Category: Business

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Revenues Matters, Mr. Zacchaeus Adedeji, has called on all Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure timeous remittance of all revenues due to the FGN to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

Adedeji said in line with his mandate to bring sanity and improvement to the revenue architecture of the Federal Government of Nigeria, he had been taking measures to secure the FG’s basic revenue framework.

The recently appointed Special Adviser (SA) to Mr President made the remarks at an unscheduled visit to the Executive Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Victor Muruako at the weekend.

The SA apprised the Executive Chairman of FRC of the determination of the President Tinubu-led Administration to ensure that all revenues of the FGN, under various subheads, are properly articulated and timeously remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the FGN.

He warned MDAs that it was no longer business as usual on generation and remittance of IGR, adding that agencies that have the capacity to generate more funds should contribute to government coffers.

He also harped on the need for inter-agency co-operation amongst all Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs), to ensure optimum result.

The Executive Chairman of FRC, Victor Muruako used the occasion to congratulate Mr. Adedeji on his appointment and assure him of the full co-operation and maximum efforts of the staff and Management of FRC.

Muruako informed the visiting Special Adviser that FRC has long developed a culture of not letting any revenue due to the FG slip through the cracks.

He said the president’s effort to check the level of irregularities in the system and sanitise the management of the nation’s resources, therefore, deserves commendation.

He however stressed that issuing the directive to the various ministries, agencies, and departments (MDAs) should be seen as just a first step.

“It is imperative for the president to go further by mustering the political will to enforce it because similar directives issued in the past to MDAs to close all their accounts with commercial banks and deposit their monies with the CBN, were largely ignored most of the time.

“The FRC had on several occasions frowned at how MDAs default and practically keep money away from the federal government’s reach.

“Several revenue-generating agencies also dissipate funds on excessive overhead expenditure and extra-budgetary expenditure thereby reducing their operating surplus,” he said.

The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms. Emmanuelle Blatmann has said that Nigeria is France’s number one trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa and that Nigeria’ trading alone accounted for 75 percent of French investments in West Africa.

The envoy made this known at her country’s National Day celebration at the embassy’s residence in Abuja at the weekend.

Blatmann appreciated the guests and partners of the embassy who honoured her invitation to the national day celebration.

According to her, “it is also a celebration for all those who recognise themselves in the universal message carried by the revolution and in our motto – liberté, égalité, fraternité (liberty, equality and fraternity).

“This enthusiasm is also reflected in the vitality of our economic and trade relationship.

“Close to a hundred French companies are present here where they employ more than 10,000 Nigerians.

“They create factories, farms or vocational training institutes and register their actions over time.

“I pay tribute to the spirit of initiative, social commitment and dynamism of the French private sector, whose representatives I warmly welcome here this evening.

“The recent creation of the French TECH Community in Lagos, will welcome start-ups and entrepreneurs from our two countries.

“Also, the setting up of a French Desk within Access Bank, with the recent economic measures taken by President Bola Tinubu, we hope to see an influx of new French investors.”

She added that “the opening of the first branch of Access Bank in Paris, also testifies to the attractiveness of France, the first destination for foreign investment in Europe, for several years.

She stated the values that always guided France’s action when promoting international solidarity, peace, democracy and human rights, or when it depended on multilateralism.

“In an unfortunate, still uncertain world, we remain convinced that more collective action and common benchmarks are needed.

”France will therefore continue, as it did recently, with the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact, to mobilise its friends and partners to provide collective response.

Such response is to global challenges such as climate change, health, poverty or terrorism, all of which particularly affect Africa.

“In these fights to help build peace, balance, and progress on the continent, the European Union, France, and Nigeria share many common objectives and the same determination to act,” she said.

The ambassador added that France was ready to work with Nigeria’s new administration after hosting President Bola Tinubu on his first official visit abroad since his inauguration.

Bastille Day in France is celebrated annually on July 14 with military parades and fireworks, and the event marks the fall of the Bastille on July 14, 1789.

Google Doodle on Friday celebrated ‘Bastille Day’, which is the French National Day commemorating the fall of the Bastille in July.

This significant day marks the historic event of July 14, 1789, when French citizens joined forces and stormed the Bastille prison fortress, signalling the onset of the French Revolution.

 

Twitter, a leading social media platform with over 237.8m monetizable daily active users, has long relied on advertising as its primary source of revenue.

However, unlike its competitors, such as Threads, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, Twitter has not previously offered a direct ad revenue-sharing program, although content creators have been able to monetize their presence through sponsored posts and partnerships.

Recognizing the success of platforms like YouTube in attracting content creators through revenue-sharing, Twitter has now decided to introduce an ad revenue-share program for eligible creators. To qualify, creators must be verified users with at least 5m impressions on their posts in each of the last 3 months and have a Stripe payment account. 

Analysts believe Twitter aims to incentivize high-quality content creation, strengthen relationships with influencers, and create a more dynamic and engaging platform for its users. It has been previously announced that the company will pass on the entire subscription revenue to creators in the first year, excluding payment gateway charges.

