News

Tax Reforms: Ndume Mocks Tinubu, Says Bill Dead on Arrival

Published

7 hours ago

November 6, 2024

Eric

The Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly (NASS), Ali Ndume, has declared that the tax reform bills sent to the legislative arm of government by President Bola Tinubu are dead on arrival.

Ndume argued that the President should listen to the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Northern Governors’ Forum and immediately withdraw the bills.

“If it goes on like that, I can tell you that it will be dead on arrival. We don’t need to study the bills,” the unsparingly blunt lawmaker said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.

Ndume, one of the longest serving lawmakers in the National Assembly, said the Federal government should be looking at ways to reduce the tax burden on Nigerians and not increase it.

“The general thing is that Nigerians are not willing to talk about or pay any tax now considering the (economic) situation we are in now,” he said.

“Nigerians are willing to pay taxes but they can only pay taxes when they can afford it. Right now, people are struggling to survive. Let people live first before you start asking them for taxes,” he added.

The senator said: “It will be fair to shut the bill down; it is the fairest thing to do”, indicating that he has started campaigning against the bills among his colleagues and he is getting good support to throw out the bills.

Ndume, a stalwart of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said the Tinubu administration needs to reform itself and not increase taxes paid by Nigerians.

“What he (Tinubu) needs to do is to withdraw the bill, educate Nigerians and make us understand it. We are representing the people and the people that we are representing have already spoken.

“The governors, the traditional rulers have said that the bill is not good. So, the best thing to do is to immediately withdraw it.

“Right now, what our people are saying is that they don’t want VAT bill, they don’t even want to hear about it. That is why we are going to make it dead on arrival.”

The tax reform bills which have been sent to the National Assembly have faced scathing criticisms with the 36 state governors asking the President to withdraw the bills from the legislature.

However, the President insisted that the bills would not be withdrawn, saying that “inputs and necessary changes” can be made by the lawmakers.

News

National Grid Suffers 10th Collapse in 10 Months

Published

1 day ago

November 5, 2024

Eric

The national power grid appeared to have collapsed again on Tuesday, reports The Punch

Checks confirmed that the grid lost power generation around 1:39 pm.

As of 1 pm, power generation was 2,711 megawatts, having previously peaked at 3,631 MW.

Earlier, power generation peaked at 3,934.77 MW around six o’clock in the morning.

However, between 2 pm and 3 pm, hourly generation dropped to 0.00 MW.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria confirmed that “the national grid experienced a partial disturbance at about 1:52 pm today, 5th November 2024.”

TCN spokesperson Ndidi Mbah said, “This followed a series of line and generator trippings that caused instability in the grid and, consequently, the partial disturbance of the system.”

She stated that data from the National Control Centre revealed that a part of the grid was not affected by the bulk power disruption.

“TCN engineers are already working to quickly restore bulk power supply to the states affected by the partial disturbance. Presently, bulk power supply has been restored to Abuja at 2:49 pm, and we are gradually restoring it to other parts of the country.

“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause our electricity customers,” she said.

This is the 10th time the grid will collapse in 2024.

News

Just In: EFCC Arrests Former Delta Gov, Ifeanyi Okowa

Published

2 days ago

November 4, 2024

Eric

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested a former Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa.

The former governor was arrested on accusations of misusing funds derived from resource allocation.

News

NASU, SSANU Suspend Strike for Four Weeks

Published

2 days ago

November 4, 2024

Eric

The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) have announced suspension for a month, of the ongoing nationwide indefinite strike over withheld salaries.

The unions, in a joint statement on Sunday, said the suspension of the indefinite strike will take effect on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

The statement was signed by Prince Peters Adeyemi, General Secretary of NASU and Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, National President of SSANU.

The strike was commenced on the Monday, October 28, 2024 as a result of what the unions called “government’s insensitivity to the plights of our members in respect of our legitimate demands.”

The statement read: “The National leadership of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of NASU and SSANU acknowledges and commends our members in the Universities and Inter-University Centres for their unwavering resolve, unrelenting determination and steadfast support for the ongoing strike action.

“You will recall that the ongoing strike action foisted on us commenced on the Monday, 28th October, 2024 as a result of government’s insensitivity to the plights of our members in respect of our legitimate demands

“During this industrial struggle, we have had several extensive and exhaustive deliberations with the officials of the Federal Government of Nigeria including the new Minister of Education, the Minister of Finance, the outgoing Minister of State for Education, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, the Accountant-General of the Federation and the leadership of the Department of State Services

“These high-level engagements culminated into extracting an irrevocable commitment from the Federal government that the 2 months of the 4 months withheld salaries would be paid in staggered form. One month by the end of October, 2024 (which has largely been done), then the second month to be paid by the end of November, 2024.

“Arising from the above and in view of the level of commitment exhibited by the new minister and the leadership of the Department of State Services, the leadership of JAC, after several contacts and other patriotic considerations, hereby directs that the ongoing indefinite strike be suspended for one- month effective Tuesday, 5th November, 2024.

“Branch leaders of both NASU and SSANU are hereby directed to convene a joint Congress in their respective campuses on Monday, 4th November, 2024 and intimate members of these development and urge them to resume work on Tuesday, 5th November, 2024.

“We wish to also reiterate that discussions on the remaining 2 months, the N50 billion Earned Allowances, Arrears of 25/35 per cent and the Wage Award have been revisited and are undergoing deliberations.

“Thank you for your usual understanding and cooperation in this regard; we appreciate your total commitment and resoluteness during this struggle.”