Menu

Finance

customspix

Customs awaits report on list of duties, charges for waived goods under AfCFTA

, 0

By Tanko Mohammed

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says is waiting for National Action Committee (NAC) on the list of duties and charges waived for liberalised goods under African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The service made this known  in a statement issued by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Attah, on Tuesday in Abuja.

Attah said that the list included the 90 per cent liberalised National Trade Offers and 70 per cent Non-liberalised exclusive goods at the regional level.

He said another list being awaited was the list of three per cent on Non-liberalised sensitive goods.

The public relations officer said another important issue to be addressed was appointment of a competent authority responsible for issuing and authenticating certificates of origin and registering enterprises and products within the region.

“NCS acknowledges the transformational impact this agreement portends for businesses within the continent in general and Nigeria in particular, and are fully committed to its success.

“Further, the Service recommends that each member country should have a representative in the continental Chamber of Commerce to ensure transparency within the body, thereby generating confidence in the system.

“This in our view should be complementary to the activities of the various Chambers of Commerce of each country in the region.

“While awaiting clear directives concerning tariffs for all goods covered by this agreement, we want to assure the public of our preparedness to fully deploy our services at the shortest notice.

“Our desire is to imbue trust in the system while guaranteeing the economic safety and wellbeing of businesses within the country.

“We look with optimism to an era of complete economic integration which will lead to growth and prosperity for businesses within the region,” he stated.

Attah reiterated the willingness and readiness of the service to play its role as trade facilitators in this regard, but reminded the public that customs’ functions were highly automated and primarily systems driven.

He said it was necessary to methodically harvest and integrate all data associated with AfCFTA into the service’s system for easy deployment, access and use by the trading public.

Stocks-extend-losses-as-emerging-markets-tumble

Nigerian stock market extends losing streak, drops 0.07%

, 0

By Chris Ndibe

Trading activities on the nation’s bourse extended losing streak on Tuesday, declining further by N16 billion due to profit taking on 21 stocks.

Speficially, the All-Share Index lost 30.75 points or 0.07 per cent to close at 41,051.63, from 41,082.38 posted on Monday.

Consequently, month-to-date and year-to-date returns moderated to 1.9 per cent.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation lost N16 billion to close at N21.474 trillion compared with N21.490 trillion recorded on Monday.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Ardova Plc, BUA Cement, UACN, Access Bank and Red Star Express.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “Following two consecutive days of losses, we expect investors to take position in bellwethers.”

Japaul Gold and Ventures led the losers’ chart in percentage terms with 9.86 per cent to close at N1.28 per share.

Ardova followed with 8.63 per cent to close at N18 per share.

FTN Cocoa Processors and Honeywell Flour Mill shed 8.33 per cent each to close at 66k and N1.10, while Chams lost 6.67 per cent to close at 28k per share.

Conversely, Afromedia, Guinea Insurance, NEM Insurance, Prestige Assurance, Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services and Wapic Insurance drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, gaining 10 per cent each, to close at 22k, 22k, N2.53, 55k, 33k and 66k per share, respectively.

Livestock Feeds followed with 9.91 per cent to close at N2.55, while AIICO Insurance rose by 9.85 per cent to close at N1.45 per share.

Transcorp topped the activity chart with an exchange of 42.94 million shares valued at N50.24 million.

Japaul Gold and Ventures followed with 39.59 million shares worth N50.87 million, while Zenith Bank traded 28.53 million shares valued at N745.99 million.

BUA Cement sold 25.69 million shares worth N2.05 billion, while Courteville Business Solutions transacted 21.97 million shares worth N5.33 million.

In all, the total volume of shares traded dropped by 28.9 per cent as investors bought and sold 525.01 million shares worth N5.34 billion in 5,965 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 738.52 million shares valued at N4.17 billion transacted on 7,396 deals on Monday.

14adda37-tax-revenue

Nigeria makes N4.9trn from taxes

, 0

Tanko Mohammed

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) posted that it collected N4,952,243,711,728.37 as tax revenue in the 2020 fiscal year for Nigeria.

Mr Abdullahi Ahmad, Director of Communications and Liaison of the service made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.

Ahmad explained that this achievement represented about 98 per cent of the national tax target of N5.076 trillion set for the FIRS by the Federal Government.

The director quoted the Executive Chairman of the Service, Mr Muhammad Nami, as saying that this performance was remarkable, considering the debilitating effects of COVID-19 on the Nigerian economy.

He identified the all-time low price of crude oil in the international market, business disruptions and lootings during the #EndSars protests and generous tax waivers granted to ease the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown as some factors that hindered the FIRS operations last year.

He added additional tax exemptions granted to small companies in the 2019 Finance Act and insecurity in some parts of the country was another factor for what the service generated.

While analysing the significance of the 2020 performance, Nami said that the FIRS recorded this feat at a time when the price of oil hit an all-time low.

According to him, the oil which used to contribute more than 50 per cent in tax returns through the Petroleum Profits Tax in previous years, accounted for only 30.6 per cent of the tax revenue generated in 2020.

He also said that the non-oil tax collection was 109 per cent in 2020, which was nine per cent higher than the previous year.

The chairman attributed the success recorded in 2020 to many reforms initiated by the board and management of FIRS under his leadership.