By implementing this ad revenue share program, Twitter hopes to attract talented creators, diversify its revenue streams, and enhance its competitive position in the social media market. This strategic decision reflects Twitter’s commitment to fostering a vibrant content ecosystem while providing additional monetization opportunities for content creators.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has filed a motion at a Federal High Court in Abuja, asking it to set aside its May 10, 2023 judgment in which it, among other things, issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Commission from further imposing fines on radio and television stations.

In the motion filed on its behalf by Babatunde Ogala (SAN), the Commission is asking the court to set aside the judgment, claiming that it lacked jurisdiction to render the verdict and that it arrived at the decision in ignorance of relevant facts.

The judgment arose from a suit instituted by Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Noah Ajare, on behalf of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), challenging the powers of NBC to fine broadcasters, following a March 1, 2019 announcement by the then Director General of the Commission, Mallam Ishaq Kawu, that the Commission had imposed a fine of N500,000 each on 45 broadcast stations for alleged contraventions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

In his judgment delivered on May 10, 2023, Justice James Omotosho ruled that fines are sanctions imposed on a person who has been found guilty of a criminal offence and that by Nigerian law, only courts of law are empowered to impose sanctions for criminal offences. In setting aside the fines of N500,000 each imposed on the stations, he held that the NBC “is neither a court nor a judicial tribunal to make pronouncements on the guilt of broadcast stations notwithstanding what the NBC Code says,” adding that the Commission’s action violated the constitution.

But contrary to the finding of the judge in his judgment that the NBC “was served with the Originating Summons on 24^th February 2022 and served with several hearing notices but failed to file any process”, the Commission is alleging that the originating summons in the suit, which led to the judgment, was not served on it.

It is also claiming that MRA “has two un-appealed, subsisting and binding decisions of the Federal High Court on the same issues and parties” and that rather than appeal those decisions, it brought a fresh suit, setting the Court on a collision course with decisions of the other Federal High Court in the same complex.

The NBC cited in support of its claim a suit filed by MRA in 2021 against the NBC in which the organization challenged the constitutionality and legality of the Commission’s action on May 27, 2020 in imposing fines of N250,000 on Breeze FM radio, based in Lafia, Nasarawa State; N500,000 on Adaba FM radio in Akure, Ondo State; and N250,000 on Albarka FM radio in Ilorin, Kwara State.  Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu delivered judgment on March 2, 2023, dismissing the suit.

It also cited another suit brought against NBC by seven organisations, namely the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), MRA, HEDA Resource Centre, the International Centre for Investigating Reporting (ICIR), the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), and Premium Times. In that suit, the seven organizations challenged the NBC’s imposition of fines of N3 million each on Channels Television, Arise Television and the Africa Independent Television (AIT) over their coverage of the ENDSARs protests as well as another imposition of a fine of N5 million on Nigeria Info 99.3 by the NBC without giving the stations an opportunity to respond any allegation against them. Justice Nkeonye Maha delivered judgment in the suit on April 26, 2022, dismissing the suit.

The NBC is claiming that these suits and their outcome was not brought to the attention of court and that if the court had been aware of them, it would have reached a different decision in its May 10, 2023 judgment.

Justice Omotosho has fixed the hearing of the motion for October 5, 2023.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT) sitting in Abuja has imposed a fine of N120 million against Stanbic-IBTC Bank over the bank’s failure to complete a transfer request for a customer.

In a split decision of two to one, the tribunal convicted the bank for contravening the provisions of Section 130(1)(a) of the FCCP Act, 2018 and Section 5(2)(8) and (9) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Regulation on Instant Interbank Electronic Transfers.

The tribunal said the fine was imposed due to the bank’s failure to comply with the 10 minutes or at most one-hour mandatory timeline for failed transfers to be reversed as provided by Sections 154 and 155 of the FCCP Act, 2018.

The lead judgement delivered by Hon. Sola Salako-Ajulo also ordered the bank to pay the claimant, Mr. Clement Osuya, the sum of N1 million as the cost of filing the action.

“The tribunal holds that in as much as the defendant (IBTC) failed to comply with the two instructions of the claimant to transfer the sums of N500,000 to another account in Access Bank, as no transfer took place at both times, defines that the defendant breached the banker-customer contractual relationship between the two parties,” Ajulo said.

 The tribunal, however, refused to award the sum of N5 million to Osuya as compensation on the grounds that he failed to prove any injury he suffered as a result of the failure of service delivery by the bank.

Hon. Ibrahim Yakubu concurred with the verdict of Salako-Ajulo while the presiding judge, Hon. Chuma Mbonu disagreed and gave a minority judgment.

Mbonu in his minority judgment held that the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the petition.

According to him, the tribunal has the powers of appellate jurisdiction and not of original jurisdiction and he consequently struck the suit out for lacking in merit.

