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News

Barely eight hours after the United States President, Donald Trump, slammed immigration restrictions on Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the country is committed to maintaining productive relationships with the US.

The President also, inaugurated a committee that will study and address U.S. requirements.

Buhari who reacted through his Media aide, Femi Adesina, said the committee would be chaired by Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior.

His words, “The DHS states the suspension of ‘immigrant visas’ became necessary following a review and update of the methodology (performance metrics) adopted by the U.S Government to assess compliance of certain security criteria by foreign governments,” he said.

“This resulted in certain enhancements on how information is shared between Nigeria and the U.S.

“Nigeria remains committed to maintaining productive relations with the United States and its international allies especially on matters of global security.

“Accordingly, Mr President has established a committee, to be Chaired by the Hon. Minister of Interior, to study and address the updated U.S. requirements. The committee will work with the U.S Government, INTERPOL and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented.”

Vanguard

The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, has warned businesses and individuals against tax evasion, as the implementation of the new 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax rate begins today, Saturday.

The VAT increase according to the Federal Government is meant to help achieve its revenue projections for the 2020 budget as part of the tax reforms included in the 2019 Finance Act.

With the Act, it is expected that there will be more revenue to finance key government projects especially in the areas of health, education and critical infrastructure.

Among the Finance Act strategic objectives is the supporting of micro, small and medium Enterprises in line with the ease of doing business reforms such as VAT threshold.

Speaking during a breakfast programme on the Nigerian Television Authority, the Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Mohammed Nami, urged all businesses to ensure that they register with the FIRS for VAT purpose.

He said any business that failed to obey the tax law would face the wrath of the tax authorities.

He said, “It’s your statutory responsibility whether you just registered today with Corporate Affairs Commission to come over to the Federal Inland Revenue to register as VAT agent.

That is the first responsibility. “The second responsibility is that you should keep good record of your transaction because if you don’t keep good records and eventually during the compliance process and monitoring process it is discovered that you have traded well above N25m, the taxes will be paid in arrears.”

He said the VAT Act already exempts pharmaceuticals, educational items, and basic commodities. Some of the basic food commodities according to Section 46, that were also excepted include brown and white bread; cereals including maize, rice, wheat, millet, barley and sorghum and fish of all kinds.

Others are flour and starch meals; fruits, nuts, pulses and vegetables of various kinds; roots such as yam, cocoyam, sweet and Irish potatoes; meat and poultry products including eggs; milk; salt and herbs of various kinds; and natural water and table water.

President Muhammadu Buhari, has approved N71m to ensure the deadly Coronavirus does not spread to the country.

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, told reporters after the Coronavirus Inter-Ministerial Multisectoral Preparedness and Response meeting in Abuja on Friday that a team had been set up to develop action plan for government on the next plan.

At the meeting was the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, while the ministers of Interior, Police Affairs, FCT, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Aviation and Finance were represented on the occasion.

The World Health Organisation and United States Agency for International Development, as well as government health agencies were also represented at the meeting.

Ehanire said, “We had a good and successful meeting with health commissioners from Lagos, Kano, Enugu and Rivers states as well as the FCT. We have addressed all the strengths and weaknesses in the system. We have set up a team to develop action plan for government.

"An advisory from the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday directed Nigerians to halt travel plan to China while also directing all returnees to Nigeria from China to be indoors within a period of two weeks to fully monitor possible symptoms.”

When asked how the FG intended to monitor the returnees to ensure total compliance, the minister said, “We are going to monitor all people entering Nigeria without looking at individual nationalities. People enter Nigeria on their own individual merit.

“We are increasing and improving surveillance and better collaboration among those who work at our ports of entry. We are looking at the airport largely, but also the seaports and the land ports. We are going to do some training for the officials.”

He added, “The President approved additional funds for the Port Health Services on Thursday. The resources are being provided for surveillance and screening activities that will be done (at the ports of entry).

“The amount approved is N71m for Port Health Services to scale up what they are doing. Every penny that was requested was approved.”

According to Mohammed, many travellers lie about their status and make screening difficult for officials.

He said, “We need a lot of public enlightenment. This virus will not make a distinction between public and private persons. We need to let people who travel know that there is a need for absolute transparency and absolute honesty when they are filling in their forms.

“Some people don’t take the forms seriously and they do mislead authorities when they are asked to declare their status. These are things we need to escalate.

“The National Orientation Agency has to do a lot of job because it is present in each of the 774 council areas. It can do a lot of taking information to the grassroots.”