He said the reforms included capacity building for staff, improved welfare package, promotion and proper placement of staff and deployment of appropriate technology for tax operations.

Others were segmentation of taxpayers to ease tax compliance and continuous collaboration with relevant stakeholders among others.

“The conscientious taxpayers in the country and dedicated members of staff of the FIRS nationwide for their support and devotion to work made this performance possible despite the numerous obstacles encountered in 2020.

“The FIRS is optimistic that this current fiscal year will be better than in 2020.

“We shall perform well, given that our service reforms are expected to yield greater dividends, especially as different parts of tax administration are being automated.

“We are also optimistic that exploration activities will improve in the oil sector and increase the prospect of higher tax revenue from the sector.

“Similarly, the ongoing reforms together with increased stakeholder collaborations will brighten the prospect of improved voluntary compliance and consequently higher tax revenue generation for the country this year and beyond,’’ he stated.

banks-Nigeria

VFD mulls banking licence, seeks N13.5bn capital

0

Moses Uwagbale

VFD Group, a financial service-focused proprietary investment company in Lagos, is perfecting arrangements for a national banking licence to be a major player in the Nigerian economy in the next five years.

The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, VFD Group Plc, Mr Nonso Okpala, said in Lagos that the company was making plans for a banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria and would undertake a capital raise exercise in February.

He said the board and management of VFD Group had approved the capital raise of N13.5 billion.

According to him, the capital raise will be a combination of rights, special placement and issuance of debt.

He said the funds would be geared toward obtaining a banking license, driving the adoption of its virtual bank and making strategic investments that would add up to its ecosystem strategy.

“In the next five years, VFD Group will be a major player in the Nigerian economy and will start to expand to key African locations and take its poise for a leadership position in Africa in the next 10 years.

“For our stakeholders, I will say, take advantage of the opportunity of the capital raise that the VFD Group is offering in February to be a part of its success story.

“If you have invested in the company, enhance your investment and if you do not have any, make an investment.

“I will say unequivocally, that the VFD Group represents the most compelling investment opportunity in Nigeria today.

“So, everybody should take advantage of it and be part of this remarkable growth because beyond growth and profitability, we want to be able to provide the pace for African economic resurgence,” he said.

Speaking on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the company, Okpala said the company performed beyond expectations in spite of the pandemic.

“We have been in existence for 11 years and we have seen and experienced different challenges within the Nigerian economy and the world’s at large.

“This has been our key and compelling strategy in the last 11 years: flexibility, the ability to understand social and economic trends and the readiness to take proper advantage,” Okpala said.

He said in spite of the coronavirus pandemic and extended lockdown, the company remained profitable.

Okpala noted that VFD Group deployed innovation to ensure continuity of its businesses.

“We have deployed as much innovation as possible to ensure that the business thrives.

“I will say that COVID brought a great deal of threat and challenges to everybody but we have found a way to grow and be profitable despite it all,” he added.

Okpala said the VFD Group would likely close 2020 with a profit before tax of between N3.5 billion and N4 billion.

“This is relative to our 2019 performance of N1.9 billion and our 2018 performance of less than a billion naira.

“The growth trend was not altered by the pandemic. Perhaps we could have made more without COVID, but the point remains that we keep a very innovative mindset that keeps us on the path of growth and profitability despite the challenges,” Okpala said.

NAICOM

NAICOM disburses fund for training of 60 Actuaries

, 0

By Moses Uwagbale

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has funded the College of Insurance and Financial Management (CIFM) to train 60 professionals as Actuaries in the industry.

Dr Yeside Oyetayo, Rector of CIFM said in Lagos that an actuary is a person who compiles and analyses statistics and uses them to calculate insurance risks and premiums.

Oyetayo said that following the release of the fund, the college had conducted the first scholarship qualification assessment on Dec. 22, and some candidates had been notified of their success.

She noted that another qualification assessment had been scheduled to hold on Jan. 29.

“The fund disbursed covers registration of 60 candidates, their course materials, tutorials and mock examinations

“Due to the social distancing order induced by COVID-19, we are doing online tutorials in conjunction with Nigerian Society of Actuaries and the first set of scholarship awardees will write the Certified Actuarial Analysts (CAA) exams in May,” she said.

NAICOM had on Jan. 23, 2020 announced full sponsorship of 100 practitioners in the insurance industry to be certified as Actuarial Analysts, toward developing the market in the next five years.

Mr Sunday Thomas, Commissioner for Insurance, said that the initiative was in partnership with CIFM, Nigeria and was aimed at developing necessary professional skills and talents to drive the insurance sector.

Thomas said the move became necessary because only a few insurance companies had in-house actuaries, thus the intervention by the commission to stem the tide.

“Part of our plans is that within the next five years, we want to produce at least 100 CAA and we will take responsibility for the commitment.

“Part of the development is the human capital development, as the growing potential of the industry is built on the capacity to have the required capital that will drive it forward.

“The issue of measuring and taking necessary steps for effective pricing have made the Actuarial profession to be more pertinent than ever.

“There is need to develop young professionals and give them a future in the insurance industry, and we are determined to develop their potential and make them relevant to the sector,” Thomas said.

Load More