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The Federal Government has said it has no plans to introduce new taxes or increase the current ones in 2021 .

FG said , on the contrary , it is making efforts to reduce the tax burden on Nigerians due to the current economic crises occasioned by the COVID- 19 pandemic and the fall in the prices of crude oil.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed , stated this is Abuja at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on the Finance Bill 2020 .

The minister added , “ We also need to defer tax rate increases to the domestic economic sufficiently recover and reduce the compliance burden on tax payers in line with the ease of doing business reforms

“ The second principle is the need to reform fiscal incentives policies to help reduce proliferation of fiscal incentives by carefully assessing cost vs benefit of tax incentives and prioritize job creation , growth, and incentives .

“ The government also need closer coordination of monetary , trade and fiscal, adding that this is necessary so that government will be able to align existing tax incentives for lending to agriculture with the recent CBN moratorium and interest rate reduction for agriculture and real sector loans, reform the stamp duty level on banking transaction and make provisions that will help harness funds in form of unclaimed dividends and unclaimed bank balance that has been sitting idle . ”

Punch

President Muhammadu Buhari has left Abuja for Daura, Katsina State for a week-long private visit.

A statement by presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, said the aircraft conveying the president from Abuja landed at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport, Katsina where he was received by Governor Aminu Bello Masari, his deputy, Mannir Yakubu, senior government officials and heads of security agencies in the state.

The statement said upon arriving Daura, Buhari was received at the helipad by the Emir, Alhaji Umar Faruk Umar and members of the Emirate Council followed by a parade of colourful horse riders and courtiers.

The statement said Buhari, while in Daura, would carry out a number of private engagements but would virtually participate in the meeting of the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday to be presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities said it has not suspended its ongoing nine – month – old strike.

Dr . Lazarus Maigoro , Chairman of the University of Jos Chapter of ASUU disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Jos.

“ It must be categorically stated here that ASUU never signed any agreement to suspend the strike but agreed on timelines for government to implement certain aspects of the issues in contention.

“ For instance , one of the issues agreed was that all the six to nine months withheld salaries and check -off dues of ASUU members will be released by Dec . 9 , but the date has passed and nothing was done .

“ The N 40 billion earned academic allowances and N 30 billion funding for revitalisation will also be released by Dec . 11 , among other issues , but till now, none has been fulfilled.

“ The next thing is that we heard Dr Chris Ngige , the Minister of Labour and Employment , telling the public that ASUU agreed to suspend the strike , ” he said .

“ He was quoted to have said the government had fulfilled its part of the gentleman agreement it entered with ASUU on Nov. 27 .

“ He was also quoted to have claimed that payment of the public university lecturers ’ salaries being withheld would require presidential clearance due to the prevailing “ No work, no pay ” rule .

“ It is important for Nigerians to note that salaries of lecturers of federal universities , who refused to enroll in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS ) were stopped in February before they went on strike in March .

“ It should , however , be noted too that IPPIS and salary stoppage were not among the demands of ASUU but was introduced by the government as a distraction , ” he noted .

Punch

The President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd . ) , has failed to appear before the House of Representatives .

Buhari had expressed his readiness to appear before the House while responding to the invitation to him last week to address Nigerians on the growing insecurity in the country.

The House had summoned the President after a long debate on the recent slaughtering of 43 rice farmers in Borno State by Boko Haram .

Strong indications had, however , emerged on Tuesday that pressure was being mounted on Buhari especially by state governors , at a meeting with the President , to shun the House.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation , Abubakar Malami ( SAN ) , had also on Wednesday said the National Assembly lacked the powers to summon the President to speak on security matters, a claim that has generated wide criticisms .

Punch

The Nigerian Communications Commission has directed Mobile Network Operators to immediately suspend the sale and activation of new SIM cards to allow an audit of the Subscriber Registration Database .

The Director , Public Affairs at NCC, Dr . Ikechukwu Adinde , in a statement , said it was absolutely necessary for operators to comply until the audit exercise had been concluded .

According to him , Minister of Communications and Digital Economy , Dr Isa Pantami, directed the commission to embark on an audit of the Subscriber Registration Database .

He , however , said an exemption might be granted following approval from the Federal Government through the commission .

He warned that non – compliance with the directive would be met with strict sanctions , including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license .

Adinde said the audit would help to consolidate the achievement of the SIM Card registration exercise .

The director explained that the objective of the audit exercise was to ensure compliance to set quality standards and requirements by mobile network operators .

According to him , the directive became necessary in view of the preponderance of pre – registered SIMs with the attendant security implications associated with the use of same to facilitate criminal activities.

The new President of the National Association of Nigerian Students , Sunday Asefon , has vowed to shut down all private universities in the country should the nine – month strike embarked on by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities continue.

The NANS president said this while speaking on a PUNCH Online interview programme , The Roundtable .

He lamented that the ongoing strike is the longest industrial action embarked on by the university lecturers .

According to him , NANS would engage the Federal Government representatives and ASUU leaders to find a lasting solution to resolve the stalemate in negotiations between the two arms .

The NANS president said after consultation with the two parties and should the strike not be called off as soon as possible , NANS would move in and shut down all tertiary institutions in the country.

Asefon said , “ In the history of ASUU strike , this is the longest ASUU strike so far , going to nine months now . My administration frowns at it. We will be meeting with the representatives of the Federal Government and that of ASUU to see how the two can shift grounds so that our students can go back to the classroom . It is just a story of where two elephants fight , the grass that suffers .

“ There must be a lasting solution , ASUU must stop this strike and Federal Government must listen to ASUU . The two should synergise , they should pity the common students who have been at home .

“ If you are talking about money, the Federal Government will still release the money at the end of the day . The strike has not stopped the salaries of ASUU ( members) . But it is the students that are at the receiving end of this long ASUU strike .