When asked the amount of money earmarked by the FG for the campaign against Coronavirus, the minister said, “One of the major advantages of the declaration of global emergency for Coronavirus by the WHO is that they understand that combating it can be really expensive and there are states that cannot afford it.

“There are many partners that can help such countries. But right now, we are in the stage of working together ministerially to make sure we address the epidemic.”

Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma was yesterday in Abuja to be formally introduced to President Muhammadu Buhari by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, as the new governor of the state and he came out of the meeting expressing optimism that the Supreme Court will not reverse the victory earlier given to him.

Uzodinma, who spoke to State House correspondents after the meeting, said he was unperturbed by the decision of the ousted governor of the state, Emeka Ihedioha, to approach the Supreme Court to reverse its judgment which returned him as the winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state.

He said given that the stipulated 60 days within which post-election petitions should be exhausted had elapsed, Ihedioha’s return to the apex court was an exercise in futility.

The governor recalled that he participated in the amendment of the Electoral Act which stipulated 60 days within which post-election petitions should be exhausted, adding that Ihedioha’s return to the apex court would amount to a futile exercise since it was done within the stipulated time.

He said: “So, going back to the Supreme Court, I don’t know what it means. I am not a lawyer, anyway, but with my little knowledge of lawmaking, I understand what is in the Electoral Act.

So, the Supreme Court is not a market square that anytime you want, you go there.” Speaking in the same vein, Oshiomhole, lambasted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for declaring Ihedioha as the winner of the March 9, 2019 election in Imo State, saying the commission “completely and irresponsibly misbehaved.”

Oshiomhole, who also criticised the returning officer who declared Ihedioha as the winner of the election, described the professor as a senile man who did now know that nine local governments, which Ihedioha reportedly won, did not constitute two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state.

According to him, INEC only exploited the monopoly of the power of declaration to proclaim Ihedioha as the winner of the election, “when he shouldn’t have been declared the winner at all.”

Castigating the commission further, Oshiomhole said that INEC had thought that even if a lunatic in the commission declared anyone winner of an election, such declaration would automatically become irreversible, alleging that such attitude only conforms to the nature of PDP.

“I think there is something the media simply refused to focus on. With all due respect, a lot of the views that people parrot are derived from what I called electronic media lawyers.

“Now, is there any of us in this room at the time Emeka was declared… Even the returning officer could not show that he scored the constitutional requirement of at least one-quarter of the total votes cast in at least two-thirds of a local government.

“On that criterion alone, there is no question in the eye of the law – Emeka Ihedioha ought not to have been declared winner because he had those numbers only in nine local government areas and of course, you know you have about 27 local government areas. Two-thirds is 15.

“INEC completely and irresponsibly misbehaved by using a professor who seemed to be so senile that he didn’t know that nine is not two-thirds. This is very serious and they took advantage of the fact that once they make pronouncements, even if that pronouncement is made by a lunatic in INEC, you can’t reverse it.

“You have to go to court and that fits into PDP’s fixation – rig them out. Let them go to court. They just feel it is their birthright to continue to rig elections. So, the next time you see them talking, ask them how many local governments did PDP score one quarter of the total votes cast?”He asserted.

The apex court had in a landmark judgement on January 14, removed Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party on the ground that he did not score the lawful majoritvotes in the Imo governorship poll.

Justice kudirat kekere-Ekun, who read the lead judgement, held that the court arrived at the decision after adding votes scored by Uzodinma in 388 polling units, which showed that he won the race.

Subsequently, the court declared Uzodinma the winner of the election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued Ihedioha and issue same to Uzodinma as the elected Governor of Imo State.

However, Ihedioha, has approached the apex court, seeking a review of the judgement and his reinstatement.

 

This Day

The Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday came hard on the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, describing as tactless and disrespectful its attacks on the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere for intervening on what it termed the needless crisis being caused by the party over local government management in the state.

The PDP, in a statement by the state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Akeem Olatunji, told the APC its attack on Afenifere as well as its aimless plot to derail Governor Seyi Makinde’s government were ill-winds that will eventually consume the opponents of the administration in the state.

Olatunji noted that the intervention of the pan-Yoruba body, which warned the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police not to cause crisis in Oyo State by taking actions that are not backed by law, was not out of order.

He added that the pan-Yoruba body had, by that intervention, indeed, played its fatherly role, calling on Afenifere leaders to ignore the hogwash from the Oyo APC, which like most of its members in the South-west, were hellbent on selling Yoruba to slavery.

According to him, the Afenifere is renowned as the defender and protector of Yorubaland in the socio-political spheres and that made it imperative for it to speak up against the APC’s maniacal desire and plans to destroy Oyo State and make it ungovernable following its loss of the state after eight years.

