Monday <strong>26</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong> BUSINESS DAY A7
A8 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 NEWS NPA, OGFZA set to resolve double charges, insecurity at Onne Ports BEN EGUZOZIE, Port Harcourt Operators at the Onne Ports complex and Oil and Gas Free Zone, Onne, last week reeled out a barrage of challenges they face using the seaports, coupled with double charges imposed on them by both the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA). Onne Ports complex occupies a total of 2,500 square metres, of which only about 30 percent of the area is taken up by users. At a stakeholders’ interactive session between ports operators and the managing director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, at the NPA Onne, most of the operators complained of increasing cost of doing business at the ports, mounting insecurity along the Onne sea channel in- WIMBIZ sees women participation in politics as catalyst for growth SEYI JOHN SALAU Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIM- BIZ), a non-governmental organisation with a vision to be the catalyst that elevates the status and influence of women and their contribution to nation building, has called for more women participation in the day-to-day running of government in Nigeria. WIMBIZ believes that more women participation in politics and governance will be a catalyst for Nigeria’s economic growth. This position was based on the believe that women are better managers of economic resources, and that having more women in active politics reduces the rate of corruption and changes the negative perspective of politics being a dirty game. … as operators reel out barrage of challenges let, marked by heightening piracy, dilapidated or nonavailability of key equipment such as tugboats, pilotcutters, gunboats and patrol boats, required for good port operations. Other challenges faced by the port operators include: shallow channel for bigger ocean vessels, lack of routine dredging of the ports, need to review the GMT and concession, presence of wrecks along the channel, poor electricity supply and non-illumination in and around the ports. The insecurity issue was confirmed when the <strong>Mar</strong>ine Police officer at Onne told the NPA boss that his team covered 12 nautical miles from baseline to anchorage of Onne Ports, “but sadly does not have any gunboat or patrol boat to face the sea pirates who often operate from sophisticated boats The WIMBIZ Women in Politics (WIMPol) was held recently in Lagos as a platform and vehicle for inspiring more women for nation building. The workshop brought together women with zeal and passion for the development sectors to discuss topical issues and share strategies for success in the light of a rapidly changing global, economic and socio-political landscape. The afternoon section of the workshop themed ‘Politics 101: the Winning Formula,’ had as panellists Folake <strong>Mar</strong>cus Bello, a former Nigerian ambassador to Zambia, Ibim Semenitari, a former commissioner for information, Rivers State, and Nnenna Ukeje, a serving member of the House of Representative, and was moderated by Hafsat Abiola-Costello. According to the panellists, there has been a signifi- and attack weapons.” However, Usman and OGFZA managing director, Umanah Okon Umanah, agreed to urgently tackle the issues raised by the ports operators, especially that of double land rent charges. On security issues, she announced the NPA was currently collaborating with all security agencies to up the security narrative at the ports. She also informed that the NPA was procuring two 17m offshore patrol boat that would greatly increase the patrol capacity of the ports; six tugboats, which would be deployed to Onne. She also said a committee that would holistically consider the magnitude of wrecks in and around the ports, with the view to removing them to make the ports safe for vessels smooth sailing. cant reduction of women in parliament, evident by the drop from 9.6 percent female representation in the seventh Republic to 4.9 percent female representation in the eighth republic. The panellists said research on female political representation in Nigeria clearly showed that proactive measures need to be put in place to encourage increased female participation in politics, and that WIMPol was borne to help meet this need. “Women are not yet fully represented in the leadership of the political and governance structure in Nigeria. This is because of a strong adherence to patriarchal beliefs, cultural perceptions about the role of a woman, and the nature of the political arena in Nigeria and the steep financial barriers to entry into the political game,” Semenitari said. There would be a review of the GMT and concession of the terminal operators to make it more workable to operators. Meanwhile, the NPA boss has said the authority would be seeking an amendment of its extant law, to make it easier for it (NPA) to undertake its equipment procurements like the NNPC and Ministry of Defence, without having to go through the long hassle of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) or Due Process approvals. According to her, it takes at least five months to achieve the quickest procurement by any federal government agency; adding that NPA equipment are not bought off the shelf, but are purposebuilt. Some equipment may take up to 18 months for the manufacturer to construct before delivering to the buyer. L-R:Kayode Thomas, Rifugio Samsung Partner, Samsung Electronics Store, Ikeja City Mall; Olumide Ojo, director, information technology and mobile, Samsung Electronics West Africa; John Park, president, Samsung Central Africa; Bankole Wellington (Banky