The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), said it was targeting to generate about N500 billion as Education Tax in 2021 fiscal year. Mr Kashim Imam, Chairman, TETFund Board of Trustees, said this at the 2020 Joint Interactive Forum organised by TETFund and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Port Harcourt on Tuesday. Imam said that the fund would be raised from two per cent of assessable profit tax contributions from oil and gas companies in the country. “We decided to organise this interactive forum to see how we can improve collection of Education tax, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. “For…
Author: Editor
Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained upbeat on Tuesday with the market capitalisation hitting N17 trillion benchmark due to gains in high capitalised stocks. Specifically, the market capitalisation appreciated by N212 billion to close at N17.059 trillion compared with N16.847 trillion recorded on Monday. Similarly, the All-Share Index improved by 404.05 points or 1.25 per cent to close at 32,647.10 against 32,243.05 achieved on Monday. Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date gains increased to 6.9 per cent and 21.6 per cent, respectively. The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; MTN Nigeria Communications,…
By Nefishetu Yakubu, Benin Governnor Godwin Obaseki of Edo on Tuesday presented a budget of N153.4 billion for 2021 to the state House of Assembly for approval. Presenting the budget christened ‘MEGA Budget‘, Obaseki said that it was made up of N94.8 billion recurrent expenditure and N58.6 billion capital expenditure. “Mr speaker, you will note that the recurrent component is larger than the capital. It is to help us deal with the social and economic consequences of COVID-19. “The total receipts of N153 billion expected for 2021 comprise of N71 billion from the federation account and N36 billion Internally Generated…
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday presented the 2021 budget appropriation of N1.155 trillion at the Lagos House of Assembly. Presenting the appropriation, christened “Budget of Rekindled Hope”, Sanwo-Olu said that it reflected the state’s determination to rise above the challenges that had affected its development indices in the last 10 months. He said that the budget had a proposed Recurrent Expenditure of N451.75 billion and a Capital Expenditure of N703.27 billion. According to him, the General Public Services allocation is N136.28 billion, under which the Science and Technology Sector has N28.27 billion and Other General Public Services has…
A prosecution witness, Okunrinboye Titus, on Tuesday, alleged that he transferred various sums of money to some beneficiaries without formal documentation to back the payments. Titus made this known while giving his evidence-in-chief in the ongoing trial of former Minister, Taminu Turaki, before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja. Turaki, the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs between 2013 and 2015, is charged with alleged laundering of N854 million. He also served as the supervising Minister of Labour from 2014 to 2015 in President Jonathan-led administration, and as chairman, Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution.…
Lagos State is to repeal public officers’ pension law that allows all former governors and deputy governors in the state to be paid pension and other benefits. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu made the promise during a budget estimate presentation to the Lagos State House of Assembly in Lagos on Tuesday. “We will be sending an executive bill in a couple of weeks to this honourable house to repeal the pension law. “This pension law is for pension paid to former public officers such as the former governors and former deputy governors “The repeal of the act is due to the dwindling…
At the start of the 20th century, German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed a method for taking nitrogen from the air and melding it with hydrogen. It would prove to be one of the great scientific advances of the century. Combined, the two elements made liquid ammonia, a key ingredient in synthetic fertilizers, which would drive an unprecedented agricultural expansion and help feed a fast-growing world. But there has been a downside. During the last 100 years, the amount of man-made nitrogen compounds in water, soil and the air has doubled – an increase driven in large part by the…
U.S. Attorney General, William Barr, has directed federal prosecutors across the country to examine allegations of fraud in the Nov. 3 general elections. Barr’s directive is contained in a Nov. 9 memo titled, “Post-Voting Election Irregularity Inquiries” addressed to relevant divisions in the Department of Justice. It came two days after the projection of former Vice President and Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, as winner of the keenly-contested presidential election. The Republican incumbent President Donald Trump has not conceded, and is alleging that the election was stolen by the Democrats especially in battleground states. His campaign organisation has filed lawsuits in key…
The Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, on Monday drilled officials of the Ministry of Justice over N2 billion it proposed to spend on legal services in 2021. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Solicitor-General of the Federation, Dayo Akpata, and other officials of the ministry appeared before the committee to defend their 2021 budget proposal. In the document submitted to the committee, the ministry under overhead cost proposed that the sum of N2 billion would be used to pay for legal services. It listed the legal services to include civil litigation,…
The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 94 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the country. The centre made this known via its verified website on Monday. According to the NCDC, 937 of the 58,795 people who were tested for COVID-19 between Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 tested positive. It said that the 937 cases recorded in the first week of November were slightly higher than the 923 recorded between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31. The NCDC data indicated that a total of 58,795 samples were collected for testing between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31, compared to the 20,165…