He lauded the pan-Yoruba body for speaking up, against tyranny and attempts to distract Governor Makinde and lead the people of the state into traps set by haters of progress in the APC.

The PDP noted further that it was not surprised by the disrespectful and thoughtless attacks mounted against Afenifere in the Oyo APC’s statement, stating that the party was only acting the scripts written by its leaders “who have been in the business of trying to destroy Afenifere but to no avail.”

The statement reads, “One read with sadness the tactless and thoughtless remarks made by the Oyo State APC against the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere following its intervention on the needless crisis being caused by the APC in Oyo State over the dissolution of illegal local government leadership.

“While we are not surprised that the APC is acting true to type as haters of peace and enemies of progress, one would not have imagined that they could go as far as riding roughshod on Afenifere, which has remained the greatest and boldest protector of Yoruba interests in the socio-political sphere.

“But then, while we are disappointed that the APC in its jaundiced and not-well-thought-out statement could disrespect the pan-Yoruba body publicly and give more grounds for outsiders to disregard the body, we encourage Afenifere to continue to stand by what is right and speak up against tyranny.

“Our fathers and elders in Afenifere should ignore the rants of the rude losers in Oyo APC and put to mind the Yoruba saying that “ti ile ba ntoro, omo ale inu re ni ko tii d’agba” (any house that is experiencing peace and harmony should be watchful, as the bastards of the house may still be at infancy).”

On some of the points raised by the APC upon which it premised the attack on Afenifere, Olatunji maintained that though it would not have loved to give vent to the baseless rants of the APC, especially since the matter was in court, it would still set the records straight so that members of the public would not be confused.

The PDP stated that the Governor and the Oyo State House of Assembly did not err by dissolving the illegal chairmen, as the election that brought them in was ultra vires in that it was conducted into local governments and also LCDA entities not recognised by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The party further argued that the fact that it did not participate in the sham of an election conducted on May 12, 2020 due to its obvious unconstitutionality and lack of a level playing field could not be enough ground for Makinde to allow the illegality to stand.

“We know the APC and their devil-given talent of lies and propaganda; they are trying to pull the wool over the face of the public with different lies all in a bid to cause chaos in Oyo State. But they have failed.

“Since there are pending appeals on the local government, which the APC sacked chairmen were party to, any sane human being would have been expected to wait for the outcome of those appeals instead of resorting to self-help by seeking to enforce a judgment on matters concerning Ekiti State in Oyo State, despite the fact that the case, according to the parlance in legal circles, is not on all fours with the Oyo State dissolution matter.

“Unfortunately for the APC, no matter how much they try, the Makinde administration cannot be distracted.

“And now that the High Court of Oyo State has acted on the side of the people by granting restraining order against the sacked chairmen, we believe that it will be in the APC’s best interest to obey that order.

Failure to do so will make their lackeys parading themselves as ALGON members, who have turned themselves into burglars breaking into local government secretariats, liable to prosecution”, he said.

This Day

The Federal Government will not stop Nigerians from travelling to China or any other country where coronavirus has manifested.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made this known while addressing newsmen shortly after a meeting of the inter ministerial and multi sectoral committee on coronavirus held at the Ministry of Health, Abuja on Friday.

He said that rather than impose travel ban, there will be travel advisory that will help Nigerians who wish to visit China to do so without any encumbrances to their health and wellbeing.

“We know it is a bit difficult to ban people from travelling.

“Another thing is that this is not a basis to stigmatise people who come from there.

“Even if we have Nigerians who are there, unless they indicate interest that they want to come home, we can’t force them.

“I know we have Nigerians in Wuhan; our Embassy in China has confirmed that we have about 16 Nigerians in Wuhan and they are in touch with them.

“They have, however, not indicated their interest to come home. They will, however, contact our embassy if they like to come home,” he said.

The minister said there was need for the general public to be enlightened and for Nigerians travelling to be absolutely transparent.

“We need a lot of public enlightenment. We need to let people who travel know that there is the need for absolute transparency and absolute honesty when they are filling out forms.

“Some people don’t take the forms seriously and they do mislead authorities when they are asked to declare their status.

“One of the major advantages of the declaration of global emergency for coronavirus by WHO is that they understand that combating it can be really expensive and there are states that cannot afford it.

“But there are partners that can help such countries. But right now, we are in the stage of working together inter-ministerially to make sure we address the epidemic,” he said.

