Monday <strong>26</strong> <strong>Feb</strong>ruary <strong>2018</strong> C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY A5
A6 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Monday <strong>26</strong> <strong>Feb</strong>ruary <strong>2018</strong> NEWS Finally, FG confirms 110 Dapchi schoolgirls missing ONYINYE NWACHUKWU, Abuja Federal Government has finally confirmed that 110 Dapchi schoolgirls remain unaccounted for, following an attack on their school in Yobe State, about a week ago. Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the figure after a meeting between a Federal Government delegation and representatives of key stakeholders, including the state government, the college, the parents, security agencies and Bursari Local Government, where Dapchi is situated, in Damaturu on Sunday. “The Federal Government has confirmed that 110 students of the Government Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, are so far unaccounted for, after insurgents believed to be from a faction of Boko Haram invaded their school on Monday (19 <strong>Feb</strong>. <strong>2018</strong>),” read a statement from Mohammed’s office Sunday evening. The minister said, based on the briefings from the principal of the college, Adama Abdulkarim, and the state commissioner for education, Mohammed Lamin, 906 students - out of whom 110 have not been accounted for - were in the school on the day of the attack. Mohammed also announced that the Federal Government had directed the police and civil defence authorities in Yobe State to immediately deploy their personnel to all the schools in the state in order to ensure the security and safety of the students and their staffers. The minister, however, assured that the Federal Government, had stepped up efforts to rescue the girls and return them safely to their parents, saying the security agencies are working on many leads regarding the whereabouts of the girls. ‘’This is the second time in four days that a Federal Government delegation would visit Yobe State since the unfortunate incident. This is a measure of the seriousness with which we are addressing the issue. The security forces are leaving no stone unturned in their search for the girls. ‘’We are back here in Yobe as part of efforts to provide some succour to the parents of the girls, to let them know that they are not alone and also to reassure them that we will not rest until we have found the girls. We will carry the parents along on the efforts we are making,” he said. For a few years now, Nigeria’s North East region has come under heavy attack by the Boko Haram, an extremist, Islamic, terrorist organiza- Nigeria’s tax base rises 35% to 17m DAVID IBEMERE Nigeria’s plan to grow its taxpayers base has recorded a 35 percent increase in both corporate and individual to 17 million, up from the previous 14 million taxpayers, as government targets N6.747 trillion from tax in <strong>2018</strong>. The highest new registered tax payers came from Kano, 921,000 out of the 4 million increased recorded since 2016. Tunde Fowler, executive chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), who disclosed this while speaking with journalist weekend, said the government had no plans yet to extend Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), ending March 31, calling on individuals, corporate organisations to regularise their tax status or face the law. With a tax to GDP ratio of only 6 percent, Fowler said, “The country cannot develop unless everyone sees tax as a compulsory duty. “I was at the United Nations, and experts came up with a formula warning that if a country tax to GDP ratio is below 15 percent it is unlikely that they can expect economic development in that country or any infrastructure. In 2016, Nigeria was about 16 percent; we are still working on the 2017 Nigerian figures. “If Nigerians want to feel the impact of the government they must begin to see themselves as part of the process of development and pay their tax. Nigeria has no business being under 15 percent.” According to Fowler, VAIDS is not only for the wealthy but for every individuals and organisations that have defaulted in their tax payment. tion, which President Buhari’s government claims to have decimated and dislodged. The attack on Dapchi schoolgirls is coming almost four years after about 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the Chibok town in Borno State. Buhari last Wednesday directed the ministers of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali; information, Lai Mohammed; and foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, to visit Dapchi village in Yobe to assess the reported abduction of schoolgirls. According to the statement, the Federal Government delegation, which comprised the Ministers of Information and Culture as well as that of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, held an enlarged meeting that was attended by Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State; members of the state cabinet, the principal and vice principal of the school, representatives of the parents of the missing girls and security agencies, among others. Dambazau, minister of interior, also speaking after the meeting said the delegation embarked on the trip in order to get the facts right ‘’so that the approach to the solution can be correct. “Every economically active individual must have a tax clearance. We are consolidating a database that will ensure everyone gets to know their tax payment records, and every individual, companies must remit. Our consultants are currently designing a VAT forms certificate that will display every business; no one can be exempted from the tax payment system. As far there is need to spend money, we will evaluate them and tax them on that,” he said.