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Economy

Why We Sealed NDDC Office in Rivers – FIRS

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The Federal Inland Reve­nue Service (FIRS) says it sealed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) corporate headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, on Thursday over tax debt.

Muhammed Nami, FIRS chairman, said this in an interview with NTA on Friday.

Although, Nami did not state the specific amount, he said NDDC owes an “outstanding tax of N26 billion”.

This is not the first time the tax agency is carrying out the act. In 2018, the Rivers Inland Revenue Service (RIRS) sealed off the NDDC headquarters in the state due to withholding tax estimated at over N600 million.

After a year, the same was done over unpaid withholding tax to the tune of N50 billion.

In April 2021, the FIRS directed all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to remit all outstanding tax liabilities to the service within 60 days.

It said failure to do will lead to the deduction of unremitted taxes from the budgetary allocation of the defaulting MDAs.

Nami said: “Tax debt is a priority all over the world. We’ve sent a signal to ministries, departments and agencies of government that business is not going to be usual in this country.

“You cannot keep government money and force the government, whether at local, state and federal level, to continue to borrow…because these monies (taxes) are used by the government to fund their budgetary requirement.

“We’ve discussed (FIRS and NDDC), even with some cabinet members, and we’ve reached an agreement which will be made known to Nigerians between now (Friday) and Monday.”

Meanwhile, Ibitoye Abosede, NDDC director of corporate affairs, said the development was due to a gap in communication between NDDC and the new management of FIRS.

“It is an ongoing thing. In 2018, this same happened. It is unremitted withholding tax for some years up to 2013. It is not a recent thing,” Abosede said.

“We have done reconciliation and they came with that amount. In 2018, when they sealed the place, we raised an agreement with them to seek ways to deduct at source from what the government is owing us so that we knock it off.

“I remembered that in 2018, we paid N1.5bn but since that 2018 we haven’t had a board and it hampered the efforts of deducting it at source. We don’t have regular subvention from the federal government.

“Efforts are ongoing to make sure the issues are resolved. We have a new chairman in FIRS and we are reaching out to him to let him understand our previous agreement.”

 

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Economy

Naira Makes More Recovery, Sells at N1,453/$1

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The Naira continued its appreciation at the official market on Thursday, March 21, 2024 to close at N1,453.28/$1, according to data from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

This represents an appreciation of N39.33 when compared to the N1,492.61/$1 it closed on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

The intraday high was N1,598/$1, while the intraday low was N1,300/$1, representing a wide spread of N298/$1.

Similarly, the Naira appreciated against the dollar at the parallel window to trade at N1,500/$1, this represents an appreciation of N20.00 as against the N1,520 /$1 it traded the previous day.

The Naira also appreciated slightly against the British Pound to trade at N2,000/£1 as against the previous trading day’s price of N2,020/£1 representing a gain of N20 for the local currency.

The Canadian dollar, however, closed flat against the naira to trade at N1,270/CA$1 same as the N1,270/CA$1 it traded the previous day representing a decline of N20 in the local currency.

The Naira gained N30 against the Euro to trade at N1,670/€1 as against the previous closing price of N1,700/€1.

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Economy

Naira Gains Against Dollar, Trades at N1,603/$1

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The Naira, Tuesday continued its recovery against the American dollar as it traded at N1,603.38/$1, data from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window has shown.

This represents a gain of N15.48 when compared to the N1,617.96/$1 it closed on, on Monday, March 11, 2024.

The intraday high was N1,637/$1, while the intraday low was N1,425.35/$1, representing a lean spread of N211.65/$1.

Meanwhile, the Naira gained N12 against the dollar at the parallel market as the local currency appreciated to N1,603/$1 as against the N1,615 /$1 it traded the previous day. As it stands, the naira is trading at the same rate at both official and parallel windows.

The Naira, however, slumped against the British Pound to trade at N2,050/£1 as against the previous trading day’s price of N2,030/£1 representing a loss of N20 for the local currency.

After about two weeks of closing flat against the Canadian dollar, the naira slumped massively to trade at N1,300/CA$1 on Tuesday, representing a decline of N150 when compared to the N1,150/CA$1 it traded the previous day.

The Naira lost N35 against the Euro to trade at N1,740/€1 as against the previous closing price of N1,705/€1 representing a loss of N35 for the local currency.

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Economy

Binance to Close Shop in Nigeria, Stops Transaction, Trading in Naira

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By Reuters – Binance will stop all transactions and trading in Nigeria’s local currency after March 8 amid a country-wide crackdown on crypto exchanges that have been blamed by authorities for feeding a black market for foreign exchange.

It will stop supporting withdrawals after Friday and any remaining balances in Nigerian Naira will be automatically converted into Tether – a stablecoin whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Last week, Nigerian authorities detained two Binance senior executives on undisclosed charges as part of the crackdown.

They were still in custody, their local lawyer said before a parliamentary committee on Monday.

Source: Reuters

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