C M Y K 8 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 :Vanguard News Nigeria needs N500bn annually to dev<strong>el</strong>op road infrastructure — FG By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA—THE Federal Government has said it would require a minimum of N500 billion annually for the next three years to dev<strong>el</strong>op its 35,000 kilometres network of roads, saying work was ongoing on 13,000 kilometres of the network. Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja when he granted audience to the Press Corps of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, said if past administrations had shown commitment to dev<strong>el</strong>oping road infrastructure like the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, most of the roads would have been completed. He said: “We inherited a number of roads and we resolved that we were going to complete as many of them as possible. ‘’Many of these roads, some of them started in 2007, some in 2006 and others are even older, but unfortunat<strong>el</strong>y for reasons that we can only imagine, at a time that the country was earning more revenues, up to $100 per barr<strong>el</strong>, the total budget of this country was N4 tr. ‘’It is now that the country is earning very less, $40 per barr<strong>el</strong> that it is budgeting N13 tr. So, those roads should have been done before we came. Even the ones done by the state governments were not paid for, and so we are just paying. “I think that a minimum of half a trillion every year over the next two, three years would be a strong support to really advance and complete as many as the 711 contracts we have. Again, some people are mistaking these contracts to mean roads. No. ‘’For example, on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, we have one road but two contracts. On Benin- Lokoja, we have one road but five contractors. So, the totality of these are 711 and the total road network now under construction or rehabilitation is a little over 13, 000km in different stages of repairs out of the total federal road network of 35, 000km.’’ He said that due to different climatic conditions in different parts of the country, the materials used to build roads react differently, explaining that this was why the ministry decided to also use different construction components for different areas. Fashola also blamed the nonchalance of some Nigerians for the rapid decay of roads being constructed by the government. “How do we get the best out of these roads? It is to use them properly. We must stop abusing the roads. Let me t<strong>el</strong>l you some of the ways we abuse roads. I have told you we have designed to some of the highest conditions but the more we design, the more some of our people exceed their axle load,'' he said. Big men in Nigeria still evading tax — FIRS boss, Nami •Moves to recover billions from defaulting Lagos tax firm •Liquidates N11bn of N18bn debt By Soni Dani<strong>el</strong>, Northern Region Editor E X E C U T I V E Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Muhammad Nami has said tax evasion was still high in the country. He also pledged to design and deploy new digital solutions to tackle the problem so as to haul in more money for the Federal Government for the dev<strong>el</strong>opment of the country and provision of services for Nigerians. Nami, who disclosed during a media briefing h<strong>el</strong>d in his office that the agency netted N4.178 trillion of the revenue target of N5.076 trillion it was given by the Federal Government, said: “Tax evasion is a serious crime in Nigeria and we are not sleeping about it. There are big men in Nigeria who are still evading taxes. “For this reason, we have deployed technology to trace the evaders and collect the money due the government.’’ He spoke of an unnamed Lagos firm, which he said had collected billions of Naira from Value Added Tax, VAT, but refused to remit same to the FIRS, thereby sitting on huge government revenue. According to him, FIRS has already compiled the amount being withh<strong>el</strong>d by the defaulting Lagos firm and has forwarded a demand notice to the firm to pay the huge amount it was owing the agency or be ready for the consequences of sitting on government’s cash without any justification. “We have done an assessment and the amount the company is keeping back is billions of Naira and we have equally sent him appropriate invoice to pay back the money with immediate effect,” the chairman disclosed without mentioning the offending firm’s identity. The FIRS boss said the agency has raked in N4.178 trillion, adding the figure represents 98.7 per cent of the N5.076 trillion revenue target set for the agency by the federal government for the fiscal year 2020. He pointed out that the about 99 percent revenue accomplishment was achieved at the end of October this year, expressing optimism that the target of N5.076 trillion would be achieved before the year end. Muhammad said that although the assessment and collection of taxes were hampered for most part of the year due to the nationwide lockdown occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic, the FIRS adopted strategic digital techniques to haul in more taxes than would have been possible, even in in-person drive, especially in the months of March and April this year. According to him, the service garnered N62 billion in the months of March and April when the pandemic was at its peak in the country and praised the dynamism, commitment and resourcefulness of his staff in collecting taxes for the government, despite the drawback. :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 PRAYERS FOR LATE NEWSPAPER VENDOR, IFEANYI OKEREKE: Speaker, House of Reps, Femi Gbajabiamila, members and the executive members of the Abuja Newspapers Distributors Association, ANDA and the Newspapers Vendors Association, Abuja, NVAA (in the gallery) while observing prayers for the repose of the soul of late newspaper vendor, Ifeanyi Okereke at resumption of plenary yesterday. #EndSARS: Senate wants affected states, individuals, organisations compensated •Asks FG to rebuild vandalised infrastructure in Lagos, Calabar, others •Seeks 1% VAT to repair Lagos, others affected by violence By Henry Umoru ABUJA—THE Senate yesterday asked the Federal Government to urgently establish special economic assistance to Lagos State, other states, individuals and organisations affected by the violence that trailed the #EndSARS protests that led to massive looting and wanton destruction of property. Consequently, the senate asked government to make available a financial grant-in-aid of not less than one percent of its Value Added Tax, VAT, as grant for the affected states. According to the Senate, the succour from the Federal Government will be extended to other cities and states such as Calabar, Benin, Uyo, Niger, among others, where incidents of equally large scale destruction and