Nigerians are wondering what the term incremental changes mean in the Finance Bill 2020 being sent to the National Assembly, but Finance Minister, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, says it does not mean increasing taxes, but an improvement in the tax law, stressing that the country’s value added tax (VAT) remains at 7.5 per cent.

The last time a Finance Bill was sent to the National Assembly last year, lawmakers were quick to approve, leading to a 2.5% increase in VAT, but many wonder if the incremental changes being proposed will not mean an inbuilt mechanism for upward review of taxes from time to time.

Howver, determined to cushion the socio-economic condition in the country the Federal Government is offering more tax incentives to Nigerians especially through the forthcoming 2020 Finance Bill.

Some highlights of the proposed bill include:

▪︎Reduction in duties on tractors from 35 to 10 per cent

▪︎Reduction in duties on motor vehicles for the transportation of goods from 35 to 10 per cent.

▪︎Reduction of levy on motor vehicles for the transportation of persons (cars) from 35 per cent to 5 per cent.

▪︎Exemption of small companies from payment of education tax under the Tertiary Education Trust fund (TETFUND)-companies with less than N25m turnover are eligible

▪︎50 per cent reduction in minimum tax; from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent for gross turnover for financial years ending between January 1st, 2020 and December 31st, 2021.

▪︎Granting of tax relief to companies that donated to the COVID-19 relief fund under the private sector coalition (CACOVID).

Briefing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed said, “you recall that we did a Finance Bill in 2019, through these finance bills, what we are seeking to do is to make incremental changes to tax laws relating to customs excise as well as other fiscal laws, to support the implementation of annual budgets.”

“This is further expected to create more job opportunities in the automobile industry and stimulate economic growth,” the minister added.
 
The inclusion in the Finance Bill intended to grant tax relief to companies that donated to the COVID-19 relief fund is expected to serve as an acknowledgement and encouragement of such behavior.
 
Some of the principles underpinning the proposed fiscal and other reforms include:
 
* Make incremental changes to tax, customs, excise, fiscal and other laws to support the 2021 Budget, for instance, by empowering the Federal Inland Revenue Service to automate its collection of tax returns and information from taxpayers within, and trading with the Nigerian Customs Area;

*Providing fiscal relief for corporate taxpayers, for instance by reducing the applicable minimum tax rate for two (2) consecutive fiscal year (from 0.5% to 0.25%), reforming commencement and cessation rules for small businesses, as well as incentivizing mass transit by reviewing the duties and levies regime for the transportation sector, (particularly, targeting tractors, buses, trucks and other motor vehicles);

*Proposing measures and interventions to fund the Government’s COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Initiatives as well as introducing provisions to allow for the recovery of donations made by corporate taxpayers towards the COVID-19 Pandemic and other potential crises;

*Amending aspects of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 to enhance fiscal efficiencies as well as to control the cost-to-revenue ratios of key State and Government-Owned Enterprises; and

*Amending the Public Procurement Act to implement key procurement reforms previously proposed by the National Assembly to extend he Act to the judiciary and legislature, accelerate procurement processes and increase mobilization fee threshold.  

 The Finance Act 2019, which is the template for the proposed 2020 Bill, sets five strategic objectives, which include: raising government revenue through various fiscal measures, reforming domestic tax laws to align with global best practice, promoting fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation, supporting small business entities in line with Ease of Business Reforms and introducing tax incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital market.

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has reacted to the viral video of the demolition of a building in Wuse 2.

In the viral video, owners of shops at the plaza were lamenting as a bulldozer tried to demolish the ground-floor.

This got Nigerians on social media reacting as they lamented and criticised the authorities.

But reacting, FCTA in a Twitter thread on Tuesday said the action was taken due to the owner’s disregard for notices served by the authorities.

FCTA disclosed that the ground-floor of the building was initially approved as a car park but the developer disrupted the plans and set up shops.

The tweets read: “This action taken was due to the owner’s continuous disregard of adequate notices served on him by FCTA Dept of Development Control. The ground floor was approved as a CAR PARK but the developer converted it to shops.

“The same developer also went ahead to cut down trees planted by the government to enhance the visibility of his shops. Abatement notice for illegal removal of 6 matured trees was served at Plot 413, Lobito Crescent, Wuse 2 on July 14th, 2020 at 2.22pm

“Total sum abated is N600,000 only to be paid into the AMMC IGR account with Eco bank. All efforts made to ensure compliance were met with deaf ears, hence the action taken.”

