Category: Finance

Switzerland Ready to Return $320m ‘Abacha Loot’ to Nigeria

Post author By Kings UBA
Post date December 5, 2017

Late Gen. Sani Abacha

Switzerland Ready to Return $320m ‘Abacha Loot’ to Nigeria

The Swiss government has said the legal battle over the repatriation of ‘Abacha Loot’ to Nigeria has been finalized. It has announced that it will return $320m (£240m) of the money allegedly stolen and ducked in Swiss accounts by Nigeria’s late military ruler, General Sani Abacha.

There is an agreement to repatriate the money which was signed in March. But the Nigerian Ministry of Justice, the World Bank and lawyers from Switzerland and the US have been grappling with legal complications surrounding the return of the money.

But the government of Switzerland on Monday announced that the battle was over and that the money will finally be returned.

The money was frozen in 2014 by a Swiss court after a legal procedure against his son, Abba Abacha.

Originally deposited in Luxembourg, it is a fraction of the billions of dollars allegedly looted during his rule from 1993 to 1998.

BBC reports that recovering the “Abacha loot” has been a major priority for Nigeria.

“President Muhammadu Buhari made the recovery of stolen assets a major part of his 2015 election campaign and this will be the largest yet.

It didn’t say precisely when, but it did say that the World Bank must be involved in supervising how the money was spent, to ensure it was used “for the benefit of the Nigerian people”.

“The fight against corruption is one of Switzerland’s priorities” Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter said, adding that the move should “strengthen social security for the poorest Nigerians”, AFP reports.

The Guardian reports that Abacha, who ruled Nigeria for five years after a 1993 coup, is believed to have stolen $4.3bn while in office, placing him among the ranks of Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko as one of Africa’s most avaricious kleptocrats.

Following his death from a sudden heart attack in 1998, the Nigerian government asked Switzerland to help it recover $2.2bn that he was said to have stashed in European bank accounts. The tax haven was forced to relax banking secrecy regulations after some landmark rulings.

The $380m had been placed in several accounts abroad that were controlled by the Abacha family, which is considered a criminal organisation, the prosecutor’s office in the Swiss capital, Geneva, said on Tuesday. It was seized in 2006 in Luxembourg following a request from Swiss authorities.

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Africa Finance

UK to Extend ‘Helping Hands’ to Zimbabwe on Economy

Post author By Kings UBA
Post date November 29, 2017

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

UK to Extend ‘Helping Hands’ to Zimbabwe on Economy

United Kingdom (UK) has said it would offer helps to stabilise Zimbabwe’s currency system and help the country pay off World Bank and African Development Bank loan arrears.

The major challenge facing President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe is how to pull the country out of economic lull. At his inauguration, Mnangagwa has promised “jobs, jobs, job,” as an economic measure but he would need to do more than just that.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the African Union-EU summit in Abidjan that the support for Zimbabwe, will however, depend on “democratic progress”,

“Those are indeed the things that we would try to do to help Zimbabwe forward, but we’ve got to see how the democratic process unfolds,” the UK scribe said.

Economy Tops Challenges as Mnangagwa Takes Over

Zimbabwe is due to hold elections in 2018.

Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in as president on Nov. 24 after the resignation of Robert Mugabe, and has said his government will focus on economic growth.

Johnson said: “Recent events in Zimbabwe offer a moment of hope for the country and its people.

“This is a time to look to the future and to make clear that Britain shares the common vision of a prosperous, peaceful and democratic Zimbabwe.

“I am encouraged by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s words so far.

“During his inauguration speech, he promised to reform the economy and give investors the security of title they need if Zimbabwe is to fulfill its potential and create the jobs that are sorely needed.

“For as long as the President acts on his words, then Britain is willing to work alongside him and offer all the support we can.

“The UK relationship with Africa and the African Union will continue to go from strength to strength and as we leave the EU I want to work even more closely with my counterparts in the region”, Daily Trust quoted Reuters.

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Africa Finance Latest News

Tax Revenue: Nigeria Uncovers 500 Oversea Property Owners

Post author By Kings UBA
Post date November 26, 2017

Tunde Fowler, Executive Chairman, FIRS and Chairman, African Tax Administration Forum. Photo credit/FIRS

Tax Revenue: Nigeria Uncovers 500 Oversea Property Owners

In their bid to raise tax revenue against unstable oil prices, Nigeria’s Government has compiled a list of 500 prominent Nigerians with property and trusts abroad, to determine their tax compliance status.

The 500 prominent Nigerians, according to her, will receive their letters beginning from Monday, asking them to take advantage of the tax amnesty to regularize their tax status and avoid prosecution and fines.

The government has also recruited and trained 2,190 Community Tax Liaison Officers (CTLOs) under the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).

Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said that 1,710 CTLOs had already been deployed to 33 states, out of the number recruited and trained. She said that their task was to raise awareness about the scheme and taxation in general. She said that the CTLOs were currently operating in Adamawa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun and Oyo states among others.

