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The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) on Thursday certified 150 Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs) to improve the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), Hajia Mariam Katagum, at the virtual presentation in Lagos, said the certification programme for trained and practicing BDSPs was important for the continuous growth of MSMEs in the country.
Katagum, represented by Mr Adewale Bakare, Director, Industry Development, FMITI, said the Ministry was in the forefront of efforts to establish a platform for enthroning professionalism with the BDSP ecosystem in Nigeria.
She said it was agreed by the ministry and other relevant stakeholders within the MSME sub-sector in Nigeria that only certified BDSPs would be allowed to deliverer capacity building, mentorship, counselling and other forms of BDS to MSMEs in Nigeria.
She added that SMEDAN would post the names of the second batch of the certified Business Development Service Providers on its website.
Katagum stated that there would be posting of other social media handles and special advertisements in major newspapers in Nigeria for all current and potential users of BDSPs in Nigeria.
She urged certified BDSPs to use the opportunity to solve the challenges comfronting MSMEs in Nigeria.
Director-General, SMEDAN, Mr Olawale Fasanya, said the certification would ensure that both existing and potential BDSPs had the opportunity to prove their technical competence towards supporting MSMEs in Nigeria.
“The posting on other social media handles and special advertisements in major newspapers in Nigeria for all current and potential users of BDSPs in Nigeria to draw from will be effected as soon as possible.
“In addition, to show commitment and sincerity of purpose, the Agency will ensure that, going forward, being a certified BDSP will now be one of the criteria for bidding for capacity building programmes in the Agency,” he said.
He revealed that SMEDAN in its determination to address the challenges confronting the MSMEs in Nigeria in a holistic manner,was implementing the One Local government One Product (OLOP) initiative in one hundred and nine (109) senatorial districts in the country.
“This ambitious effort of the Agency is based on the successful implementation of the pilot phase of the OLOP programme in Katsina, Kaduna, FCT, Osun and Anambra States three years ago.
“The intervention activities under OLOP, among others, include access to workspace, equipment support, access to working capital, and capacity building,” he said.
He added that in the same vein, the agency was implementing the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) for micro enterprises in Nigeria.
“This programme is aimed at formalising a majority of the nano and micro enterprises that are mostly operating in the informal sector.
“This programme, which involves capacity building, registration of the micro enterprises with the CAC, provision of micro insurance, opening of bank accounts and provision of grants (N50,000 each) has so far been implemented in 22 States where over 40,000 entrepreneurs have been impacted,” he said.
Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Chistianah Adeyeye, said NAFDAC had created 50 per cent discount for MSME registration to encourage more participants in the profession.
Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Muhammad Nami, represented by the Director of State, FIRS, Mr Abubakar Muhammed, commended the effort of the awardees and assured them of the service’s continuous collaboration.
He said the service had introduced a lot of polices and platforms such as 10 per cent discount for about 20 million business development services.
The Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Pan Africa Atlantic University, Dr Peter Bamkole, commended SMEDAN for its professionalism, saying that the network would ease challenges encountered by MSMEs in Nigeria.
He urged participants and awardees to operate with due diligent, adding that they would be recertified every three years for proper checks and balances.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Secretariat of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has condoled with the Management and Staff Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the demise of Mr Adams Kudu, its Coordinator for Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
PEBEC message is contained in a statement by Dr Jumoke Oduwole, its Secretary and Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business on Monday in Abuja.
Oduwole described Kudu as a consistent high performing Reform Champion, known for his dedication to the implementation of critical reforms such as the electronic tax filing.
“He was a dutiful officer who was readily available to support the activities of the secretariat across the country, even at short notice.
He will surely be missed by all.
“We celebrate the life he lived and the impact he made during his life time.
“We pray that the Almighty God grants him eternal rest and peace at his bosom, and to grant his former colleagues at the FIRS the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss,” she said.
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NewsSourceCredit: NAN
TETFund: Imperatives for efficiency-driven reforms
TETFund: Imperatives for efficiency-driven reforms
By Uche Anunne News Agency of Nigeria
Appropriate funding of tertiary education remains a major challenge for many countries, particularly developing ones.