The FCTA further advised developers to follow what is approved in their building plan to avoid any illegality.

Members of the public have been asked by Lagos state authorities to assist in identifying some unknown bodies abandoned at the morgue. 

A notice published in newspapers on Wednesday appealed to families whose loved ones went missing between October 19 and 27 to visit the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja for identification exercise.

The announcement was made by Lagos chief coroner Justice Mojisola Dada in the dailies. Screenshots of the public notice have set social media alight overnight, raising suspicion that the bodies might include those killed in the October 20 military attack on protesters in Lekki.

The announcement came as outrage and investigation intensified over the Nigerian Army’s role in the attack, which effectively quelled the historic #EndSARS protests. 

Peoples Gazette reported on the night of the military shooting that a major was leading an attempt to hand over nine bodies to the police in Lagos, which the police rejected and advised the military officers to take the bodies to the mortuary by themselves.

Ms. Dada did not mention how many bodies were still at the mortuary in her announcement. The Gazette noted that a spokesman for her office did not immediately return a request seeking comments Thursday morning. 

SCOOPER had meanwhile reported how a CNN investigation yesterday revealed the Nigerian Army indeed used live bullets on #EndSARS protesters at Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

Although the army has repeatedly denied the allegation, saying its operatives only fired blank bullets into the air, not at the protesters, CNN said its evidence shows otherwise.

Findings of the CNN investigation also totally debunked claims by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Nigerian Army that no one died on the scene.

ANTI-TERRORISM WAR: Why Sambisa Forest Cannot Be Destroyed Revealed By Retired Army General

The investigation showed imagery of a lifeless man, identified as Victor Sunday Ibanga, who was said to have been hit by bullet on the head and died on the scene.

This directly contradicts claims by the governor that no one died at the tollgate.

The report also showed that some of the bullet shells recovered from the scene by protesters were indeed from live ammunition of firearms purchased by the Nigerian government from Serbia between 2005 and 2016, which are being used by the Army.

The CNN investigation, which has set social media abuzz since its release on Wednesday morning, saw the deployment of forensic and geo-data techniques to give clearer explanation on the shooting that has remained controversial for weeks.

While parts of the findings in the report, which contained graphic images of the injured and the dead, corroborated earlier accounts published by The Nation, others provided fresh insights from victims who narrated how soldiers pointed their guns at them and started shooting.

Explaining that it hid the full names of some interviewees and identifies of others for their safety, CNN said shooting by the Army lasted from 6:43 p.m to 8:24 p.m, adding that the videos analysed on the incident told a story of terror, chaos, and showed graphic injuries and people bleeding on the ground.

CNN said: “Sometime after midnight on October 21, Elisha Sunday Ibanga answered a phone call from his older brother’s number.

“The person on the other end of the line – a stranger – broke the news that Ibanga’s brother, Victor, had been shot dead at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos, Nigeria, where he had been peacefully protesting against police brutality earlier that night.

“’The person told me that the police took his body away,’ Ibanga, 24, told CNN.

“An eyewitness to Victor Sunday Ibanga’s death told CNN the 27-year-old entrepreneur was shot in the head during the protest.

“CNN obtained and geolocated a photograph of Victor’s body lying in a pool of blood and wrapped in the white and green of the Nigerian standard – one of the same flags gripped by fellow protesters earlier in the evening as they sang the country’s national anthem. Ibanga confirmed the photograph is of his brother.

“The body of Victor Sunday Ibanga is pictured in a pool of blood.

“The Ibangas are one of several families yet to locate the bodies of their missing loved ones – protestors at the toll gate – who dozens of eyewitnesses say were shot at, first by members of the Army and then hours later by police. Eyewitnesses told CNN they saw the Army remove a number of bodies from the scene.

“What happened on October 20, and into the early hours of October 21, at the eight-lane Lekki tollgate – a key piece of Lagos’ road network – has stunned the country.

“The protesters, who were present, have told CNN it was a ‘massacre’ with multiple people killed and dozens wounded. But local authorities have downplayed that account.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu admitted to CNN that footage showed uniformed soldiers firing on peaceful protesters, but claimed only two demonstrators were killed.