In a statement by her Special Adviser, Media and Communications, Mr Oluyinka Akintunde, Adeosun said there was no hiding place for evaders residing in Nigeria or abroad, noting that the Federal Government had put in place a data mining mechanism to fish out evaders.

“The unique cooperation between the various arms of Federal Government, state governments and foreign governments has provided an unprecedented level of data that allows the Nigerian Government to profile taxpayers accurately.

“We are now able to identify those whose lifestyle and assets are not consistent with their declared income. “A lot of data mining is going on daily, both locally and internationally, on property ownership and other items. Data is an extremely powerful tool that is now being utilized.

“For instance, we have reviewed all companies that received major payments from the Federal Government in the last 5 years and found that even those who made money from government, under-declared,” she said. Adeosun said that the tax compliance team had looked at import records and compared the value of goods imported to the tax declarations of the importers, but the discovery was worrisome as “the variance was disturbingly wide”.

“On personal income taxes, we reviewed property and company ownership as well as registration of high value assets and foreign exchange allocations, which gives us a sense of the lifestyles of the persons. “But again, we found major non-compliance. In some cases, people declared as little as N10 million as income but purchased expensive property overseas and in Nigeria.

“They also registered high specification vehicles and funded luxurious personal events costing multiples of the declared income,” she said.

Adeosun said that now, with the centralisation of data under Project Lighthouse within the Federal Ministry of Finance, a major tax loophole has been plugged. She reiterated the willingness of the Federal Government to prosecute tax evaders after the tax amnesty period had elapsed.

VAIDS, an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the State Revenue Authorities, is a revolutionary programme that provides tax defaulters a nine-month opportunity to voluntarily and truthfully declare previously untaxed assets and incomes. The tax amnesty period is expected to lapse on March 31, 2018. Job creation is one of the spin-offs of the VAIDS initiative, with the scheme expected to create 7,500 opportunities for Nigerians as CTLOs through the N-Power scheme of the Federal Government.

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Africa Finance Latest News

Nigeria’ll Save N1.2tr by 2019, Cutting Bogus Allowances—Buhari

Post author By Kings UBA
Post date November 25, 2017

President Muhammadu Buhari

Nigeria’ll Save N1.2tr by 2019, Cutting Bogus Allowances—Buhari

By the time President Muhammadu Buhari finishes his four-year term in 2019, he would have saved Nigeria the sum of N1.2 trillion from cutting unnecessary allowances. This is about one-quarter of the country’s total budget in 2018.

Buhari on Saturday said his administration saves the nation about N25 billion monthly through the stoppage of unnecessary allowances for government officials and blockage of other financial leakages in all its agencies.

Buhari who was represented by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo stated this in Jos, at the graduation ceremony of Senior Executive Course 39 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru, Plateau state.

He said his government will not relent in its fight against corruption.

Buhari assured that the federal government would make ”good use of recommendations of the course participants on agriculture.”

Premium Times reports that the Director General, NIPSS, Jonathan Juma, said participants who had attended the institute since it was established 39 years ago, have impacted positively on nation building.

“The official said the mission of NIPSS is to serve as a centre for policy, advocacy, advice and training for Nigeria and Africa in the context of a dynamic and changing world.

The chief executive told President Buhari that the institute is affected by recession and requested for financial intervention from the federal government to help replace its operational vehicles.

He explained that members of Course 39 during their study year toured 12 countries and 12 states within Nigeria.

The graduation of 66 Senior Executive in Course 39, brings to 1990 members who have passed through the Institute since its creation.

The security agencies dominated membership of the course which had 8 females; 28 out of the 66 participants for the 10-month course are members of the security agencies including a female commissioner of police”, the report said.

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Africa Finance

Dangote: Salvaging Africa Through Pan-African Investment

Post author By Kings UBA
Post date November 24, 2017

President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote

Dangote: Salvaging Africa Through Pan-African Investment

President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has unveiled his $300m Congo cement plant, drawing the admiration of his home country, Nigeria.

At the commissioning of the plant in Mfila, Congo, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said Nigeria will continue to support local manufacturers such as Dangote Cement and other companies that intend to do business, both within and outside the country.

“I am delighted to note that Dangote Cement has been championing economic renaissance of Africa with the construction of cement plants across several African countries. This sterling accomplishment makes the Dangote Cement brand, and indeed Aliko Dangote himself, worthy ambassadors of Nigeria. Let me use this forum to state unequivocally that the Federal Government of Nigeria has consistently supported and encouraged the Dangote Group in their quest to contribute their quota to the economic emancipation of the African continent, which is blessed with a plethora of natural resources.

“I believe that it is only home-grown practical solutions that can address the myriad issues plaguing Africa today and one of such challenges that Africa has been grappling with for decades are the infrastructure deficit. I am confident that massive investments in cement production, which is a key driver of infrastructural development, will contribute in no small measure, to addressing this perennial problem”, he added.

