Business News
Nigeria’s taxpayer roll expected to reach 45 million soon
Sir Oseni Elamah, the Executive Secretary, Joint Tax Board (JTB), has disclosed that Nigeria’s taxpayer roll will hit 45 million anytime from now.
Sir Oseni Elamah, the Executive Secretary of the Joint Tax Board (JTB), has disclosed that Nigeria’s taxpayer roll will hit 45 million anytime from now.
While presenting a report on the new Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Registration System to the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler, Elamah said the leap in taxpayer roll is the result of collaborative efforts between the FIRS and State Internal Revenue Services (SIRSs).
Elamah further stressed that the JTB, which is chaired by Fowler, has completed the building of a new TIN Registration System, which is an integration of TIN numbers of various organisations. HD added that the growth of the taxpayers’ database is a major flank of the goals of the JTB in collaboration with the FIRS.
“The leap in taxpayer roll is the result of collaborative efforts between the FIRS and State Internal Revenue Services (SIRSs), part of which is the ongoing integration of databases that will fetch the nation a total of 45 million individual and corporate taxpayers.” -Elamah
Understanding what tax roll entails: A tax roll is an official breakdown of all property within a given jurisdiction, such as a city, that can be taxed. The tax roll will list each property separately, in addition to its assessed value and the amount of taxes due. This roll is usually created by the taxing assessor or other authority within the jurisdiction.
How FIRS’s bank initiative discovered thousands of tax defaulters: Thousands of Nigerians were identified as tax defaulters by the FIRS, through the bank accounts substitution initiative embarked upon by the agency earlier this year (2019).
The number of tax defaulters: While speaking in Lagos at a stakeholders’ forum and the official presentation of the “Nigerian Tax Outlook 2019”, the FIRS Executive Chairman, Mr Babatunde Fowler, disclosed that about 55,000 tax defaulters were discovered.
How FIRS achieved a record-breaking 2018: The tax regulator reported a record-breaking N5.3 trillion revenue in 2018. According to Fowler, the application of technology and other initiatives aided the performance.
Fowler also listed the Service’s tax amnesty and Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAID) as factors that enabled the positive result the tax agency recorded for the year 2018.
Business News
Dangote, BUA Cement drag Nigerian Stock market down, investors lose N154.28 billion
Investors lost N154.28 billion in value, as market capitalization dropped to N13.04 trillion at the Nigerian Stock market.
Nigeria’s stock market finished the week on a poor note, extending its previous day’s loss. The ASI declined by -1.17% to 25,016.00 index points. Consequently, the Year to Date loss dipped to -6.88%. Also, investors lost N154.28 billion in value, as market capitalization dropped to N13.04 trillion.
In terms of activity levels, market activity mirrored the broad index as total volumes and values declined by -20.61% and -52.51% to 214.49 million units and 2.51 billion respectively. ZENITH BANK was the most traded stock by volume at 22.2 million units, while NB topped by value at N666 million.
READ ALSO: List of Dividends announced so far in 2020 (June)
Market sentiment, measured by market breadth, was however positive with 22 gainers led by BOCGAS (10.00%), against 18 losers topped by CABDURY (-9.47%).
Across the major indexes we cover, four out of five indexes closed negative. The Industrial goods (-3.91%) index was the worst performer, due to BUACEM (-5.44%) and DANGCEMENT (-2.04%) price decline. The Consumer Goods (-1.23%) and Energy (-0.96%) indices followed, owing to sell-offs in CADBURY (-9.47%); NB (-4.55%); GUINNESS (-3.68%) and OANDO (-2.22%).
Also, the Banking (-0.28%) index lost points, as prices of GUARANTY (-2.45%) and FBNH(-1.82%) fell. The Insurance index was the lone gainer, up +0.06% on price appreciation in CHIPLC, CUSTODIAN & AIICO Insurance.
READ MORE: GTBank, Zenith Bank, Nestle emerge Renaissance Capital’s top stock picks
Top gainers
BOCGAS up 10.00% to close at N4.4; SKYAVN up 9.64% to close at N2.73; NASCON up 1.77% to close at N11.5; CUSTODIAN up 3.42% to close at N6.05; and NEIMETH up 9.94% to close at N1.77.
Top losers
CADBURY down 9.47% to close at N7.65; BUACEMENT down 5.44% to close at N40; NB down 4.55% to close at N42; GUINNESS down 3.68% to close at N18.3; and DANGCEM down 2.04% to close at N139.
Outlook
Market dropped close to the N13 trillion market capitalization support level, as heavy selling was observed among blue-chip stocks. Nairametrics recommends caution as price swing momentum strengthens.