“He said there was ‘not a scratch of blood’ at the tollgate when he visited.

“The governor said no families had approached authorities saying they were missing relatives.

“In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Army denied any involvement, describing reports of the incident as ‘fake news’ before backtracking and saying soldiers were present but fired their weapons in the air and used blanks, not live rounds.

“CNN’s calls to the Nigerian Army have not been returned. But on November 14, during a judicial enquiry into the shooting, Army representative, Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Taiwo said: ‘There’s no way officers and men will kill their brothers and sisters. I repeat: no way. We have those who constantly seek to drive a wedge between us and between the citizens of Nigeria…’”

Also, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) declined to comment on the CNN report on the shooting of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos State.

Efforts to get the military spokesmen to react to the report were unsuccessful last night.

But the The Nation reports that a senior military officer, who spoke in confidence, said the military could not have two opinions in one matter.

“There is a panel in Lagos State sitting on the matter and the military is represented and has presented a report. That report is the position of the military. We can’t have two opinions in one matter,” the military officer said.

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has seized 12 properties belonging to Jimoh Ibrahim, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Fleet Group and frozen all his accounts over N69.4bn debt.

AMCON took over the businessman’s assets following an order by Justice R.M. Aikawa of a Federal High Court, in Lagos.

The corporation on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, took effective possession of the properties through its Debt Recovery Agent — Pinheiro Legal Partners.

The forfeited properties include the following: the building of NICON Investment Limited at Plot 242, Muhammadu Buhari Way, Central Business District, Abuja; NICON Hotels Limited building at Plot 557, Port-Harcourt Crescent, off Gimbiya Street, Abuja and the building of NICON Lekki Limited also at №5, Customs Street, Lagos.

Other properties include:

 The building of Abuja International Hotels Limited located at №3, Hospital Road, Lagos; another Property at Plot 242, Muhammadu Buhari Way, Abuja; the former Allied Bank Building on Mile 2, Oshodi Express Way, Apapa Road, Lagos; Energy House located on №94, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; NICON Building at №40, Madeira Street, Maitama, Abuja; a Residential Apartment at Road 2, House A14, Victoria Garden City, Lagos; NICON Hotels Building at Plot 3, Road 3, Victoria Garden City, Lagos as well as the NICON Luxury Hotel’s Building, Garki I, FCT, Abuja.

In addition to the seized properties, the court also ordered AMCON to seize all Ibrahim’s personal and companies’ accounts Global Fleet Oil & Gas Limited and NICON Investment Limited.

Recall that in 2016, a Federal High Court granted AMCON’s request to seize some assets belonging to Ibrahim over an alleged N50bn.

A month after, the businessman obtained a court injunction discharging the interim order granted AMCON to seize his properties

A Lagos State High Court on Wednesday sentenced popular prophet and Shepherd-in-charge of Celestial Church of Christ Global Genesis Parish, Prophet Israel Oladele Ogundipe, to two years imprisonment for defrauding a United States-based woman.

Trial judge, Justice Olabisi Akinlade, sentenced Oladele to the two-year jail term after she found him guilty on two of the seven charges brought against him.

Justice Akinlade, in a judgment that lasted for about four hours, sentenced the defendant, Prophet Oladele, to a year imprisonment on count two and four.

She, however, discharged him on counts 1, 3, 5 ,6 and 7 for lack of evidence against him.

Oladele was charged with seven counts bordering on fraud and obtaining money by false pretences, preferred against him by the Lagos State Government since 2007.

He was said to have defrauded one Mrs Olaide William Oni to the tune of eleven million naira (N11m).

He had, however, earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges when he was brought before the court.

Against the backdrop of questions being asked as to the propriety of the Nigerian Army’s involvement in the shooting of Lekki EndSARS protesters and a recent report by CNN saying that live bullets were used, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai has said the Nigerian Army is a professional Army who will never operate outside the rules of engagement.

Speaking on the EndSARS issue when he received members of the House of Representatives committee on Army at Army headquarters on Wednesday, Buratai said, “let me assure you and all Nigerians that the Nigerian Army is a professional Army. We follow our rules of engagement. Nigerians should feel safe.