In addition to personnel emoluments and building of infrastructure, the university system requires enormous financial resources to meet its research funding demands and contribute more to more meaning socio-economic growth of nations.
To address this challenge, and following an agreement with university lecturers on adequate funding of universities, the Federal Government in 1993 established the Education Tax Fund (ETF) through the Education Tax Decree No. 7 of 1993 (Act) as an intervention agency.
The Act stipulates that two per cent tax shall be charged on assessable profit of a companies registered in Nigeria as may be ascertained in the manner specified in the Companies and Income Tax Act of the Petroleum Profits Act. It also gives the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) the mandate to assess and collect the tax from the companies.
In 2011 through Act No. 18 ETF morphed into Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) with its responsibilities refocused to intervene only in public tertiary institutions, namely universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
But, in spite the change in nomenclature and scope of intervention, the core responsibilities remain to provide the much-needed funding support for tertiary education as well as award of scholarships, research grants with a view to improving the quality of research outcomes by Nigerian scholars.
As TETFund’s responsibilities become more complex in the face of expanding demands for its resources vis-à-vis finances that are not growing in the same geometric progression, some stakeholders argue that it has become important for reforms in the intervention agency to enable it maximize its capital for optimum impact on Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
One of the major areas that require urgent reform is the management of the Fund. As presently constituted, the TETFund Board of Trustees is made of mainly politicians appointed from the six geo-political zones by the Federal Government.
This is in addition to the Executive Secretary of the Fund,
Also on the board are political appointees who head different parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Education; namely the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and nominees by the Federal Ministry of Finance; and Education.
As presently constituted, observers say it would be difficult for the intervention agency to function effectively without politicians’ interference.
They also argue that its present Board is also a radical departure from the 1992 ASUU-FG agreement on the funding of universities which gave birth to the Fund. The agreement provided that, having suggested the establishment of the Fund, ASUU should be involved in its management.
In a report published in the October 7, 2019 edition of Premium Times, the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) posited that there was unnecessary political control and interference by state governors in the execution of the TETFund-funded projects in their respective states.
Similarly, Prof. Hussaini Tukur said the Board of Trustees of TETFund should be one that inspires confidence in the award of research grants and other operations of the agency.
He said it was not in the interest of the education system for politicians to dominate the membership of the board, saying in most instances, politicians’ interest are paramount in their actions.
Tukur, a lecturer in the department of Public Administration, Nasarawa State University, Keffi said even when geo-political zones are involved in constituting the board, it is imperative that such nominees should be seasoned academics so that they can bring their academic experience to bear in the running of the agency.
Tukur also contended that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) should have representatives on the Board.
The scholar said while the building of infrastructure by TETfund is a welcome development, the agency should focus its interventions more on research and training.
He said award of research grants should prioritise proposals that add value to the nation’s quest for academic excellence and invention, adding that where projects are awards, they should be audited based on their impact on the society.
Dr Edet Imuk of the University of Calabar, shares similar opinion with Tukur, saying structural reforms were needed to restore stakeholders’ confidence and stimulate enhanced performance by the Fund.
The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Mr Sonny Echono was recently quoted by a report as admitting the need for reforms in the organisation, saying it was the need to weed out inhibitions to transparency in TETfund’s operations.
He said there is the possibility of the reform being opposed in some quarters it has become a necessary step to take if the agency will deliver on its mandates.
“The respective institutions do the design and costing of projects.
So also is the supervision and management.
The TETFund only monitors milestones attainments ahead of releases in tranches,” he said giving an insight into the direction of the forms.
As the need for repositioning the organisation becomes increasingly imperative, stakeholders say such reforms will be incomplete without streamlining the process of applying for research grants, scholarships and contracts in a manner that will reduce physical contacts between applicants and TETfund managers to avoid bias evaluation and eventual award of the grants and contracts.