looting took place during the protests targeted at scrapping the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS. Urging the Federal Government to set up a visitation pan<strong>el</strong> to assess the lev<strong>el</strong> of destruction of public and private assets in all the affected states, the Senate mandated its Committees on National Security and Int<strong>el</strong>ligence, Defence, Police Affairs, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to investigate the invasion of the ancient city of Calabar on October 24, 2020, and report back at plenary. Resolutions of the Senate were sequ<strong>el</strong> to the consideration of two separate motions sponsored by Senators Biodun Olujimi, PDP, Ekiti South and Gershom Bassey, PDP, Cross River South. Coming under Order 42 and 52 of the Senate Rules, Senator Olujimi noted that the #EndSARS protest, began on October 3, 2020, and assumed a global dimension, following the alleged shooting of a young Nigerian in Ugh<strong>el</strong>li, D<strong>el</strong>ta State, and drew the attention of the Senate to the lev<strong>el</strong> of destruction to public and private property in Lagos. Following the similar nature of the two motions, the Senate resolved to consider them together as w<strong>el</strong>l as merge the prayers. There was, however, a mild drama at the hallowed Chamber of the Senate soon after the presentation of the motion by the former Senate Minority Leader when it was time for contributions by lawmakers, especially with regard to debate on compensation for states affected by the #EndSARS protests across the country. It was, however, observed that while the debate was raging, the senators representing Lagos State did not make any contribution, especially considering the fact that Senator Olujimi’s motion and prayers were centred around Lagos State in view of its strategic socioeconomic significance. Trouble started when the Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, APC, Niger East, was called to second the motion by Senator Olujimi on whether compensation for states affected by the #EndSARs violence should include states in the Northeast suffering from banditry and Boko Haram crises. Senator Musa, who asked that the grant be extended to victims of bandit attacks in his constituency and other parts of the North, said: “We have seen the destruction in my constituency and on my constituents and nothing like compensation has come up. “I support the idea of compensation to all victims. As the #EndSARS are being compensated, victims of banditry should also be compensated. If we should just limit it to Lagos or Cross River, it will be unfair to other parts of the country. It should be extended to other parts. Any intervention by the government should be holistic and not restricted to Lagos State or Calabar.” In their different presentations, both Olujimi and Gershom Bassey disclosed that there was large scale destruction of public and private property, including police stations and other public facilities, and the residence of a serving and former lawmaker in Lagos and Cross River states. Senator Biodun Olujimi lamented the extent of destruction suffered by the South West and Lagos State in particular, even as she listed the damage to include the destruction of Ajeromi If<strong>el</strong>odun Local Government Secretariat, Palace of the Oba of Lagos; Lagos High Court, Igbosere; ‘Oyingbo- BRT terminus; Ojodu Berger BRT terminus; Vehicle Inspection Office, Ojodu Berger; among others. She also itemised Lagos State Public Works Corporation, Ojodu Berger; Lagos City Hall and Circle Mall, Lekki; numerous luxury shops in Surulere, The Nation newspaper, TVC and Shoprite Lekki including 27 BRT vehicles estimated to cost $200,000 each and another 57 BRT vehicles estimated to cost $100,000 each, all totalling about N3.9 billion, as other properties affected by the violence. According to her, the state lost N1 trillion as more than 27 BRT buses were vandalised in the crises. In his argument, Senator Gershom Bassey lamented the crisis in Cross River State, saying “it is unfortunate that what started as a peaceful protest was hijacked by hoodlums, who unleashed terror on innocent citizens.” According to him, “government must do what is necessary to ensure that the situation does not happen again.” In his contribution, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, APC, Nasarawa West, condemned the violent protest, describing it as one of the worst in Nigeria’s political history. He, however, cautioned the Senate not to be prejudicial to the judicial pan<strong>el</strong> of inquiry set up in most of the affected states. “It will be prejudicial to the tribunal set up, so we have to tred with some caution. Let’s wait for awhile and see the outcome,’’ he said. Also in his contribution, Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, PDP, Edo South, urged law enforcement agencies to work extra length to recover all the arms and ammunition looted by hoodlums. WTO BOSS: Coast clear for Okonjo-Iweala as South Korea withdraws candidate — REPORT SOUTH Korea has decided to withdraw its candidate from the World Trade Organisation, WTO, directorgeneral race, according to Washington Trade Daily. Yoo Myung-hee is South Korea’s Trade Minister and its candidate for the top job at the WTO following the resignation of Roberto Azevedo. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s candidate in the WTO race, had secured the popular vote by a wide margin on October 28 but was not named DG because the US opposed her candidacy. The two women are the last candidates standing and the eventual winner will set a record as being the first female WTO DG. However, there are speculations that the US might change its stance following Donald Trump’s failure to get re-<strong>el</strong>ected as president. After the October 28 meeting, WTO also said Okonjo-Iweala had the best chance of getting a consensus. Washington Trade Daily quotes sources as saying South Korea has notified the US of its decision and is expected to make it public “in the coming days.” “Washington refused to accept the recommendation made by the s<strong>el</strong>ection pan<strong>el</strong> chaired by General Council Chair Amb. David Walker that Okonjo-Iweala is the candidate most lik<strong>el</strong>y of the two to attract consensus because she clearly carried the largest support by members in the final round and clearly enjoyed broad support from members from all geographic regions and has done so throughout the process. “Yoo from Korea failed to receive enough support from members of all lev<strong>el</strong>s of dev<strong>el</strong>opment -1e., the dev<strong>el</strong>oped, dev<strong>el</strong>oping and least dev<strong>el</strong>oping countries, as w<strong>el</strong>l as geographically in comparison to the largest support received by Ms Okonjo-Iweala” the report read.
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