Business News
Buhari reappoints Danbatta as NCC Vice Chairman/CEO
With the reappointment, Danbatta will continue serving in the capacity of NCC Vice Chairman and CEO for another 5 years.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the reappointment of of Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta as Executive Vice Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This means that Danbatta will continue serving in the capacity of NCC Vice Chairman and CEO for another 5 years.
Personal assistant on New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad announced this via his twitter handle on Friday evening.
READ MORE: Nigerian economy going into recession, might contract by -8.9% – Finance Minister
President @MBuhari has approved the reappointment of Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta as Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). He will be serving another 5 years as the Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, a statement from @FMoCDENigeria.
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) June 5, 2020
This reappointment was based on the recommendations of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Ali Ibrahim Pantami, and contained in a Press statement from the ministry.
https://twitter.com/FMoCDENigeria/status/1268927885726924808/photo/1
READ ALSO: Construction of ICT Parks nudges Nigeria into digital transformation
While wishing him well in his second tenure, Pantami urged Professor Danbatta to consolidate on gains and achievements of his first term.
“The honourable minister directed him to significantly improve on the overall performance of the commission as well as ensure that adequate mechanisms are put in place to facilitate the implementation of all policies of the Federal Government through the ministry” the statement read.
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The professor of Telecommunications engineering had lectured for about three decades before his previous appointments. At different times, he also served as a member of the Implementation Committee of the Northwest University Kano, as well as served as the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the Kano University of Science & Technology, Wudil.
Companies
CBN debits banks another N459.7 billion for failure to meet CRR target
Sadly, this move, in addition to similar policies by the CBN, has left many banks cash-strapped and unable to pursue various profitable ventures.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debited twenty-six banks, including merchant banks, to the tune of N459.7 billion for failure to meet their CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) obligations. The fresh debit, which Nairametrics reliably gathered occurred yesterday, has left many stakeholders in the banking sector very upset.
The details: Among the banks that were most affected are United Bank for Africa Plc (N82.3 billion), First Bank of Nigeria Ltd (N59.3), Zenith Bank Plc (N50 billion), First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited (N45 billion), and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (N40 billion). The rest of the affected banks can be seen in the table below.
Note that the latest CRR debits are coming barely one month after a lot of banks were collectively debited to the tune of N1.4 trillion for the same reason in April. Between then and now, a lot of other minor CRR debits have occurred. Nairametrics understands that the apex bank now debits banks on a weekly basis.
Some backstory: During the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting that was held last month, committee members voted to retain CRR rate at 27.5%. The rate was increased in January this year from 5% to its current level after the apex bank cited inflationary pressure concerns. What this means, therefore, is that Nigerian banks are required to keep 27.5% of their deposits as CRR with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
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But banks are silently upset: Sadly, this move, in addition to similar policies by the CBN, has left many banks cash-strapped and unable to pursue various profitable ventures. While reacting to the latest development, a banker who refused to be identified, said:
“What we’ve seen in recent times is that the CBN just indiscriminately debits banks, usually towards the stale-end of every week. They will look at your bank account and if your liquidity is plenty, they will debit you.
“You know the central bank also does what we call retail FX intervention, that is when they sell FX to corporates. Now, because they don’t want banks coming with huge demands, what they do is that a day before the FX sales, they debit the banks so that the naira you have available is small and you cannot put them under pressure because of your FX demands. That has really been the driver.
READ ALSO: Central banks digital currencies pose a threat against the U.S dollar
“We understand that the central bank had set up a special CRR team that is supposed to monitor banks’ CRR once a month. But now, the team monitors banks’ CRR on a weekly basis. This is why the central bank is effectively debiting banks on a weekly basis. Some weeks ago, they debited some banks about N1.4 trillion. That was one of many. Between that time and now, there have been more debits that have happened. But the debits that are huge/significant are what is troubling the banks. There was a N300 billion that happened about two weeks ago. and then yesterday that was this N459.7 billion that was also debited.
“These are huge amounts that are leaving the banking sector. It’s a squeeze on the banks. A bank like First Bank, for instance, has about N1.4 trillion in CRR with the Central Bank. And there is Zenith Bank with equally as much as N1.5 trillion. These are monies that banks can potentially put in loans at 52% at 30%, or even put in money market instruments at maybe 10%. So, for a shareholder of these banks, this CRR debits are impairing the banks’ ability to increase their earnings because now are not able to use the funds that are legitimately theirs to create money for their shareholders. And the question is that under what framework is the Central Bank choosing to take people’s money?”