Nigeria also charged African businessmen on the need to intensify pan-African investments, noting that only Africans themselves and not foreigners can salvage the continent.

With foreign direct investments not forthcoming, the Federal Government noted that pan-African investments will further help to integrate the continent and help to create needed jobs.

Dangote said the Cement Plant is the largest cement plant in Congo-Brazzaville in terms of installed production capacity.

“With the commissioning of the plant, we become also the largest integrated cement producer in the CEMAC region comprising Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and now, the Republic of the Congo.

“It is our hope that our plant will help to reduce and eventually replace cement imports into Congo-Brazzaville and these other countries. More importantly, it is also our hope that this project we are commissioning today, will further cement the existing cordial ties between our two countries—the Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.

“As we all know, cement is one of the basic inputs in infrastructure development. For Africa, a continent, which faces severe infrastructural deficits, the need for local self-sufficiency in cement production cannot be over-emphasised. We believe that this can help in bridging the infrastructure deficit and contribute to accelerating the development of the continent”; he added.

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Africa Finance

Tanzania Ponders Public-Private Dialogue to Grow Economy

Post author By Kings UBA
Post date November 23, 2017

Tanzania President, John Pombe Magufuli

Tanzania Ponders Public-Private Dialogue to Grow Economy

Tanzania government is in talks with the World Bank on how to bring in private sector to contribute to the nation’s economy.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has expressed willingness to offer training assistance to the country’s economy stakeholders on the importance of public-private sector dialogue in enhancing economic growth.

The Bretton Wood institution and the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) had a workshop on the importance of public-private sectors collaboration in national building.

The World Bank’s Country Director, Ms Bella Bird, said such collaborations are good for the country to operate effectively.

“Regular meetings at ministerial level are crucial for issues concerning the private sector; concerns raised by the private sector should guide the government to improve investment and business environment for the sector,” she remarked.

The Executive Director of Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Mr Geoffrey Simbeye pointed out at what he described as “a vacuum in execution of changes introduced in various policies and legislation.”

The TNBC’s Director for Business Environment, Mr Arthur Mtafya, said that it was the role of the council to bridge the gap between the private and public sectors to enable the country attain middle-income economy.

“We are glad that officials from the World Bank have enlightened us on the importance of the dialogues, through such forums we are in the position to clearly understand concerns by the business community,” the official stated.

On his part, Deputy Director for Business Environment in Prime Minister’s Office, Mr Christopher Mramba, pointed out that President John Magufuli was an exemplary leader who treasures dialogues towards development.

The official said the dialogues are crucial to build trust between the government and the business community, noting that the government will reap more revenues if the private sector operates in a conducive environment.

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Finance

ECOWAS HEADS TAKE ANOTHER SHOT AT ECO CURRENCY

Post author By Kings UBA
Post date October 24, 2017

Currency

ECOWAS HEADS TAKE ANOTHER SHOT AT ECO CURRENCY

On Tuesday, Heads of governments of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, will converge in Niamey, Niger Republic to again discuss the proposal to launch a single currency for the West African sub region.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria may leave Nigeria on Tuesday morning, to attend the event in the neighboring country, Niger.

The Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, made this known in a statement issued on Monday.

Mr. Adesina said Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and Central Bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, will also accompany the president to the meeting.

The goal of a common currency for ECOWAS, known as Eco Currency, was officially stated in December 2000 in connection with the formal launch of West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ).

However, challenges to implementation of the proposal have lied on member-countries meeting the criteria for the launch.

The four primary criteria to be achieved by each member country are: a single-digit inflation rate at the end of each year; a fiscal deficit of no more than 4% of the GDP; a central bank deficit-financing of no more than 10% of the previous year’s tax revenues and Gross external reserves that can give import cover for a minimum of three months.

There are other six secondary criteria to be achieved by each member country—prohibition of new domestic default payments and liquidation of existing ones; tax revenue should be equal to or greater than 20 percent of the GDP; wage bill to tax revenue equal to or less than 35 percent; public investment to tax revenue equal to or greater than 20 percent; a stable real exchange rate and a positive real interest rate.

Deficient in meeting the criteria, launch of Eco Currency has been postponed three times: from 2013 to 2014 to 2015 to 2020.

It is in connection to meeting the requirements for the 2020 launch of the currency that the heads of ECOWAS government have billed to meet in Niamey on Friday, to take another shot at.

In 2001, the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) was set up with headquarters in Accra, Ghana. It is to be an interim organisation in preparation for the future West African Central Bank. Its function and organisation are inspired by the European Monetary Institute. Thus, WAMI is to provide a framework for central banks in the WAMZ to start the integration and begin preliminary preparations for the printing and minting of the physical currency , just as EMI did before in the Eurozone before the introduction of the euro.

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