(NANFeatures)
****If used please credit the author and News Agency of Nigeria.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Nigeria Customs Service(NCS), has distanced itself from rumours making the rounds that a special auction of over 7000 cars would soon be held by the Service.
The Public Relations Officer of Customs, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, made this known in a statement signed on behalf of the Comptroller General of Customs in Abuja.
He urged Nigerians to always refer to the electronic auction (e-auction) platform at https:.
trade.
gov.
for authentic information on auctioning.
According to him, e-auction remains the only authentic means of auctioning goods to members of the public.
“Auctions are periodic and advertised in advance on our website to avail the public the opportunity of selecting and bidding for items of their choice.
“It will be recalled that the service deployed the e-auction platform in July 2017 to improve efficiency in revenue generation to the federal government.
“It was also deployed to provide equal opportunities to all Nigerians in the seamless disposal of seized and condemned, and overtime and abandoned cargoes.
“Since its implementation, the e-auction has lived up to expectations by guaranteeing transparency and integrity in the auctioning process,” Bomodi said.
The spokesperson said that the requirements to take part in the e-auction bidding process by interested members of the public were clear.
He said that applicants must process valid Tax Identification Number (TIN), issued by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), with an active e-mail account.
Bomodi added that the conditions and terms of auction must be carefully considered by an interested person before acceptance.
Bomodi further said an applicant must have an authentic and nationally accepted means of identification.
He explained that those means of identification include international passport, driver’s license, national identity card or voter card.
Bomodi referred the public to the service’s e-auction portal at https:.
trade.
gov.
for further guidelines.
Bomodi used the opportunity to call on owners of uncleared vehicles at the various ports to avail themselves of the VIN-Valuation protocols to clear them.
He said the clearance procedure had been simplified, automated and made more user-friendly.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has urged the public to be vigilant and avoid dealing with scam artists who pose as recruitment agents for the service.
This is contained in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by Mr Johannes Wojuola, Special Assistant on Media and Communication to the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Muhammad Nami.
“On repeated occasions, the FIRS has cautioned the general public to be vigilant and circumspect not to deal with scam artists who pose as recruitment agents for the Service and collect huge sums of money from unsuspecting victims with the promise to provide them employment.
“Again, the Management of the FIRS wishes to caution the public to be wary of these employment scam artists.
“The Service wishes to emphatically state that it is not conducting any recruitment at the moment, and importantly that it does not conduct recruitment exercises through back door channels.
“Should FIRS at any instance have need to expand its workforce and consequently seek to recruit competent hands to carry out the task of revenue mobilisation for the nation, the public can be rest assured that the Service would follow appropriate channels and processes in doing so.
” This includes advertisements on public channels of communication, followed by rigorous screening, interviews and examination exercises.
“The FIRS also wishes to caution media practitioners not to allow their mediums to be used as platforms for publishing unauthorised fake application processes and recruitment portals that hoodwink the unsuspecting public,” the statement said.
It added that FIRS would take all necessary legal actions against any platform found to be engaged in such fraudulent advertisement.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that some Nigerians groan over fraudulent elements who defraud graduates seeking for jobs.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) have agreed to adjust some sections of the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on effective tax administration, to accommodate some salient concerns.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the agencies on June 7 signed the tax pact to reconcile grey areas in the administration on issues bordering tax deductions from free zones and enterprises operating in the zones respectively.
The agreement to adjust the MoU was reached on Wednesday during a formal presentation of the document to the stakeholders at a roundtable organised by NEPZA in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the agencies on June 7 signed the tax pact to reconcile grey areas in the administration on issues bordering tax deductions from free zones and enterprises operating in the zones respectively.
A cross section of the stakeholders had raised concerns on some sections of the guidelines that contravene some provisions of the NEPZA Act for operators in the free zones.
Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, Managing Director, NEPZA, explained that the event was to make adjustments where necessary on how the FIRS and NEPZA would treat tax issues relating to business interactions within the free trade zone ecosystem.
He noted that Section 5 of the MoU had given parties the leverage to call for the amendment of the tax guidelines when necessary.
