Month: October 2023

In bid to boost revenue in the nation’s capital, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike has ordered the enforcement of the Personal Income Tax and the FCT Internal Revenue Service Acts 2015, as prerequisite for doing business in Abuja.

 

FCT Mandate Secretary for Economic Planning, Revenue Generation, and Public-Private Partnerships, Chinedum Elechi, who disclosed this to newsmen on Monday in Abuja said the minister approved the implementation of Section 85 of Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) and Section 31 of the FCT Internal Revenue Service Act, 2015.

 

According to him, anyone who provides false information or obtains a TCC through forgery or falsification, would be liable upon conviction to a fine of N50,000 or a three-year jail term or both upon conviction.

 

He said; “Taxes are essential to the foundation of any government, and it is important that everyone pays their fair share. Payment of tax is a civic duty and responsibility. Implementation of these laws is intended to ensure that all eligible taxpayers in the FCT comply with their tax obligations”.

 

In the memo signed by Wike, the minister said; “The Federal Capital Territory Administration FCTA has observed with dismay, lack of implementation and adherence to the provisions of section 85 of Personal Income Tax Act (PITA), 2011 (as Amended) and Section 31 of the Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service Act, 2015 that provide for the demand and verification of Tax Clearance Certificates TCC from residents of the FCT before rendering of services or performance of transactions.

 

 

“It is pertinent to note that both the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) 2011 (as amended) and the Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service Act, 2015 provide that Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Commercial Banks, Secretariats, Departments & Agencies (SDAs) of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) as well as Area Councils, corporate bodies, and statutory authorities among others must demand and verify TCC from residents before rendering of services or performing any transaction.“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 31(5) of the Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Act 2015 provides that “A department, agency or official of the FCTA, any Area Council official, any corporate body, statutory authority or person empowered in that regard by this Act or any other law shall demand a tax clearance certificate for the three (3) years immediately preceding the current year of assessment as a pre-condition to transacting any business including but not limited to…” and shall verify the genuineness by referring same to the issuing tax authority.

 

“Consequently, all MDAS, SDAs, commercial banks, corporate and statutory organizations operating within the FCT are mandated to forthwith enforce the provisions of the extant laws by demanding from individuals, business names/enterprises and organizations current Tax Clearance Certificates for the last three (3) years before carrying out any business transaction and verifying with the FCT-Internal Revenue Service for those transactions listed in the schedule attached to this Circular as ANNEX 1.

 

“Any official of MDAs, SDAs, officials of the FCTA, Area Council officials, corporate body, statutory Authority or Commercial Banks who violates and fails to comply with the provision, is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N5,000,000.00 or to imprisonment for 3 years or both fine and imprisonment as provided for by section 85 (9) of PITA, 2011 (as amended).

The Ondo State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association has threatened to embark on industrial action if the state government failed to fulfil its promise to review the hazard allowance of its members.

 

The NMA lamented that for a long time, the doctors practising in the government-owned hospitals in the state were paid a sum of N5,000 as hazard allowance and the state government had approved the upward review of the allowance but there was no implementation yet.

 

Speaking on the NMA 2023 Physicians’ Week on Monday in Akure, the state capital, the chairman of the Ondo NMA, Dr Omosehin Adeyemi-Osowe, noted that the state government had promised to pay the money this week, failure of which might lead to another industrial action.

 

He said,” We have many challenges in Ondo NMA, one of them is that we lack personnel. Recently we heard in the news that over 1000 health workers would be employed by the state government. We are still waiting for the recruitment exercise to commence. Another challenge is our allowances, we have had a review recently, and before that review, the hazard allowance has been reviewed upward, before the review of that hazard allowance what we receive as doctors is N5,000.

 

“This has been reviewed by the Federal Government but up till this moment, Ondo State has not implemented it, but we know that it has been approved, we were promised that there would be implementation in Ondo State, but up till this moment we are yet to perceive the implementation. As of last Friday, the government through the Permanent Secretary on establishment promised that on or before the end of tomorrow (Wednesday) a circular would be out, we are waiting.

The state NMA, who confirmed that the state had also experienced the ‘japa’ syndrome in the health sector, said the development required the government to improve the welfare of the remaining health workers in the state.

 

According to him, members of the group may not hesitate to go on strike if the implementation of the reviewed allowance is not paid before Friday this week.

In Ondo State today, doctors, pharmacists and others are leaving the country for advanced country, we cannot stop them, they have the human right to migrate, but what are those things making them migrate, these are the things we have discussed with the government, we need competitive allowances and salaries as compared to other countries even if we come locally, as compared to other states, these we are not getting, but we believe it would come,

 

“I want to tell the government that at the end of this week, and we do not have that circular, well, it would not be bad for Ondo State Nigeria Medical Association of doctors to go on strike at the end of this week if we do not have the circular for the implementation of the hazard allowance in Ondo State, the federal workers have been enjoying this since last year, from December 2021, the Federal Government has cleared all the federal workers allowance, they have paid their workers up till today,” he noted.

 

In the same vein, the National President of the NMA, Dr Uche Ojinmah whose speech was delivered by Adeyemi-Osowe, warned against running the doctors down in Nigeria.

