifying a payment of 3 per cent of MTN Uganda’s turnover as management fees.”

NOTAP keeps mum

Asked to confirm the amount of fees paid out to MTN Dubai and Mauritius based on the company’s reported revenue between 2002 and today, MTN told PREMIUM TIMES: “There is no disclosure obligation for this information in South Africa or Nigeria.”

Asked to explain the possible justification for MTN Nigeria to pay fees for management and technical services to a company with no employees, MTN said: “It is the contracting party’s prerogative as to how it elects to discharge its contractual obligations.”

Meaning is that MTN Mauritius can perform its task without a single staff member.

PREMIUM TIMES made sustained efforts to get NOTAP and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to comment on the MTN practices in Nigeria.

The Director in charge of Technology Transfer and Agreement, Ephraim Okejiri, initially pleaded that he was in a meeting, and that the reporter should wait.

But after over four hours of waiting, he sent a secretary to say he would not be able to give any information on MTN.

Similarly at Nigeria’s tax agency, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Director of Public Communications, Emmanuel Obeta, who had earlier promised on three occasion to make information available on the matter suddenly had a change of mind.

He said relevant officials who should provide him with the information sought were all not available.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/investigationspecial-reports/192159-investigation-how-mtn-ships-billions-abroad-to-avoid-paying-tax-in-nigeria.html

anytexy:
Kano remains what?

ZUBY77:
Buhari really needs Rivers and Akwa Ibom under his control.
We are watching.

Since I heard one Muhammed is the judge, I knew that a rat can never win a case where the Cat is the judge.

mhbabanna:

I'm sure that was when u used to have constructive and objective arguments.
May be NL Admin should start requesting for birth certificate in order to sieve out the kids that have flooded the forum

prof1990:
Anyone with an idea where an accounting student can get IT placement?