“The Authority’s recent diplomatic advances with sister agencies, especially, the FIRS can only be described as a game changer.
“We have always insisted that the free trade zone scheme must be allowed to succeed as that truly remains a potent economic instrument for widespread growth and development.
“Therefore, we have agreed to adjust the tax pact to capture some of the salient concerns of the stakeholders.
“The authority will not shy away from protecting the scheme and those who have invested billions of dollars in the scheme and we are delighted that the FIRS has become our advocate in this regard.
“We are also happy that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has given us the impetus through his favourable policies to deepen the growth of the scheme,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS, said concerns of the stakeholders would be evaluated, adding that the document was a flexible guideline on how to administer the MoU.
Nami, represented by Mr Mathew Gbonjubola, Coordinating Director of the Service, noted that not all the concerns raised were genuine, saying that the FIRS was knowledgeable enough on issues around free trade zone tax administration.
Nami explained that the Service would not unduly interrogate tax remittances of enterprises with full status of free trade zones.
He further noted that all other issues raised on the tax pact would be addressed within two months.
On his part, Chief Toyin Elegbede, Executive-Secretary of the Nigeria Economic Zones Association, said that the forum was important to address the concerns of his members on the tax administration pact signed between NEPZA and FIRS.
According to him, the discussions from forum elicited hopes and assurances on the commitment of government to support the in-flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through the free trade zone scheme.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
By Franca Ofili
Mr Temitayo Orebajo, Director, Tax Policy and Advisory Department, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says all Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are expected to register for tax purposes and obtain Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).
Orebajo said this in Abuja on Thursday at a webinar on CSOs tax responsibilities and compliance.
He said the webinar was aimed to promote CSOs understanding and knowledge of their tax responsibilities.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the webinar was organised by FIRS and the European Union Agents for Citizen-Driven Transformation (EU-ACT), a Non-Governmental Organisation.
The webinar is to provide an opportunity for CSOs to engage the FIRS on parts of tax regulations that concern them, and the challenges and bottlenecks they face in their bid to stay compliant.
Orebajo said that the CSOs were statutorily required to maintain accurate record of employees, proper books of accounts for tax purposes.
He said that failure to comply would attract appropriate penalties under the extant tax laws.
Orebajo said that VAT on goods purchased by NGOs for use in humanitarian donor funded projects was at zero rate under the value added tax.
“The NGO itself is not exempted from VAT where the organisation procures contracts or purchases goods that are not directly used in humanitarian donor funded projects.
“Likewise, any service procured or consumed by NGO is liable to VAT, except where such service is exempted under the VATN Act,” he said.
Orebajo said that NGOs were required under the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) obligation to deduct tax at source from salaries and other emolument of the employees, directors, officers among other.
According to him, the obligations under the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA) in section 25 of CITA provides tax relief to any company making donations to an organization listed under the fifth schedule to CITA.
He said that such donation must be made out of its profits for the year of assessment and total donation shall not exceed 10 per cent of the total profits of the company for the said year of assessment.
“Donation is not of capital nature, except where the donations are made to universities or other tertiary or research institutions and should not exceed 15 per cent of total profits or 25 per cent of tax payable.
“NGOs requiring to be listed under the fifth schedule to CITA may apply to the Minister of Fice through FIRS,’’ Orebajo said.
He advised the organisations to see the important of returns to the government because most of them take payment to government for granted.
Mrs Nneka Esomeju, of Joint Tax Board, said that the rule of minimum wage was exempted from tax but added that corps members are to pay tax when other things are added. (www.)
Source: NAN
By Temitope Ponle
The Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMAFC) said revenue-generating agencies remitted more than 1.5 trillion naira to the Federation's account in the first quarter of 2021.
Mr. Elias Mbam, the chairman of RMAFC revealed this in Abuja, when he received the revenue performance report from the post-mortem sub-committee of the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
Mr. Nwachukwu Christian, head of public relations for RMAFC, in a statement issued Monday in Abuja, said the report showed that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had made the highest payment of more than 759 billion naira.