NAN reports that the coronavirus committee is made up of several line ministries, including Health, Aviation, Transport, Information and Culture, Police Affairs, Internal Affairs, Agriculture and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Also, the committee involves various government agencies and parastatals as well as state governors where international airports are located, Lagos, Enugu, Rivers and Kano.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Health Organisation has declared the coronavirus as a public health emergency of international concern. (NAN)

An undergraduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Orimolade, has been sentenced to four months imprisonment for defrauding an American man of 150 dollars by Justice Patricia Ajoku of a Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan.

Ajoku held that the court sentenced Orimolade, based on the evidence before her and the plea bargain agreement he had with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

“I have considered the plea bargain agreement entered into by the convict as well as the provisions of Section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 in this judgment.

“I also consider the fact that Orimolade is a very young person, preparing for his final exams at OAU and that he had shown great remorse.

“However, to serve as deterrent to others intending to engage in cybercrime, Orimolade is sentenced to four months in prison and the sentence starts from the date he was first arrested and detained.

“All the exhibits found in his possession are hereby, forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” Ajoku said.

The defence counsel, Mr Austin Fadugba, had before the judgment prayed the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing his client.

Earlier, counsel to the EFCC Ibadan zonal office, Mr Babatunde Sonoiki, had told the court that the convict was facing a count amended charge bordering on impersonation. Sonoiki added that the convict committed the crime on September 28, 2019 in Ibadan, Oyo State.

According to the prosecutor, Orimolade disguised as a US citizen to one American man, Nelisa Snell, that he was deeply in love with him through the Internet.

“Snell, therefore, sent Orimolade 150 dollars, believing that he had found a lover,” Sonoiki said. The offence, he said, contravened Section 22(A) of the cybercrime law of the Federation 2006.

(NAN)

Total debt owed to World Bank Group by Nigeria rose by $1.3bn in one year to $9.81bn (N3 trillion) as of September 2019, latest data from Debt Management Office showed on Wednesday.

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Development Association, which make up the World Bank, have over the years advanced loans to Nigeria.

IBRD lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries while IDA provides concessionary loans – called credits – and grants to governments of the poorest countries.

Nigeria’s debt to IDA and IBRD stood at $9.41bn and N409.51m as of September 30, 2019, compared to $8.39bn and $124m in September 30, 2018, according to the DMO data.

Total amount of loans approved by World Bank for Nigeria had reached $24.68bn, data obtained from the multinational development bank showed.

As of December 31, 2019, Nigeria had secured $7.14bn loans from IBRD and $17.54bn loans from IDA, according to the World Bank data.

IBRD and IDA cancelled $971.04m and $1.77bn respectively of the approved loans.

The data showed that a total of $16.89bn had been disbursed to the country, with $5.72bn from the IBRD and $11.17bn from the IDA.

The country had repaid a total of $6.45bn to both institutions ($5.29bn to IBRD and $1.16bn to IDA). The loans, many of which are still being disbursed, were approved for 177 projects in the country, with the first loan secured in 1947.

In November 2019, $75m was approved for the Second Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact project.

In 2018, $27.4m was approved for the North Core/Dorsale Nord Regional Power Interconnector Project; $125m for the Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project; $225m for the Nigeria-Accelerating Nutrition Results;$150m for the Polio Eradication Support Project; and $100m for the Nigeria for Women Project. Other projects for which loans were approved in 2018 were States’ Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability PforR ($750m); Nigeria Electrification Project ($350m); NG-Electricity Transmission Project ($486m); and Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project ($400m). In 2017, $611m was approved for Better Education Service Delivery for All; $159m for Nigeria Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification Project; $90m for Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement Phase II; $200m for Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project for North Eastern Nigeria; and $200m for Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support Project.

The nation’s total public debt rose to N26.22tn as of September 2019 from N25.70tn in the same period of 2018, according to DMO.

DMO said this month that the 2019 Appropriation Act provided for a total new borrowing of N1.61tn, split equally between domestic and external debt, but only the domestic component of N802.82bn was raised due to the late passage of the 2019 budget and the expectation that the implementation of the 2020 budget would commence on January 1.

It said total debt as a percentage of the GDP was 18.47 per cent as of September 2019 and was well within the limit of 25 per cent but “the low revenue base of Nigeria relative to its GDP is clearly reflected in the high debt service to revenue ratio.”

The debt office said new domestic borrowings this year (N1.59tn) would be raised through FGN Bonds, Sukuk, FGN Savings Bonds and possibly green bonds.

Punch

Presidency last night attacked Senate Minority Leader, Mr Enyinnaya Abaribe, over his call for President Muhammadu Buhari’s resignation, describing it as a stray comment. 