 

Ojinmah said, “We use this medium to humbly sound a note of warning to all and sundry to never try to run Nigerian doctors down in any way but to always follow due process if aggrieved or in discharging their responsibilities. If anyone has any case against a doctor practising in Nigeria, it should channel such to the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for appropriate response being the body statutorily saddled with such responsibility.

 

“The NMA hereby express her displeasure at the recent media trial of some healthcare workers by the Minister of Women Affairs. We believe that such behaviour is infra dig for one that occupies such a lofty office.”

The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has suspended foreign trips for top officials of his administration for the rest of the year, with exceptions for emergencies.

 

The governor has also directed the Head of Service, Mr. Leye Aina, to prepare a memo that would state the relationship between the Commissioners and the Special Advisers to ensure efficiency in the governance process.

 

Speaking during a meeting held with members of the State Executive Council which deliberated on 2024 budget proposals from the ministries, departments, and agencies as a prelude to the submission of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework to the State House of Assembly, Adeleke declared that excessive spending on recurrent and overhead expenses must be avoided.

 

While urging cabinet members to make personal sacrifices, the governor explained that all members of the administration must demonstrate readiness to sacrifice in the face of the state’s harsh financial situation.

He, however, called for due diligence on the budget preparation process, reading out key policy directives on the governance of the state.

statement by the spokesperson to the governor, Olawale Rasheed, obtained in Osogbo on Monday, quoting Adeleke further read in parts, “Foreign trips for top officials for the rest of the year are hereby suspended unless there is a direct emergency to be authorised by the Governor.

 

“We must sustain the momentum of our service delivery by avoiding excessive spending on recurrent and overheads.

Our needs from office to accommodation are much, but our resources are limited. So we have to devise a coping mechanism pending the time our funding situation will improve.

 

“While memos by Special Advisers must pass through the Permanent Secretary to the Commissioners, the Commissioners must ensure fair play and an accommodating spirit.

 

Abuja: A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, postponed the hearing of a suit filed by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, challenging the orders obtained by the EFCC for final forfeiture of her seized assets.

The matter, which was scheduled on number 15 on the cause list, could not proceed due to the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo.

The court subsequently fixed Dec. 7 for hearing of the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/21/23.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Ekwo had, on June 21, fixed today for hearing of the case after the lawyer who appeared for Alison-Madueke, Mr Benson Igbanoi, and EFCC’s counsel, M.D. Baraya, regularised their processes in the suit.

NAN reports that the anti-corruption agency had planned to conduct public sale of all the assets seized for being proceeds of crime as ordered by courts to be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government
The auctioning exercise, conducted on the seized assets believed to include Diezani’s property, started on Jan. 9.
The immediate-past chairman of EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had revealed that $153 million and over 80 property had been recovered from Alison-Madueke.
She was alleged to have escaped to the United Kingdom (UK) and remained there after her exit from public office as the petroleum minister, an office she held between 2010 and 2015 under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
But the ex-minister, in her suit, sought an order extending the time within which to seek leave to apply to the court for an order to set aside the EFCC’s public notice issued to conduct public sale on her property.
In the motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023 dated and filed on Jan. 6 by her lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the former minister sought five orders from the court.
While Alison-Madueke is the applicant, the EFCC is the sole respondent in the suit.
The former minister, who argued that the various orders were made without jurisdiction, said these “ought to be set aside ex debito justitiae.”
She said she was not given fair hearing in all the proceedings leading to the orders.
“The various court orders issued in favour of the respondent and upon which the respondent issued the public notice were issued in breach of the applicant’s right to fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, as altered, and other similar constitutional provisions,” she said.

She argued that she was neither served with the charge sheet and proof of evidence in any of the charge nor any other summons howsoever and whatsoever in respect of the criminal charges pending against her before the court.

She further argued that the courts were misled into making several of the final forfeiture orders against her assets through suppression or non-disclosure of material facts.

“The several applications upon which the courts made the final order of forfeiture against the applicant were obtained upon gross misstatements, misrepresentations, non-disclosure, concealment and suppression of material facts.

”This honourable court has the power to set-aside same ex debito justitiae, as a void order is as good as if it was never made at all.

“The orders were made without recourse to the constitutional right to fair hearing and right to property accorded the applicant by the constitution.