“We abide by rules of engagement and the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

On the issue of kidnapping and banditry causing untold hardship on citizens along the Abuja – Kaduna road, the COAS said, “the issues of kidnapping and bandits attacks are being taken care of” noting that the Nigerian Air Force and the Army are doing a lot in this regard.

Towards boosting the capability of the Army to subsequently rise up to the challenges of insecurity in the country, Buratai disclosed that the Nigerian Army Aviation is being reactivated pointing out that the Helicopter project is at the ‘heart of our plans’

The movement to hold the Nigerian police force’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad accountable for its crimes has been driven by female activists.

Odunayo Eweniyi, one of Nigeria’s trailblazing tech entrepreneurs and the COO of the app PiggyVest. Wine and Whine was very successful, and Odufuwa and Eweniyi felt inspired to start a new venture with a focus “on education, financial freedom and representation of women in public office.”ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW

‘‘Over the past few years, Nigerian women and activists have crowdfunded on Twitter to support other women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence,” Odufuwa told ELLE.com. ‘‘These funds were used for legal aid, education, mental health support, housing, and shelter, etc. [Eweniyi] and I wanted to do more than just support or crowdfund donations intermittently. We also felt the fight for women’s rights needed to include financial freedom for women and many changes to the misogynistic laws and norms in Nigeria. But we knew we couldn’t do this alone.”

So in July 2020, Odufuwa and her contacts decided to come together to create a coalition of women who were passionate about making their country and the role of women in it better. They called it the Feminist Coalition, and they had no idea how soon their dream of changing Nigeria would become a reality.

Damilola Odufuwa, co-founder of the Feminist Coalition.AISHA IFE

In the early weeks of October 2020, videos made the rounds on social media showing members of the Nigerian Police Force’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, shooting at, harassing and killing unarmed citizens. The videos appeared alongside increased reports from hundreds of Nigerians in different parts of the country all confirming an increase in brutality and harassment of citizens by the SARS unit. These reports all seemed to corroborate a simple fact: SARS, which was created to tackle violent crimes like kidnapping, murder and armed robbery, appeared guilty of committing the very crimes it was created to fight against, on the citizens it was created to protect. Within days of these videos spreading on social media, young Nigerians—first all around the country, then all around the world—took to the streets demanding the Nigerian government put an end to the infamous unit.

As the #ENDSARS movement gained significant momentum, many insisted the protests remained leaderless. On social media and in real life, Nigerians took to screaming ‘#ENDSARS no get leader, na all of us be the leader,” a phrase in the Nigerian vernacular that translates to “#ENDSARS doesn’t have one leader, we are all the leaders of it.” When pushed to pick a leader by government officials, organizers referred to the people who were killed, and said they were the leaders. But even as the movement remains without any one leader or governing body, behind the scenes, it’s largely being run by Nigerian women. RELATED STORYWhat to Know About #EndSARS

One of the first actual #ENDSARS protests of 2020 was organized in part by Rinu Oduala, a social media influencer who coordinated protesters in Lagos to head to the state government house. And one of the most viral images from the protests features Aisha Yesufu, a Nigerian Muslim woman and community organizer, who had marched with protesters in Abuja and was the only person who didn’t run when the police force in the Nigerian capital shot at protesters. Popular podcaster Feyikemi Abudu and lawyer Moe Odele are among other women who contributed greatly to the movement and helped create a network across the country that ensures the safety and release of protesters who were illegally detained. Although neither women are members of the Feminist Coalition, they worked with it to create and maintain these networks.

Ire Aderinokun, Nigeria’s first female Google developer expert and a founding member of the Feminist Coalition.KUNMI OWOPETUADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW

Indeed, it’s hard to believe the Feminist Coalition wasn’t created for this moment and this movement. It’s even harder to believe it started planning for the demonstrations within days and was able to fund arguably the biggest and most organized protest in Nigeria in recent memory while remaining accountable and transparent with every kobo (the smallest denomination of Naira) it spent.

