BusinessDay 26 Mar 2018

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 Marine
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
Marcus 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 26 March 2018
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 2018 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 2018
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.