Recall that Osuya had filed a petition against the bank, challenging its failure on two occasions to transfer the sum of N500,000 from his IBTC account to his Access Bank account.

He claimed that the money was for the payment of school fees for his children.

He told the tribunal that on Sept. 8, 2022, he filled out a form under the NIS Instant Payment option for a transfer of the sum of N500,000 to his Access Bank account.

He held that whereas the money, on both occasions left his IBTC account as the account was debited,  it never arrived in his Access bank account because it was not credited.

Osuya told the tribunal that the reversal on the first transaction was done after 24 hours while that of the second transaction was reversed after 72 hours.

He further alleged that this neglect of duty of care by the bank caused him trauma, embarrassment, and a dent in his reputation as he was forced to collect a loan.

The bank, through its counsel, Mr. Marcel Osigbemhe had blamed the failure of the transaction on the third-party NIPS service.

Osigbemhe, in a brief remark, expressed his displeasure over the judgment, saying he wondered how his client could be convicted when there were clearly no charges brought against it.

Counsel to the claimant, Ms. Deborah Solomon, for her part, thanked the Tribunal for the well-considered judgment.

The fine is to be paid into the tribunal’s Remitta account.

The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has arrested 13 Chinese nationals for allegedly engaging in illegal mining activities in the state.

Mr Wilson Uwujaren, the spokesperson of the commission, disclosed this in a statement in Ilorin.

The suspects comprise of a female and 12 male and they were arrested on Wednesday at the Government Reserved Area of Ilorin.

Uwujaren listed the suspects to include: Guo Ya Wang, 36, Lizli Hui, 42, Guo Jian Rong, 36, Lizh Shen Xianian, 37, Lishow Wu, 26, Guo Pan, 38, and Lia Meiyu, 53.

The rest are: Guo Kai Quan, 36, Lin Pan, 50, Ma Jan, 38, Wendy Wei Suqin, 31, Li Zhinguo Wei, 29 and Xie 53.

“This came about following credible intelligence about their activities, which included but were not limited to illegal mining, non-payment of royalties to the Federal Government as required by law,” Uwujaren stated.

He said their arrest was as a result of discreet investigations into the activities of illegal mining operators in Kwara.

The spokesperson revealed that the operators have different illegal mining sites in almost all the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.

“Upon interrogation, the arrested suspects confessed to be workers of a Chinese company known as W. Mining Global Service Limited, situated at Olayinka in Ifelodun LGA of the state.

“It was gathered that the company was using the illegally-mined crude to produce marble and sell locally within Nigeria.

“Findings also revealed that some of the suspects working in the company were without work permits, but came with visit permits from China to Abuja and traveled by road to Ilorin,” he said.

The Acting Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulkarim Chukkol, had recently lamented the activities of illegal mining operators in some parts of the country.

He described the act as a grave threat to the local mining and the national economy.

In recent months, no fewer than 80 illegal operators have been arrested by EFCC’s Ilorin Zonal Command and 24 truckloads of assorted minerals impounded.

The Command had on Sept. 10, 2022 arrested a Chinese national, Dang Deng, the Managing Director of Sinuo Xinyang Nigeria Ltd., for being in possession of 25 tons of assorted crude minerals.

He was later convicted on Oct. 19 by Justice Mohammed Sani of the Federal High Court in Ilorin.

For the second day, the domestic equity market on Thursday sustained a negative trend, declining by N707 billion as profit-taking activities persisted.

The market capitalisation of listed equities declined further by 2.03 percent to N34.167 trillion from N34.874 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 1,297.99 basis points to 62748.94 from 64046.93 points recorded on Wednesday.

A review of transactions during the day showed that JohnHolt led gainers table in percentage terms, gaining 10 per cent to close at N1.65 per unit, Dangote Sugar Refinery followed with a gain of 9.94 percent to close at N29.85 per share, Nascon gained 9.91 percent to close at N25.50 per share, Skyways Aviation Handling also increased by 9.80 percent to close at N13.45 per unit, Gold Breweries added 9.74 percent to close at N2.93 per share.

The NSE trading result also showed that five listed companies declined by 10 percent at the close of trading on Thursday.

Specifically, Stanbic IBTC, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank shed 10 percent to close at N61.20 per share, N7.11 and N4.50 per share respectively. Omatek and Transco Hotel also dipped by 10 per cent to close respectively at N0.45 and N35.55 per unit.

The volume of trades declined by 364.533 million, representing 31.34 per cent as investors traded 798.467 million shares valued at N10.449 billion in 10296 deals against 1.163 billion shares worth N12.694 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 13878 deals.

Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa led market activity with 99.015 million shares valued at N1.331 billion, FBNHoldings followed with account of 72.688 million shares valued at N1.284 billion, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria exchanged 68.797 million shares valued at N280.804 million, FCMB group traded 67.892 million shares valued at N415.893 million while GTCO Plc traded 51.243 million shares cost N1.770 billion.