‘‘Believe it or not, all this was organized over a one-hour phone call,’’ Ire Aderinokun, Nigeria’s first female Google developer expert and a founding member of the Feminist Coalition, told ELLE.com. ‘‘We’ve regularly had monthly meetings since our inception, but we had not started on any projects yet. When we saw what was happening, we quickly decided we would take this on as our first project. We wanted to play our part and everyone was in agreement and very quickly stepped up. We joke that this was a baptism by fire. We designed a logo, set up the website, got some copy assets together, set up our social media, set up the donation accounts, the request forms, the tracking sheets; Feminist Coalition as it’s known today was literally a reality overnight. This was only possible because every founding member is at the top of her game. We handled it the same way we handle our professional work, and brought the same amount of focus and dedication to the table.’’This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

There’ll be some traction to the #endsars movement when women organize around it.— Ozzy Etomi (@ozzyetomi) October 4, 2020

As historic as this is, it’s not the first time Nigerian women have been at the forefront of movements like this. The women of Nigeria have been leading, organizing, and maintaining the momentum of movements since colonial Nigeria. Recent movements like the fight to return the kidnapped Chibok girls and #ArewaMeToo—a form of the global #MeToo movement which focused on Northern Nigeria and was founded by Fakhus Hashim—are just two recent examples. It’s this history that made writer and communications strategist Oseyi Etomi tweet about the #ENDSARS movement just days before the protests gained significant global momentum. “There’ll be some traction to the #ENDSARS movement when women organize around it,” she wrote. She was right. Women—in particular feminist Nigerian women—organizing around #ENDSARS has been a significant reason the movement and protests have been sustained for as long as they have been, and why they’ve had such a global impact.

Ozzy Etomi, a writer and communications strategist.LAKIN OGUNBANWO STUDIOS

‘‘When you look back in history, women have always been at the forefront of organizing, especially when it comes to serving the community.’’ Etomi told ELLE.com. ‘‘This was no different. One thing you will see in common with, I’d say, almost all if not every woman who was at the forefront of organizing was that we are all feminist women—we have a strong sense of social justice and a desire for an equal society. An injustice to anyone is an injustice to us all, and there is an understanding that no one is free until we are all free. It just continues to show that women are an underestimated asset to society and that we need more women in leadership roles and at every level of governance including the highest seat in the country.’’

“An injustice to anyone is an injustice to us all, and there is an understanding that no one is free until we are all free.”

Within seven days of organizing around the movement, Feminist Coalition was able to fund over 154 protests around Nigeria with N20,188,280 (approximately $52,000), and by October 21 it raised a total of N77,190,305 (approximately $198,000). Beyond the impressive crowdfunding numbers, what’s perhaps the most striking for many Nigerians is the consistent transparency of Feminist Coalition; at the end of every day, it updates the public on how much has been raised and in what currency, and how much has been disbursed and for what. This transparency has been praised almost as much as the group’s efficiency—two qualities many Nigerians note their government lacks. Within Nigeria, a country where misogyny is rife and encouraged and where several patriarchal laws are still in place, the splash and impact made by Feminist Coalition is a win in and of itself.

Layo Ogunbanwo, VP of Product at PiggyVest and another founding member of the Feminist Coalition.LUMIOGUNDE

When the #ENDSARS protests got bloody on October 20, when members of the Nigerian army reportedly arrived at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos and shot and murdered dozens, Feminist Coalition turned its focus from sustaining physical protests—which are being discouraged to avoid further casualties—to paying out the bills of injured protesters, as well as working with other organizers to ensure peaceful protesters across the country that were arrested and wrongfully jailed are set free. Now, s in-person protests slow, the women of Feminist Coalition have been the targets of significant backlash. The names of the founding members were included in a recent lawsuit accusing them of encouraging domestic unrest, and the government denied several reports speculating that the women placed on a no-fly list that barred them from leaving the country. Despite the government’s denial, lawyer Odele, who has worked to release #ENDSARS protesters, was prevented from leaving the country and even temporarily had her passport seized. Still, the women of the Feminist Coalition are excited about turning their sights back to and focusing on their core goal of fighting against the oppression that is part of the daily lives of Nigerian women, and ensuring more feminist Nigerian women are placed in positions of power.

‘‘This is one of our founding pillars. We realize that beyond activism from the fringes of governance, we need more women with feminist values in actual power,’’ Layo Ogunbanwo told ELLE.com. ‘‘There are many other organizations, such as ElectHer, that are also advocating for women in public office. This shows a definite mindset shift in how we are approaching women’s rights, and understanding the importance of women in governance. We want more capable women to step up and we are ready to throw our support behind them.’’

Ellen.com