W), Samsung Ambassador, and Hung-Bae Kim, manager, information technology and mobile, Samsung Electronics West Africa, during the launch of the Samsung S9 and S9+ smartphones at Samsung Experience Centre, Ikeja City Mall, Lagos. Pic by Pius Okeosisi NCC commits to making Edo a smart city JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reaffirmed its commitment to work with the Edo State government for an opportunity to transform the state into a smart city by significantly improving access to telecoms infrastructure and providing world-class Information Communications Technology (ICT) facilities. Both parties agreed to work together to achieve ICT advancement for the citizens of Edo State during a meeting between Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo State, and executives of the NCC led by Sunday Dare, the Commission’s executive commissioner for stakeholder management, held at the NCC headquarters in Abuja, last week. Monday <strong>26</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong> FG to publish lists of items exempt from tax month end HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance will by the end this month come up with a regulation that shows additional list of items exempt from Value Added Tax (VAT). This comes as the national taxpayer data have grown to about 17 million as of December 2017. Babatunde Fowler, executive chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (IFRS), disclosed this at the weekend while responding to questions of chief finance officers at the <strong>2018</strong> KPMG CFO forum and CFO outlook survey report presentation in Lagos. “VAT process has been very simple. If we give you items to exempt that means everything else is VATable. We also looked deeper, there are certain items that should be VAT exempt and the minister of finance is quite aware and we should be getting out our regulation before the end of this month that will show you additional items that will be exempt from VAT,” Fowler said. One of the questioned raised was on extension of the Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), which Fowler responded to by saying that the issue of the extension would be decided by the President. “This programme was approved by the Federal Executive Council, Senate and House of Representatives. It is beyond me as chairman or minister of finance to extend. Put in application, because the application will show that you have started the process,” he said. The scheme is expected to help expand Nigeria’s tax base and improve the low tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio from the current 6 percent to between 12 per- Speaking at the meeting, Dare commended the forward-looking policies of the state governor and assured him of the NCC’s readiness to support the achievement of the ICT aspirations of the state through the deployment of fibre infrastructure under the Commission’s InfraCo project and interventions by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF). According to Dare, the NCC is aggressively driving accessibility of telecoms networks to all areas of the Federation. He however regretted that the situation with multiple taxation and regulation in some states was counter-productive for the states – because they end up losing substantial revenues and developmental opportunities, which could have been stimulated with the presence of telecoms infrastructure. cent and 15 percent in the first instance. Responding to issue on tax laws, the executive chairman of FIRS said, “We are in the process of changing the tax laws. In the <strong>2018</strong> budget, we have presented amendment to tax laws.” The tax amnesty will end by the end of this month. Ayodele Subair, executive chairman, Lagos Internal Revenue Service (ILRS), responded to issues raised on capturing the informal sector in tax administration. According to Subair, Lagos accounts for 24 million residents but only 5 million registered as taxpayers. He was worried that it was a difficult task to broaden the tax net to capture the informal sector because the people in this sector were very mobile and could change address at any time. Subair, however, said the state was collaborating with consultants to increase level of awareness and registration, but was concerned that the challenge was lack of credible data. “Credible census will help to do sectoral analysis. “The LIRS will continue to create avenues in ensuring that residents are able to access information necessary to make tax payment seamless.” Other speakers at the forum include Kunle Elebute, senior partner, KPMG in Nigeria and chairman, KPMG Africa, who welcomed the participants; Yimika Adeboye, finance/strategy director, Cadbury Nigeria plc, and Wole Obayomi, partner/head, Tax, Regulatory and People Services, KPMG in Nigeria. KPMG at the forum launched the CFO outlook survey, which indicated a 10 percent increase in overall confidence sentiments among CFOs on the prospects for growth in the Nigerian economy. He assured the governor NCC was keen to partner Edo State to achieve win-win solutions in the overall interests of the people of the state. Responding, Governor Obaseki noted that the state was focused on exploring non-oil resources and had therefore articulated developmental priorities focusing on creating a sense of order (participative, accountable and open governance), and a sense of security, safety and stability necessary to attract requisite investments to develop the state. “Since its developmental goals rely on the seamless availability of telecoms/ICT infrastructure, Edo State is passionate about the need to attract robust telecoms infrastructure to drive manufacturing, education and other socio-economic activities,” he said.