President Muhammadu Buhari’s opposition to state governments having their own police and that state police is not an option dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Guardian reports that the proponents of federalism in Nigeria have argued that in a true federal structure, states should control their own security agencies to complement that of the Federal Government, just as many, including governors, have made the call for state policing as a way to contain insecurity across the country.
But President Muhammadu Buhari has restated his opposition to state governments having their own police. The President made this known in an interview with Channels Television aired last night.
“State police is not an option,” he said in response to the question on the topic.
His remark came amid push from most quarters in the country to decentralise policing, which has already led to the setting up of regional security outfits by some state governments.
The President alluded to the propensity for governors to abuse their powers as his argument against state police.
“Find out the relationship between local government and the governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Let the people in local government tell you the truth about the fight between local governments and the governors,” he said.
This is not the first time the President will reject state policing. As far back as 2019, the President had noted that though state policing was a good initiative, the governors might be unable to pay the officers’ salaries.
The Sun says that the Federal Government, yesterday, lamented its massive expenditures on security equipment and operations, saying that it gulped over 22 per cent of 2021 Budget.
This, she noted, contributed to the fiscal deficit of the budget. Speaking at the public presentation of the approved 2022 Federal Government Budget, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, said that with Nigeria’s -4.3 per cent deficit/ Gross Domestic Products (GDP) as at November 2021 and 30 per cent debt/GDP ratios as at September 2021, Nigeria’s debt ratio is the lowest among Africa’s leading economies.
“However, Nigeria’s debt service/revenue ratio (76 per cent as at November 2021) is the highest among same African top economies. This is a proof that what we have is not a classic debt sustainability problem, but a revenue challenge.
“Tax rates and compliance ratios are significantly higher in these comparator countries; For instance, Nigeria’s Value Added Tax (VAT) rate of 7.5 per cent is the lowest in Africa, and less than 50 per cent of the average rate” she said.
But she assured that efforts are ongoing to fix the revenue challenge, because cutting expenditure is not currently a viable option, as the public expenditure /GDP ratio is also the lowest among same Africa’s leading economies.
The newspaper reports that the Centre For the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE) has set a 10-point agenda for the new Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr Doyin Salami, for accelerated recovery and growth of the country’s economy.
The agenda, according to the Centre include institution of a market based foreign exchange policy framework to correct current distortions bedevilling the foreign exchange market.
This the centre said would ensure the normalisation of the foreign exchange market and unlock capital inflows into the economy.
CPPE’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Muda Yusuf, who made the statement, applauded the appointment of Dr Salami, saying he is bringing to this position a pedigree of intellectualism and robust knowledge of the nexus between sound economic principles, macroeconomic stability, investment growth and the welfare of the citizens.
Yusuf said though coming rather late in the life of the administration, it is a fitting appointment nonetheless, noting that Salami is the current chairman of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The centre proposed sustainable mix of policies to stem the intense inflationary pressures in the economy; to ensure the effective coordination between the fiscal and monetary policies; to ensure synergy between key economic and investment ministries and agencies to ensure policy and regulatory coherence.
The Punch says that revenue targets by power distribution companies are set based on the electricity consumption of consumers, the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors has said.
ANED, the umbrella body for the Discos, argued that it was wrong to claim that Discos extort electricity consumers due to their high revenue targets. Its Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Sunday Oduntan, said in a statement that bills issued to power users were a reflection of their energy consumption.
He said, “One of the allegations that is gaining grounds of late is that Disco marketers are given revenue targets and it is in their quests to meet these targets that they supposedly ‘extort’ customers and give bills that do not reflect electricity consumption.
“What is being discussed here are what should be rightly termed ‘receivables’. This is money earned by the Disco based on the energy consumed.” He explained that Discos set commercial, operations, technical and customer service targets for their staff.
Oduntan said, “The commercial targets in our case are specific and based on what has been consumed. Setting targets does not mean conjuring figures to meet those targets. We go out to collect what is owed. That is legitimate.
The newspaper reports that the Federal Government has introduced an excise duty of N10 per litre on all non-alcoholic, carbonated and sweetened beverages. Excise duty is a form of tax imposed on the production, licensing and sale of goods.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said this during the public presentation of the 2022 budget on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to her, the new policy introduced is in the Finance Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 2021.
She said, “There’s now an excise duty of N10 per litre imposed on all non-alcoholic and sweetened beverages. And this is to discourage excessive consumption of sugar in beverages which contributes to a number of health conditions including diabetes and obesity.
But it is also used to raise excise duties and revenues for health-related and other critical expenditures. This is in line also with the 2022 budget priorities.”
Also, Ahmed said the government had introduced a law requiring foreign companies providing digital services in the country to collect and remit Value Added Tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
According to her, the new policy is also contained in Section 30 of the Finance Act which amended the provisions of Section 10, 31 and 14 on VAT obligations for non-resident digital companies.
GIK/APA