Over $5bn trapped at Tax Appeal Tribunal – lawyer

A Lagos-based lawyer, Donald Egho, has raised alarm over the huge amount of funds currently trapped at the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT).
Mr. Egho who spoke with journalists in Lagos, Sunday, said the amount of taxes due to the federation, which he estimated at over $5 billion, is currently lying fallow in the various divisions of the tribunal.
According to him, the funds are disputed taxes, currently subject to litigation and pending before TAT.
“The continued failure of the Federal Government to urgently reconstitute the various panels of TAT means those taxes due to the Federal Government will remain suspended for as long as there are no panels to adjudicate on the disputes; thereby robbing both the states and the Federal Government of urgently needed revenue,” said Mr. Egho, an expert on Taxation.
“As long as taxes are disputed, they remain in a state of abeyance, pending the determination, one way or the other by the tribunal,” he said.

Forex stalling equipment importation – Egbin Power

The Chief Executive Officer of Egbin Power Plc, Dallas Peavey, said on Sunday that accessing Foreign Exchange remained a major challenge to importing equipment for the company’s operations.
Peavey made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos against the backdrop of the company’s inability to expand its plant for further electricity generation.
According to him, the power plant cannot continue to import equipment and effect rehabilitation because of forex challenges.
He said: “The years since the electricity companies were acquired are fraught with difficulties as we faced several hurdles in importation of electrical equipment.
“We are still not free from difficulties as access to forex remains a huge challenge.
“Most of the equipment used on the 37-year-old plant are not manufactured in Nigeria or Korea.
“We have to go to Japan because the machines are made there.
“Scarcity of dollars has grossly contributed to the poor development of the plant because sourcing for dollars remains a mirage.”

Bakers beg Buhari on high cost of bread

Bakers in Nigeria have appealed to the Federal Government to urgently intervene in the rising cost of bread production just as they ruled out going on strike.
Speaking to newsmen in Ibadan on Sunday, Chief Bayo Folarin, the National President of the Association of Master Bakers of Nigeria (AMBCN) said that the situation might soon send the commodity into extinction.
“May be in the nearest future, loaves of bread may go off the streets of Nigeria if the cost of its production continues to rise unabated,” he said.
Folarin, who doubles as the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the association, said that government needed to intervene fast in stemming the current slide in the exchange rate of the naira.
He said that move was necessary because all the raw materials for baking, except firewood were imported.

CBN to extend BVN registration to MfBs, PMIs customers

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to extend the Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration project to customers of other Financial Institutions (OFIs), its Director, Banking and Payment Systems Department, Mr Dipo Fatokun, has said.
The OFIs are Microfinance Banks, Primary Mortgage Institutions and others.
Fatokun made the disclosure at a bi-monthly forum organised by Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Lagos on Sunday.
The forum had its theme as “Recent Developments in the Electronic Payments System and Implications for Consumers of Electronic Payment Services.
Fatokun said as the operators of the institutions were already working toward having their customers included in the BVN project.
He said the CBN would have OFIs customers enrol through deposit money banks because of the

Recession: How FG plans to ease hardship – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday unfolded policies to reduce hardship of Nigerians and the current economic recession.
The apex bank assured that government and the apex bank were aware of the prevailing tough economic climate, assuring that the situation would soon be overcome.
CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okoroafor said at a fair organised for small and medium scale enterprises, artisan, farmers, banks, hairdressers, barbers, shoemakers and other business groups in Enugu, that N220 billion funds made available for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) could be easily accessed.
Okoroafor said 60 per cent of the funds were meant for women and women-owned enterprises.
He revealed that some states had already accessed the funds to the tune of N2 billion.
According to him, the CBN also has the Commercial Agric Credit Scheme (CACS) for larger commercial farmers.

CBN warns banks over bon-reversal of e-transactions dispense errors

Inundated by complaints from bank customers over delays and most times non-reversal of dispense errors encountered during electronic transactions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will start monitoring banks to ensure that dispense errors are automatically reversed and the account of the customer credited.
The CBN, which said banks that continue to err would be sanctioned, added that it plans to extend the Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration to customers of other financial institutions such as Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs), among others.
The CBN Director, Banking and Payment Systems Department, ‘Dipo Fatokun, said this at the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Bi-monthly forum hosted by the central bank in Lagos at the weekend. He spoke on the topic: “Recent Developments in the Electronic