Continuing , he said , “ Before we mobilise our students to the streets to engage in a confrontation with the government , we believe ASUU and FG should sit and resolve the whole issue. That is our interest. We are tired of being at home . We want to go back to school . ”

“ We have three Cs , we have embarked on the first C which is ‘ Consultation ’ and we are going to ‘ Consolidate ’ on our ‘ Consultation ’ . We will get to a stage before the end of this year when we will get the two of them seated on a roundtable . We will force the two parties to make a decision because they are toying with the lives of Nigerian students .

“ If they fail to resolve the issue, we are going to embark on the third C which is ‘ Confrontation ’ . We are going to shut down all private universities in this country. And after that , we are going to engage in mass action . Because the majority of the children of ASUU (members ) and the rich are in private schools and they are not affected. That is why they are toying with the lives of the common Nigerian students , ” NANS president stated .

The Attorney- General of the Federation , Abubakar Malami ( SAN ) , says the National Assembly lacks the power to invite the President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd . ) , to speak on security matters.

Malami, who is also the Minister of Justice, said this in a statement titled, ‘ Buhari ’ s Summon: NASS Operates Outside Constitutional Bounds ’.

The AGF said security matters remained the exclusive preserve of the executive arm of government and the National Assembly must not forget this .

He said , “ The management and control of the security sector is exclusively vested in the President by Section 218 ( 1 ) of the Constitution as the Commander – in – Chief of the Armed Forces including the power to determine the operational use of the Armed Forces. An invitation that seeks to put the operational use of the Armed Forces to a public interrogation is indeed taking the constitutional rights of law – making beyond bounds.

“ As the Commander – in – Chief, the President has exclusivity on security and has confidentiality over security . These powers and rights he does not share . So , by summoning the President on national security operational matters, the House of Representative operated outside constitutional bounds. President ’ s exclusivity of constitutional confidentiality investiture within the context of the constitution remains sacrosanct . ”

Malami said the President could freely address the National Assembly when he wants but could not be summoned to do so .

He said , “ Mr . President has enjoyed Constitutional privileges attached to the Office of the President including exclusivity and confidentiality investiture in security operational matters, which remains sacrosanct . ”

The AGF added that the National Assembly has no “constitutional power to envisage or contemplate a situation where the President would be summoned by the National Assembly on operational use of the Armed Forces.

“ The right of the President to engage the National Assembly and appear before it is inherently discretionary in the President and not at the behest of the National Assembly. ”

Punch

The President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd . ) , has expressed displeasure over the ongoing strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities .

He described as “amazing ” the failure of the lecturers to suspend their eight -month strike.

The president was quoted as saying this in a statement by his media aide , Garba Shehu , after a meeting with 36 state governors on insecurity .

The statement was titled, President Buhari charges governors to work with traditional rulers for local intelligence’ .

On the eight – month – long strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities , the President was quoted as saying “ lecturers had not taken into consideration the larger challenges facing the country” .

“ Government conceded something . The problem is that they refused to look at the problem of the whole country.

“ The Minister of Labour is working hard at it. It is amazing how ASUU will stay out of classrooms for so long . There ’ s a need for our elites to understand the challenges facing the country, ” the president added .

The Federal Government has faulted claims by the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities , Prof Biodun Ogunyemi , that it has failed to deliver on the timelines on offers made to the union .

It insisted that the timelines had been complied with and “ faithfully implemented ”.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen . Chris Ngige , revealed that ASUU agreed at their last meeting with the government team on November 27 to call off their nine – month – old strike before December 9 .

“ The truth of the matter is that a ‘ gentleman agreement ’ was reached at the last meeting in which ASUU agreed to call off the strike before December 9 , 2020 , and the Minister , in turn , agreed that once the strike is called off , he would get a presidential waiver for ASUU to be paid the remainder of their salaries on or before December 9 , ” Ngige stated .

This was contained in a statement from Ngige media office titled, ‘ We have kept our promises to ASUU – FG’ .

The statement also cited part of the agreement reached at the meeting with ASUU in which the labour minister said he had consulted with the Minister of Education on getting a waiver on the issue of ‘ No Work , No Pay ’ under section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act .

Ogunyemi had blamed the FG for union ’ s failure to call off the strike , noting that the lecturers would not return to classes until their salary arrears were paid.

The minister stated , “ For instance , the Federal Government promised to constitute a Negotiation Committee for the 2009 Agreement and has fulfilled it with the last week’ s inauguration of the committee that has Prof Muzali as chairman .

“ The N40 b Earned Academic Allowances have also been processed just as the N30 b revitalization Fund , bringing it to N70 billion . Likewise , the Visitation Panels for the Universities have been approved by the President but the panel cannot perform its responsibilities until the shut universities are re – opened .

“ The gazzeting is also being rounded off at the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation while the Ministry of Education is ready to inaugurate the various visitation panels . ”

He disclosed that “ they were paid for February and March after which it was extended to April, May and June , months they were on strike on compassionate ground , bringing it to five months. ”

Punch

The Federal Government has announced a reduction in the pump price of premium motor spirit , otherwise known as petrol , from N168 to N 162 . 44 per litre with effect from December 14 .

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige , disclosed this at the end of a meeting with labour leaders .

The minister said a technical committee has been set up to ensure price stability in the industry .

Ngige stated that the committee , which will report back to the larger house on January 25 , will appraise the market forces and other things that would ensure stability in the industry .

He said , “ Our discussion was fruitful and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation which is the major importer and marketers of petroleum products and customers have agreed that there will be a slide down of the pump price of PMS and that the price cut will get us about N5 per litre and that the price cut will take effect from next Monday , a week today . ”

Punch