The Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS) has raked in the total sum of N4.178 trillion as revenue out of the personal target of N4.239 trillion – 98.6% of the revenue goal for the year.

This is according to a tweet by an aide to President Buhari, Lauretta Onochie, via her verified Twitter handle, as seen by Nairametrics.

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Executive Chairman, FIRS, Muhammad Mamman  Nami says the agency has raked in ₦4.178T revenue out of d ₦4.239T target it set for itself -News

Meanwhile, @MBuhari exempted those on minimum wages & those who run small businesses from paying tax
That's more money in their pockets pic.twitter.com/2HtW5bTkEr

— Lauretta Onochie (@Laurestar) November 24, 2020

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Commenting on the recent development, Lauretta Onochie said: “Executive Chairman, FIRS, Muhammad Mamman Nami says the agency has raked in ₦4.178T revenue out of the ₦4.239T target it set for itself -News.

“Meanwhile, @MBuhari exempted those on minimum wages & those who run small businesses from paying tax. That’s more money in their pockets.”

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Why it matters

Following the instability in the oil market and the recession that the country has found itself in, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is pertinent to explore other alternative sources of income, like taxation. This sort of news is also a cheering one, especially as it is in line with the present administration’s goal of creating viable alternative sources of revenue for the country.

What this means

With some weeks to go before the year ends, the result so far indicates that the agency has been proactive and worked assiduously well to achieve its objective. Attaining 98.6% of its target is no mere feat.

The Federal Government has announced plans to buy only locally assembled cars and discontinue the purchase of imported foreign ones for its use, as part of its bid to promote its policy on the local auto industry.

According to a report by Punch, this was disclosed by President Muhammadu Buhari in a speech delivered by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday, November 23, 2020, at the opening session of the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Conference themed: “Building Partnerships for Resilience”

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Osinbajo also explained that the Federal Government would buy locally assembled cars rather than imported foreign ones.

In his response on the issue of import duties which was raised at the summit during his presentation, the Vice President explained that the reduction of import duty on vehicles would help reduce the cost of transportation.

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Osinbajo said, “The point of the reduction in levies on motor vehicles, commercial vehicles for transportation is to reduce the cost of transportation by reducing the cost of vehicles.

“With subsidy removal and the increase in fuel price and the pass-through to food prices, transportation costs had to be reduced. Now the automotive policy is directed at localizing the production of vehicles.

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“So, the logic was to increase the duty and levies, so that local production becomes more competitive. But the annual demand for vehicles is about 720,000 vehicles per year. Actual local production is 14,000 vehicles a year.”

Osinbajo pointed out that the country’s local production capacity is grossly inadequate to meet serious national needs and this would ultimately lead to higher prices of vehicles and more pressure on other sectors of the economy that depends on transportation.

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It can be recalled that in one of her outings, the Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, revealed that the major cause of the increase in inflation rate in the country is increased transportation costs.

Osinbajo, however, stated that the government was not giving up on the local auto industry.

“Two important things to note, the first is that we still have a relatively high duty at 35 per cent; So, there is still a disincentive for importation,” he said.

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He added that the government was also promoting a policy of buying only locally manufactured cars. “The introduction of a new automotive policy in 2013, which is currently up for review, was geared towards discouraging the importation of wholly assembled automobiles and encouraging local production. It specifically allows local assembly plants to import completely knocked down vehicles at 0% import duty and semi-knocked down vehicles at 5% import duty, while importers will pay 70% on new and fairly used vehicles.”

Beneficiaries of TraderMoni, FarmerMoni, MarketMoni under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) have been urged to repay their loans in order to enable them to get a higher loan and to have access to other GEEP products.

The disclosure was revealed through a verified tweet by the government agency, as seen by Nairametrics. The call is also sequel to concerns over the repayment of the empowerment funds as stipulated in the terms and condition of disbursement

Beneficiaries are advised to repay their loan to enable them get a higher loan, and to have access to other GEEP products. #GEEP #tradermoni #marketmoni #farmermoni pic.twitter.com/ffOgT3tZCZ

— GEEP (MarketMoni, TraderMoni, FarmerMoni) (@geep_ng) November 24, 2020

What they are saying

In response to the concerns and as a way of encouraging beneficiaries to comply, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) through its verified tweet said: “Beneficiaries are advised to repay their loan to enable them to get a higher loan, and to have access to other GEEP products.”

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How to repay the loan: The agency outlined practical steps for the repayment of these loans, which include;

Step 1: To repay the loans, beneficiaries were urged to walk into any of the listed banks; GTB, UBA, Ecobank, Union Bank, Stanbic, Sterling, Wema, Fidelity, Heritage, Jaiz.

Step 2: Beneficiaries are instructed to report to any of the aforementioned banks, telling them that you would like to pay your ‘’BOI-GEEP’’ loan on PayDirect.

Step 3: Give them your phone number and the amount that you would like to pay.

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What you should know

The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) is an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and Africa’s largest microcredit scheme, 100% digitized. One of its products is the BOI-GEEP loan scheme, a Social Intervention Programme (SIP) of the Federal Government of Nigeria, executed by the Bank of Industry (BOI), a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. The interest-free loans range between  N10,000 and N100,000 for owners of microenterprises.

The BOI-GEEP scheme extends to the MarketMoni, FarmerMoni, and TraderMoni.