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COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
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Business News
FIRS cracks down on several companies over tax default
FIRS sealed the premises of Oba Otudeko’s head office over tax default.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Wednesday sealed the premises of several companies in Lagos, over failure to fulfill tax obligations.
The FIRS team sealed Broadview Engineering Limited, Pivot Engineering Limited among others owned by a billionaire businessman. Pivot Engineering Limited, an Ikeja-based power engineering subsidiary of the Honeywell Group was said to have been in tax default to the tune of N610 million.
The FIRS team also sealed the premises of UTC Nigeria Plc (N278 million), John Holt Nigeria Limited, one of Nigeria’s leading assembly conglomerate and trading companies (N33 million). The others are HITV Limited, Sweet Sensation Confectionery Limited (N156 million), Reliance Telecommunications Limited (N593 million) and Entertainment Highway Limited (N196 million).
The Chief Executive officers (CEOs) of the foreclosed companies were also arrested. Their arrest was the outcome an enforcement drive by the FIRS to recover arrears of taxes accruing to the Federal Government from Company Income Tax (CIT), Education Tax (EDT), Withholding Tax (WHT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) still outstanding against various companies.
The FIRS taskforce also went to HITV Limited and Entertainment Highway Limited where they discovered the premises had been sealed by a certain back following a court order. Similarly, the premises of Reliance Communication was sealed and it was gathered that it was on the instructions of its company’s chairman, Anil Ambani.
The seal off action would have been after the FIRS must have carried out a mandatory assessment of what these companies owed either by assessing their tax liabilities after obtaining financial records, or they pass a Best of Judgement Assessment (BOJ). A BOJ is an assessment done without relying or partly relying on a company’s financial records, after which a letter is sent to the registered address or the most visible location of offices of the company. Next, FIRS sends a demand notice to the defaulting company if the company either fails to respond to the earlier sent letter of notice or a break down in tax negotiations.
FIRS then seal the premises of the companies after a stipulated period in demand notice has elapsed.
Economy & Politics
Uganda Elections: Museveni re-elected for 6th term with 58.6% of the votes
Uganda’s President Museveni has won a 6th term in office as the opposition alleges wide-scale rigging.
Coronavirus
Combined Vaccine Manufacturing capacity to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021
COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity is expected to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021.
Meristem Group disclosed that the combined effort in manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines for global use is expected to yield about 6.8 billion doses in 2021.
This was revealed in the Annual Outlook 2021 report presented by Meristem Group, titled “Bracing for a different future.”
According to the report, the existing manufacturing capacity will only be sufficient enough to immunize about 44% of the global population, which would create obvious vaccination gap and make the pandemic last longer than necessary.
The report states,
- “The cold temperature requirements for vaccine storage pose major logistics concern particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and other low-income countries. WHO estimates that about 50% of vaccines are wasted every year, largely due to a lack of temperature control.”
According to the report, the estimated 6.8billion doses are expected to be collaboratively manufactured as follows: CanSino – 0.2billion, AstraZeneca – 3.0 billion, Gamaleya – 0.3billion, Moderna – 0.4billion, Pfizer-BioNtech – 1.3billion, SinoPharm – 1billion, and SinoVac – 0.6billion.
What you should know
- The global population as of 2020 is 7.8billion and 70% is required to achieve herd immunity (otherwise called herd protection)
- Herd Immunity or herd protection is achieved when you have most of the population immunized against an infectious disease.
- 2 doses of the vaccines are required for each person for immunity.
- It is expected that between 11 and 15 billion doses would be required to achieve the desired herd immunity, globally.
- From all indications, herd immunity may not be achieved until mid or late 2022, with the subsisting 100% vaccine production capacity utilization in 2021 – with neither production nor distribution losses.
- To achieve regulatory approval, a vaccine must undergo a three-stage clinical development process after the exploratory and pre-clinical stages and the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets a phase 3 efficacy benchmark of 50%.
Coronavirus
Covid-19: Global deaths surpass 2 million
Global casualty record for the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 2 million deaths on Friday.
The Global casualty record for the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 2 million deaths on Friday, with the United States accounting for 1 in every 5 deaths, as it has recorded over 386,000 casualties so far.
This was disclosed in a report by Reuters in its Covid-19 tally reported on Friday evening.
After the United States, Brazil, Mexico, India and the U.K contribute nearly 50% of the combined casualties.
The report also disclosed that an average of 11,900 casualties are recorded per day in year 2021, despite the fact that it took 9 months for the world to record 1 million casualties.
United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said the 2 million death count was “a heart-wrenching milestone.”
- “Behind this staggering number are names and faces: the smile now only a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” he added.
The WHO warned that 2021 could be tougher due to the nature of new variants which transmit the disease faster.
- “We are going into a second year of this. It could even be tougher given the transmission dynamics and some of the issues that we are seeing,” WHO Chief, Mike Ryan, said.
Analysts expect the global death toll to surpass 3 million by April 2021.
What you should know
- Nairametrics reported that the total number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria had surpassed the 100,000 mark on Sunday 10th January 2021, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
- The African Union stated that it secured 270 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for the continent from drug manufacturers to supplement the COVAX programme, a step towards the commencement of the complex task of vaccinating over 1.2 billion people with limited financial resources.
- The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Friday 15th January 2021, announced that 1,867 new cases of the covid-19 virus were recorded across 24 states in the country. This represents the highest number of cases recorded in a single day.
Anonymous
August 14, 2018 at 9:01 pm
All these companies make a whole lot from the masses and refuse to pay up their tax.no mercy ,until they pay up.
Daniel
September 7, 2018 at 11:34 am
Reliance communications here has no relationship with the Ambanis or Anil Ambani as you have stated… It is Annie Okonkwo’s Reliance…remember Reltel!