Economy
Buhari to Present 2020 Budget September Ending
By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Friday, disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari may present the 2020 budget to the National Assembly by the end of September to enable the lawmakers pass the appropriation bill early and return the nation’s budget circle to January.
The Speaker said this while briefing State House correspondents after meeting with President Buhari behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He reassured that the government of Nigeria would always stand with her citizens.
Gbajabiamila said the only way to bring the budget circle back to January to December was for an early presentation of the budget adding that he discussed the matter with President Buhari.
The speaker however, said that he would not give a definite answer whether the National Assembly would get the 2020 budget proposal this month or early next month.
“I cannot give a definite answer but I know the budget is going to come as early as possible. It maybe the end of this month or shortly thereafter, but I cannot give you a definite date.
“But it’s going to be an early presentation so that we can pass the budget before the end of the year and return to the January to December circle,” he said.
He also revealed that the issue of the $9.5 billion defaulted gas contract judgment awarded against Nigeria by a British court in favour of an Irish firm P&ID was discussed during his meeting with the President.
“The issue of the recent $9 billion award against Nigeria. I say that with a smile but not really smiling. Clearly we are in opposition to that and steps will be taken,” he added.
On the xenophobic attacks on Nigerian citizens and the looting and burning of their shops in South Africa, the lawmaker said that Nigeria may cut her bilateral relations with South Africa.
Asked if there were moves to severe bilateral ties with South Africa, Gbajabiamila said, “We are not there yet, nothing is off the table, we will take each day as it comes. As of now Mr. President has taken proactive steps in evacuating our citizens, recalling the High Commissioner, and other things will follow.
“I believe we will stand with and by Nigerians. The leadership of the House has issued a statement and it is in tandem with what the executive is doing. We stand by our citizens that is our priority, to protect the constitution, to protect the welfare of the citizens and that is exactly what we are doing and that is what the president is doing.”
He said he was at the State House to engage with the President on the burning issues, stressing that in the last few days, Nigeria had witnessed unfortunate incidents involving her citizens in South Africa.
“As you are aware, I cut my trip to Tanzania short and came home with the hope of reconvening the House, where we are going to address this very important issue. We have called that off because events have overtaken it; the government has taken proactive steps, the same steps we would have asked for.
“We are all on the same page with the president and the government. So I came to fully discuss that with Mr. President. We discussed the issue of security, what has been happening in South Africa and other national issues that require the attention of both the legislature and the executive, and we had very fruitful discussions on those issues.”
On the insistence of the South African government not to pay compensation to the victims of the xenophobic attacks because payment of compensation was not contained in the country’s laws, the Speaker said that he had not heard such statement from the South African government.
He said, “Well I haven’t heard that statement from South Africa, I don’t know if it is official or off the cuff statement by somebody. When it’s made official, we will take further steps. I am sure we will be on the delegation process in South Africa and probably other avenues that are international that we can pursue.”
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total sum of N722.677 billion February 2023 Federation Account Revenue to the Federal Government, States and Local Government Councils.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for on Wednesday and made available in a statement signed by Mr Bawa Mokwa, Director of Press & Public Relations, Office of Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).
The N722.677 billion total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N366.
800 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N224. 232 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) of N11.645 billion and N120.000 billion Augmentation from Forex Equalisation Account.In February 2023,, the total deductions for cost of collection was N27.449 billion and total deductions for transfers, savings, recoveries and refunds was N109.909 billion.
The balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) was $473,754.57
The communiqué confirmed that from the total distributable revenue of N722.677 billion; the Federal Government received N269.063 billion, the State Governments received N236.464 billion and the Local Government Councils received N173.936 billion. A total sum of N43.214 billion was shared to the relevant States as 13% derivation revenue.
Gross statutory revenue of N487.106 billion was received for the month of February 2023. This was lower than the sum of N653.704 billion received in the previous month by N166.598 billion.
From the N366.800 billion distributable statutory revenue, the Federal Government received N178.683 billion, the State Governments received N90.630 billion and the Local Government Councils received N69.872 billion. The sum of N27.614 billion was shared to the relevant States as 13% derivation revenue.
For the month of February 2023,, the gross revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was N240.799 billion This was lower than the N250.009 billion available in the month of January 2023 by N9.210 billion.
The Federal Government received N33.635 billion, the State Governments received N112.116 billion and the Local Government Councils received N78.481 billion from the N224.232 billion distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue.
The N11.645 billion Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) was distributed as follows: the Federal Government received N1.747 billion, the State Governments received N5.822 billion, and the Local Government Councils received N4.076 billion.
From the N120.000 billion Augmentation, the Federal Government received N54.998 billion, the State Governments received N27.896 billion, the Local Government Councils received N21.506 billion and a total sum of N15.600 billion was shared to the relevant Sates as 13% mineral revenue.
According to the communiqué, in the month of February 2023, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT), Oil and Gas Royalties, Import and Excise Duties all decreased significantly while Value Added Tax (VAT) and Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) decreased marginally.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced the enhancement of the financing facility provided to Fidelity Bank plc, Nigeria under the Afreximbank Trade Facilitation Programme (AFTRAF).
The decision to increase Afreximbank’s support is consistent with the economic and commercial success of the financing facility, the first $125 million of which has been fully utilised by Fidelity Bank.
The expansion to $180 million was also bolstered by the continued strong financial performance of Fidelity Bank, Nigeria’s largest Tier 2 bank.
The augmented financing facility will allow Fidelity Bank to scale up and accelerate its activities and programmes in trade and related activities.
Commenting on the development, Prof Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, commented said Afreximbank is keen to support a leading African bank that supports African businesses and entrepreneurs.
He said, “Fidelity Bank has proven its ability to make smart use of this type of financing, with consequent benefits for the Nigerian economy. Afreximbank is keen to support a leading African bank that supports African businesses and entrepreneurs.”
Afreximbank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa.
A staunch supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA.
The bank is working with the AU and the AfCFTA Secretariat to develop an Adjustment Facility to support countries in effectively participating in the AfCFTA.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The currency in circulation in the country dropped by a 235.03 per cent to N982.09bn at the end of February from N3.29tn recorded at the end of October 2022.
According to figures obtained from the CBN, this followed the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which revealed that N2.
3tn was mopped up from circulation during the period under review.According to the CBN, the currency in circulation moved from N3.
16tn to N3.29tn and N1.38tn in November 2022, December 2022 and January 2023 respectively.The Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, had in October 2022, announced plans to redesign the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Emefiele also announced deadlines for Nigerians to swap their old notes with the new notes.
The governor decried the challenges associated with currency management, including the hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 80 per cent of currency-in-circulation was outside the vaults of commercial banks.
Other challenges, according to him, included a shortage of clean and fit banknotes with an attendant negative perception of the CBN and increased risk to financial stability and increasing ease and risk of counterfeiting evidenced by several security reports.
At the expiration of the deadline for the old notes, due to the scarcity of the new naira notes, President, Muhammadu Buhari had approved the continued use of the old N200 as legal tender till April 10.
However, the Supreme Court on Friday, 3 March 2023, ruled that the old Naira notes should remain legal tender till 31 December 2023, thereby setting aside the deadline of the CBN.
However, in its new ruling, the Supreme Court said that all the old notes would remain legal tender until December 31, 2023, while nullifying the Naira redesign policy.
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