Electron Native

Head of Nigeria’s Custom, Retired Colonel, Hamid Ali, says Nigeria’s borders will remain closed until the country and its neighbours agree on existing ECOWAS protocol on movement.   Hamid Ali Source : guardian.ng The Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), made the statement at Maigatari/Niger border, Maigatari Local Government Area of Jigawa while fielding questions from newsmen. When asked about the consequences of closing the borders, he said “if you check our website, you will see the seizures and interception we’ve made”. He said that by closing the borders, Nigeria was able to completely block the importation of contraband. According to him, through the measure, the importation of foreign rice has stopped and the market for local varieties has risen. When asked about petty traders who are unable to bring goods to the neighbouring countries, Ali said “There must be collateral damage in this kind of ...

Nigeria’s tax agency, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has recorded 97.7 billion naira from tax defaulters since it directed banks to put a lien on their accounts, its Executive Chairman, Tunde Folwer, said on Wednesday in Abuja. FIRS Chairman, Tunde Fowler Source : worldlinknews.com.ng Fowler disclosed this at the 49th Annual Accountants Conference, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), where he presented a paper titled: “FIRS Power of Substitution: Critical Review and Matters Arising”. With the Tax Substitution Programme, FIRS intensified its efforts to collect taxes from defaulting payers, by appointing banks and other financial institutions as collection agents. Using the banks as tax collecting agents, the Tax agency ordered specific deductions from alleged tax defaulters’ accounts and pay the monies over to the FIRS in full or partial payment of the alleged tax debt. The legality of this ...

OPEC has cut its forecast for growth in world oil demand in 2020 due to an economic slowdown. This outlook the group says highlighted the need for ongoing efforts to prevent a new glut of crude.   OPEC Building Source : Reuters In its monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries says oil demand worldwide would expand by 1.08 million barrels (bpd)per day. This is 60,000 bpd less than previously estimated, and indicated the market would be in surplus. The weaker outlook amid a U.S.- China trade war and Brexit could press the case for OPEC and its allies to maintain or adjust their policy of cutting output. Iraq said ministers would on Thursday discuss whether deeper cuts were needed. OPEC, in the report, lowered its forecast for world economic growth in 2020 to 3.1% from 3.2% and said next year’s increase in oil demand would be outpaced by “strong growth” in supply from rival producers such as the United...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has injected 210 million U.S. dollars into interbank segment of the Foreign Exchange Market following sales concluded on Tuesday. The bank’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday. Okorafor explained that the figures released by the CBN indicated that authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market were offered 100 million dollars while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment received 55 million dollars. He said that another 55 million dollars was allocated to customers requiring foreign exchange for invisible such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), among others. The director reaffirmed the bank’s commitment towards ensuring stability in foreign exchange market. On September 6, the CBN injected 321.11 million U.S. dollars and CNY33.3 million into the Retail Secondary Market Inter...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has new guidelines for electronic payments and collections for public and private sectors in the country. The regulation is a revision of the Guidelines on Electronic Payment of Salaries, Pensions, Suppliers and Taxes in Nigeria (2014). The CBN, in the regulation, introduced a penalty of two million for Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) on third party e-payment solution not approved by it on every repeated occurrence. It also introduced penalty of One million naira for Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) on third party e-payment solution not endorsed by the apex bank. The apex bank states on its website that the regulation is intended to guide the end-to-end electronic payment of salaries, pensions and other remittances, suppliers and revenue collections in Nigeria. Governor-Central-Bank-of-Nigeria-CBN-Godwin-Emefiele-right-Deputy-Governor-Financial-System-Stability-Mrs.-Aishah-Ahmad-and-her-Operations-counterpart...

Presidents who over stay in office tend to have accumulate wealth, mostly from illegal sources. Could Robert Mugabe be called rich? This begs the question what was Robert Mugabe’s net worth?   Robert Mugabe Source : Independent.co.uk According to celebritynetworth.com, Mugabe had a net worth of 20 million US dollars, which is equivalent to just over 16 million British pound sterling. But that’s not all. In 2011, Wikileaks published a communication written by the U.S. embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital that suggested Mugabe’s wealth to be around a billion U.S. dollars. The memo indicated that most of Mugabe’s assets are outside Zimbabwe in places such as Switzerland, the Channel Island, Hong Kong etc. The Hong Kong property is valued at more than 5 million U.S. dollars. Wikileaks also revealed that in Zimbabwe, the Mugabe family has six residences, a number of farms and a multi-story building then under construction. The mansion, popularly called The Blue Roof ha...

In November 2017, Emmerson Mnangagwa became the President of Zimbabwe. Many Zimbabweans had high hopes. Particularly, for better economic prospects but the reality has been sober, bordering on depression.   Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa Source : france24.com About 9 billion U.S. dollars in debt to creditors, workers strike, power outages, mixed currency policy and further mounting inflation has done little to impress the masses. Mnangagwa started tackling the issues by re-engaging with the international community after years of diplomatic isolation. He brought new policies such as inviting investors to the country for business under theme "open for business." To prove this, the indigenization policy has been suspended. This was supposed to mandate foreign investors with businesses with a net asset value of 1 U.S. dollar to cede 51 percent equity stakes to indigenous. It didn’t work. ...