“The applicant was never served with the processes of court in all the proceedings that led to the order of final forfeiture,” she said, among other grounds given.
But the EFCC, in a counter affidavit deposed to by Rufai Zaki, a detective with the commission, urged the court to dismiss her application.
Mr Zaki, who was a member of the team that investigated a case of criminal conspiracy, official corruption and money laundering against the ex-minister and some other persons involved in the case, said investigation had clearly shown that she was involved in some acts of criminality.
He said Alison-Madueke was therefore charged before the court in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018.
“We hereby rely on the charge FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 dated 14th November, 2018 filed before this honourable court and also attached as Exhibit C in the applicant’s affidavit,” he said.
The EFCC operative, who said he had seen the ex-minister’s motion, said most of the depositions were untrue.
He said contrary to her deposition in the affidavit in support, most of the cases which led to the final forfeiture of the contested property “were action in rem, same were heard at various times and determined by this honourable court.”
He said the courts differently ordered the commission to do a newspaper publication inviting parties to show cause why the said property should not be forfeited to the Federal Government, before final orders were made.
Mr Zaki argued that one Nnamdi Awa Kalu represented the ex-minister in reaction to one of the forfeiture applications.
“We humbly rely on the judgment of Hon. Justice I.LN. Oweibo dated 10th September, 2019 shown in Exhibit C of the applicant’s affidavit,” he said.
The officer said contrary to her, the final forfeiture of the assets which were subject of the present application was ordered by the court since 2017 and that this was not set aside or upturned on appeal.
According to him, the properties have been disposed off through due process of law.
NAN reports that the EFCC had equally filed a money laundering suit against the ex-minister.
The suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 and brought by the anti-graft lawyer, Farouk Abdullah was presently before Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon.
Justice Olajuwon, on Jan. 24, 2022, issued an arrest warrant against Alison-Madueke, following an oral application by Abdullah that the defendant had refused to come to the country to stand her trial.
The EFCC accused the former minister of fleeing the country for the UK in order to escape justice.
The lawyer, in a document filed along with a motion ex-parte, said it sought to question Diezani, without success, in relation to many allegations against her.

This, he said, includes “her role as the Minister of Petroleum Resources and her role in the award of Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA) to Septa Energy Limited, Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited by NNPC.

He said it also wanted Diezani to respond to questions about “her role in the chartering of private jets by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Ministry of Petroleum Resources and her role in the award of contracts by NNPC to Marine and Logistics Services Limited.”

Abdallah said the agency was investigating Diezani’s business relationships with Mr. Donald Amamgbo, Mr. Afam Nwokedi, Chief lkpea Leemon, Miss Olatimbo Bukola Ayinde, Mr Benedict Peters, Christopher Aire, Harcourt Adukeh, Julian Osula, Dauda Lawal, Nnamdi Okonkwo, Mr. Leno Laithan, Sahara Energy Group and Midwestern Oil Limited.

He added that Dezani was also required to clear air on “her role in financing the 2015 general elections, particularly the money that were warehoused at Fidelity Bank Plc in 2015 prior to the elections.”

He said it equally wanted the ex-minister to speak on several items, documents and Jewelleries recovered from her house at No: 10, Chiluba Close, off Jose Marti Street, Asokoro, Abuja, and some identified property that were linked to her In Nigeria, UK, United States of America (USA), United Arab Emirate (UAE) and South Africa.

NAN reports that Alison-Madueke is also standing trial before the Westminster Magistrates Court in the UK over an alleged £100,000 bribe.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)/ Flowerbudnews

No fewer than 18 persons sustained varying degrees of injuries in a crash at the Kara axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Ogun State

The Federal Road Safety (FRSC) said the accident occurred on Sunday night, saying the total number of those involved could not be immediately ascertained.

 

According to the FRSC spokesperson in Ogun, Florence Okpe, the crash involved a Mack truck with no number plate, a Honda SUV registered as KRD128GS and a Mazda bus with no registration number.

Okpe said the multiple crash was caused by brake failure.

It was learnt that the truck lost its brake and rammed into the commercial bus and the SUV.

 

She added that the injured victims were taken to the Accident and Emergency Centre at the Old Toll Gate by men of the FRSC rescue team

The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the petition by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, seeking to void the declaration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the 2023 presidential election.

Justice John Inyang Okoro, who led a 7-man panel of Justices of the Court in Monday’s proceedings, announced reservation of the final judgment after taking arguments from lawyers in the matter.

 

Justice Okoro said parties in the matter would be communicated as soon as the judgment date is fixed.

Meanwhile, Atiku Abubakar on Monday at the Supreme Court insisted that President Bola Tinubu must be disqualified from the 2023 presidential election.

 

Atiku maintained that Tinubu was not Constitutionally qualified to stand for the election at the time he did.

 

The former Vice President through his lead counsel, Chris Uche SAN, asked the apex court to invoke the provisions of the Constitution to annul Tinubu’s in the election.

He predicated his request for Tinubu’s disqualification on alleged certificate forgery and lying on oath.

 

In the absence of outright disqualification, Atiku pleaded with the Justice John Inyang Okoro-led panel to order a rerun between him and Tinubu.

 

However, Tinubu through his lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun SAN, asked the court to dismiss Atiku’s claims of certificate forgery and lying on oath.

 

The senior lawyer insisted that Atiku’s allegations are unsubstantiated and cannot enjoy any probate value until proven beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, represented by Abubakar Mahmoud SAN, also canvassed that Atiku’s petition be thrown out for want of merit.

 

The All Progressives Congress, APC, led by Chief Akin Olujinmi SAN, adopted the position of Olanipekun in calling for dismissal of the petition.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, have arrived at the Supreme Court.

 

Others include the National Security Adviser of Nigeria, Nuhu Ribadu and the acting National Chairman of the PDP,

 

The apex court would hear the appeals of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar; Labour Party’s Peter Obi; and APM, seeking the court to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s victory.

 

Details later…