The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) exceeded its target for the quarter with more than 891 million naira.
The president further said that more than 496 billion naira had also been paid into the Federation's account as value added tax (VAT) for the first quarter of 2021.
According to him, this exceeded the targeted tax revenue, or 108.01 percent for the period under review.
Mbam also said that the commission, together with the FAAC post-mortem subcommittee, had received arrears of N 260 billion.
This is in addition to the more than 845 billion naira that the subcommittee recovered in the 2020.
The president underlined the commitment of the commission in its efforts to increase the generation of income and the equitable distribution of the accumulated income among the three levels of government. (NOPE)
(NAN)
By Folasade Akpan
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says N392.77 billion was generated as Company Income Tax (CIT) in Quarter One, 2021 (Q1, 2021) an increase of N97.05 billion over N295.72 billion generated in Q4 2020.
This is revealed in the “Company Income Tax by Sectors, Q1 2021” obtained from the bureau’s website on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to the report, the generated amount was N97.09 billion more than the N295.68 billion generated in Q1 2020.
It also said that the Q1, 2021 figure represented a 32.82 per cent increase Quarter-on-Quarter and 32.84 per cent increase Year-on-Year.
The NBS said that breweries, bottling and beverages generated the highest amount of CIT with N23.26 billion generated and closely followed by professional services including telecoms which generated N18.17 billion.
“State ministries and parastatals generated N17.35 billion while textile and garment industry generated the least with N13.49 million.
“This was closely followed by mining with N34.40 million and automobiles and assemblies which generated N73.57 million.”
The report said that out of the total amount generated in the period under review, N152.33 billion was generated as CIT locally while N184.59 billion was generated as foreign CIT payment.
It added that the balance of N55.85 billion was generated as CIT from other payments.
The NBS said that data for the report was provided by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and verified and validated by the NBS.
(NAN)The Senate has called on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency reconstruct and rebuild infrastructure destroyed by hoodlums during the #EndSARS protests in Lagos and Calabar.
The upper chamber gave the charge during plenary on Tuesday, following consideration of two separate motions brought to the floor by Senators Biodun Olujimi (PDP-Ekiti ) and Gershom Bassey (PDP-Cross River South).
Citing order 42 and order 52 of the Senate Rules, Olujimi noted that the #EndSARS protests, began on Oct. 3, and assumed a global dimension following the alleged shooting of a young Nigerian in Ughelli, Delta.
According to the lawmaker, the peaceful protests turned violent as a result of their hijack by hoodlums and the intervention of the military which allegedly led to the death of protesters at the Lekki toll gate, Lagos state.
“October 7, was the start of a 14-day protest in Lagos that eventually turned violent and hijacked by hoodlums.
“The alleged shooting of protesters further infuriated protesters and tension flared with consequent violent protests and the beginning of wanton looting and destroying of public and private assets across the country and particularly Lagos, the epicentre of the protests.
“ It is worrisome that private and public assets destroyed by hideouts in Lagos was estimated by the Governor of Lagos State Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to be in the region of over N1 trillion,” she said.
Consequently, the Senate called on the Federal Government to setup a visitation panel to assess the level of destruction of public and private assets in Lagos state.
It also mandated the Senate Committee on State and Local Government Affairs to monitor compliance.
In a related development Sen. Bassey lamented that “in spite of the 24-hour curfew, a group of vandals on Oct. 24, invaded over 120 property in Calabar and vandalised, looted and burnt down some high value property belonging to individuals, the state government and federal government.”
According to him, offices belonging to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), West African Examination Council (WAEC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the brand new state of the art Calabar International Convention Centre (ICC), amongst many others were destroyed.
He also said that private residences mostly of past and present federal lawmakers were vandalised, looted or burnt.
The Senate, while condemning the attacks on private and public property in Calabar, mandated the Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Defence, Police Affairs, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to investigate the matter.
Edited By: Donald Ugwu
(NAN)
