Economy
FIRS Presents Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Certificate For Bonny-Bodo To NLNG Ltd
The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG), has received a Tax Credit Certificate from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), for the construction of the Bonny – Bodo Road, in Rivers State The certificate was presented last week.
NLNG Ltd is one of the companies undertaking the construction of roads under the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit SchemeDeputy Managing Director of the Company, Mr Olalekan Ogunleye, who represented the CEO NLNG, Mr. Philip Mshelbila at the handover ceremony on Thursday, 18th August, 2022 at the FIRS Headquarters, Abuja, received the document on behalf of NLNGWhile issuing the Tax Credit Certificate, the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Muhammad Nami commended the NLNG for its increased investments in Nigeria.
“The Service has faith in your Company and the increased investments it is making in our country. We look forward, with optimism, to the completion of your Train Seven (7) Project for it to join the country’s tax revenue streams,” Mr. Nami noted. He also used the ceremony to highlight how the Service was improving on its relations with stakeholders, as well as building a customer-centric tax authority for improved revenue generation. “In order to efficiently deliver on our mandate, the Board and Management of the Service is focused on the following strategic planks and action areas: we are energising our consultations and regular engagements with stakeholders; we are building a customer centric and data centric organisation while also restructuring the administrative framework and processes of the Service; we are driving towards full automation of core tax operations.“You may recall that the FIRS started with the development and deployment of an in-house digital solution – The Taxpromax Solution. This solution allows taxpayers to sit in the comfort of their offices or homes to file returns, pay taxes and conduct all forms of tax processes with us.“At the heart of our customer-centric reforms is the setting up of a multi-lingual Call Centre for enquiries and report from taxpayers. “Consequent upon these strategic moves, the Service recorded an unprecedented collection of over N6trillion in 2021 and has set its sight on higher performance this year. There is no doubt that the Service can achieve its targets with taxpayers like the NLNG.“I wish to assure you that the Service is ever ready to attend to any issue that will enable you and taxpayers like you to comply with statutory tax obligations,” the FIRS Executive Chairman noted. The CEO Nigeria LNG in his remarks noted that the company was a major contributor to the country’s economic development and is working towards building a better Nigeria; he also commended the FIRS for being at the forefront of economic resuscitation and progress the country is experiencing. “I also want to put on record our appreciation for the expedited issuance of the tax credit certificate. As you know, this tax credit is in relation to the Bonny-Bodo road which is itself a landmark project and a pilot scheme in this initiative. “This would be the first time the Island of Bonny will be linked by road to the rest of the country. And this is very significant to the development and advancement of the country because it will open new opportunities for economic activity,” Mr. Mshelbila noted. The Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme, also referred to as the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme is a public-private partnership scheme signed by President Muhammadu Buhari under Executive Order 007, in January 2019, that enables the Federal Government of Nigeria to leverage private sector capital and efficiency for construction, refurbishment and maintenance of critical road infrastructure in the country. Under the Scheme, participants are entitled to tax credits against their future Companies Income Tax to the tune of the project cost incurred in the construction or refurbishment of eligible roads.NNPC, MTN, Transcorp Group, Access Bank, GZI industries, among others are some of the entities currently participating in the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme of Executive Order 007.#
THE Federal Government has approved free internet services worth N24.2 billion naira at 20 selected airports, 43 universities and six markets across the country.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Pantami, disclosed this after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday
Pantami said that the airports were selected from the six geo-political zones.
“Certain intervention projects are going to be implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian Communications Commission of providing Internet in 20 selected airports in Nigeria and higher institutions of learning and also some markets to support micro small and medium enterprises.
“In each geopolitical zone, you have around three airports. In the South-West, we have Lagos and Ondo. For the South-East, we have Anambra and Enugu.
“For the South-South, we have Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom. For the North-Central we have Abuja and Ilorin. In the North-West, we have Kano, Sokoto and Kebbi. For the North-East we have Yola, Maiduguri and Gombe.”
The minister said the markets and 43 institutions which include universities and polytechnics were also drawn from the six geopolitical zones, adding that it will ease e-learning in schools and also enhance the transition to a cashless economy.
BudgiT Foundation Nigeria, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) says it is pertinent for the National Assembly to guard against padding of the 2023 budget in view of current economic reality.
Mr Gabriel Okeowo, the Country Director of the foundation, said this in a telephone interview with NAN on Tuesday, in Abuja.
He said increasing the size of the 2023 budget proposal above the N20.5 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari would weigh so much on the economy.
According to him, the economy is already battling inflation, high interest rate among other economic challenges and should not be further burdened with a budget that will prompt more borrowing.
“The National Assembly should make sure that they streamline the 2023 budget proposal to make it as implementable as possible.
“From what we have seen over the years, no matter the size of the budget proposal presented to the national assembly, when it is coming out, there would be insertions that would blow it up.
“For instance, the President while assenting to the 2022 budget, said the National Assembly inserted several new projects.
“So, we have to start now to let the lawmakers know we are following up on the ongoing budget defence by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs),” he said.
He said the legislature should be able to stand its ground to ensure that it cuts down on frivolous items presented by MDAs.
He said if it would be difficult to reduce borrowing to fund the budget, the National Assembly should then be stringent on items that would form it.
He, however, said if the National Assembly refused to take to advice to streamline the budget proposal, the executive should reject it.
“On the side of the executive, it also needs to sit up because democracy is a system that checkmates itself.
“If the National Assembly ends up not doing what it is supposed to do, the Executive should be able to stand its grounds to return the budget for amendment.
“We should not for the sake of wanting to sign the budget into law by December, to keep to January-December Calender, mess up the credibility of the budget itself,” he said.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation system has recorded huge success since its introduction.
The Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, National Public Relations Officer of the service, said this in an interview with NAN in Abuja on Tuesday.
Bomodi said the system had been able to drastically reduce false information on imported vehicles.
He said, “the VIN valuation has been successful because it is no longer easy to play around with information.
“Before the introduction of the system, it was easy for people to manipulate the process because they were making manual declaration about vehicles.
“For instance, if they were bringing in 2020 model of vehicles, they might be able to manoeuvre and say they were bringing in 2010 model because they knew they would pay less’’.
He said with the system currently in place, every information about a vehicle gets revealed once entered into the system.
The customs spokesperson said the process had made it possible for the service to get appropriate duties for imported vehicles.
On whether the value fixed for vehicles was fair enough to allow for ease of doing business, Bomodi said necessary steps were followed before arriving at the current value.
He said customs arrived at a fair value for different models of vehicles after due consultation with import brokers and other stakeholders.
NAN reports that the VIN valuation policy was introduced in February for allocation of automated standard values to all vehicles being imported.
The VIN valuation system determines the value of import duty payable on a vehicle as soon as the vehicle goes through a dedicated scanning machine.
The automated scanning system was introduced to check corrupt practices and ensure trade facilitation among others.
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