A statement by a presidential spokesman, Mr Garba Shehu, which described Abaribe as an arm-chair critic, said if Mr Buhari had to resign, then Abaribe and millions of other Nigerians would have to also resign.

He accused the fiery senator of lacking the moral right to call for Buhari’s resignation because he aided the escape of leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.

According to the statement, Abaribe ought to have replaced Kanu in Correctional Facility for failing to produce Kanu for whom he stood as surety, stressing that Buhari is fixing the country and striving to keep the country safe.

The statement read: “Just because some characters think that Buhari should resign, then they expect him to quit. That call does not represent the opinion of the country.

“This is the opinion of an arm-chair critic, known for making stray comments. If a leader like Buhari needs to resign, there are millions of other Nigerians who need to resign, including Abaribe who unlocked the door to enable the escape of traitorous and treasonable suspects.

“He signed the bond for the court to release Nnamdi Kanu on bail, from which moment the suspect disappeared into thin air. Abaribe has failed repeated deadlines to return Kanu to the court for trial, yet he has the effrontery with which to accuse someone of failing to the bidding of the law.

“This is a man who should have replaced the suspects he failed to produce in the correctional facility. Abaribe’s party raped the nation and left it collapsing in 2015 and Buhari is fixing things up all the years he is in office.

“Buhari is working hard to keep Nigeria and Nigerians out of the harm terrorists have unleashed in the entire Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa with the support of Nigerians and our foreign friends; he is going to finish off these terrorists. He alone can do it.”

Thisday

* sends 'save our souls' to President Muhammad Buhari, Governor Dapo Abiodun

 

Inhabitants of more than 12 villages, comprising hundreds of farmers, men and women in Oja Odan community and its environs in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State have protested against incessant attacks by herdsmen and wanton destruction of their farm crops by grazing cattle.

The Palace of the traditional ruler of the area, the Eselu of Iseluland, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi, was full as the protesters alleged that one of them was killed last week by violent herdsmen, who also cruelly chopped off one of the hands of the murdered man’s son.

The grieving farmers further alleged that they have lost tens of millions in farm crops to the over 8,000 heads of cattle that routinely graze on their farms, devour the crops and trampling down others as they move indiscriminately from one end to the other.

The Jagun Oba of Iseluland, Chief Festus Olabode Aina, who spoke on behalf of the protesting farmers at the Palace of Oba Akinyemi, said the alleged herdsmen were intruders from Republic of Niger and Chad.

He said having been chased out of Republic of Benin, they surged into their villages and practically took over the farms and forests.

Aina urged the monarch to convey their plights to the state and Federal governments to come to their rescue quickly and drive the herdsmen away, fearing that their could be bloodshed as witnessed in 2007, should the “peace loving villagers’ patience” thinned out and gives way in self defence to direct confrontation with the offending herdsmen.

According to him, their age- long stream that supplies them water for drinking and domestic purposes have been muddied, polluted and soiled with cow droppings by the cattle which go their for water daily while their women, daughters and sisters also suffer dehumanisation, abuse and humiliation in the hands of herdsmen.

Responding, Oba Akinyemi lauded the farmers for their peaceful conduct and advised them to continue to be calm and not take the laws in their hands, assuring that their message would be communicated to the governments.

The monarch lamented that the herders returned to the community in their large numbers after the Benin republic soldiers vent their anger on them over the boarder closure and sent them packing from their country.

Speaking with reporters, the Eselu appeals to the government to intervene and let the fulani herdsmen leave the community immediately before things goes out of hands.

The monarch said:”Well, my people are here today to agitate against the abuse, killings, destruction of crops by the Fulani herdsmen in our community. It is surprising to me to see my people , representatives of different communities where we have over 26,000 voters protesting this morning.

“Ever since I have been on the throne, this has always been a problem we have been trying to tame, but, because of the stubbornness of this herdsmen, it has became so difficult to tame them.

“The problem have become more tedious because many of them are now from Benin republic and Niger. My people are saying they can’t take it anymore. The soldiers in republic of Benin have chased the herdsmen out and they have now seen our community as an alternative at the expense of the peace of our people in our land.

“They are now destroying our crops raping our women, maiming our men among others. So, as a matter of fact, I have to employ an appeal to the government to please come to the aid of our people as a matter of urgency.”

However, the Ogun State Police Command said it is aware of the community’s protest but assured that there would be security beef up in the area to support those already on ground to ensure safety for the villagers and farmers.

Speaking through the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, it added that the Police would continue to put measures in place to prevent a breakdown law and order in that part of the state.