PRESIDENT Buhari on Monday said the Federal Government proposed in the 2020 Finance Bill to exempt minimum wage earners.

The President noted that the decision was part of the move to reduce the impact of inflation on Nigerians.

He added that the initiative would exempt minimum wage earners from the Personal Income Tax.

Buhari disclosed this in his speech delivered virtually by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday, at the opening session of the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit Group Conference themed ‘Building partnerships for resilience’.

Osinbajo also explained that the Federal Government would buy locally assembled cars rather than imported foreign ones.

He said, “We are proposing in the new Finance Act that those who earn minimum wage should be exempted from paying income tax.

“These provisions which complement the tax breaks given to small businesses last year will not only further stimulate the economy, but are also a fulfilment of promises made to take steps to help reduce the cost of transportation and the impact of inflation on ordinary Nigerians.”

The President restated that there was serious need forNigeria to diversify the economy away from dependence on crude oil exports, speed up human capital development and improve infrastructure.

“Above all, our economy must be made more resilient to exogenous shocks,” he said.

Buhari gave insights into the collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Investment Authority and other stakeholders in the creation of an Infrastructure Company Fund to address some of the nation’s critical infrastructure needs.

He said the government was working actively with the CBN, NSIA and state governments under the auspices of the National Economic Council to design and put in place a N15tn Infrastructure Company Fund, which would be independently managed.

“The Infraco Fund will help to close the national infrastructural gap and provide a firm basis for increasing national economic productivity and growth,” the President explained.

Responding to the issue of import duties raised at the summit during the speech presentation, the Vice President explained that the reduction of import duty on vehicles would help cut down transportation cost.

“The point of the reduction in levies on motor vehicles, commercial vehicles for transportation is to reduce the cost of transportation by reducing the cost of vehicles,” Osinbajo said.

He added, “With subsidy removal and the increase in fuel price and the pass-through to food prices, transportation costs had to be reduced. Now the automotive policy is directed at localising the production of vehicles.

“So the logic was increase the duty and levies so that local production becomes more competitive. But the annual demand for vehicles is about 720,000 vehicles per year. Actual local production is 14,000 vehicles a year.”

He noted that the current rate of production would not meet the serious national needs and this would mean higher prices of vehicles and greater strain on other sectors of the economy that depend on transportation.

Osinbajo, however, stated that the government was not giving up on the local auto industry.

He said, “Two important things to note; the first is that we still have relatively high duty at 35 per cent; so, there is still a disincentive for importation.”

Osinbajo added that the government was also promoting a policy of buying only locally manufactured cars.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, on Monday said Nigerians should rather be proud that the Federal Government was set to resume the importation of petroleum products from neighbouring Niger Republic, instead of criticising it.

According to Sylva, the planned resumption of importation of the products from Niger Republic should be seen as a means of encouraging intra-regional trade instead of embarrassment.

It would be recalled that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources had announced last Thursday in a statement that the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding for petroleum products transportation and storage.

The statement further disclosed that Niger Republic’s Soraz Refinery in Zinder, some 260km from the Nigerian border, has an installed refining capacity of 20,000 barrels per day.

The announcement drew the ire of several Nigerians, who condemned the inability of the Nigerian government to keep the country’s refineries running.

However, Sylva said Nigeria is a big market that needs excess fuel products processed in other countries.

He said: “I don’t see that as an embarrassment at all. As a country, Nigeria is a big market, we need products, even if all our refineries were functioning, we will still need extra products.

“Niger Republic produces oil and they are landlocked as a country. They have a refinery that produces in excess of what they require as a country and they offered to sell to us in Nigeria because this is a bigger market.

“In the spirit of regional cooperation, regional trade development, we decided to buy from them. I don’t see anything wrong with that. If your neighbour is producing something that is required in your country and you buy from him, why is that a big problem?

“So, we agreed with Niger to buy the excess of what they don’t require in Niger because this is a big market.

“Nigerians should be proud that we are doing that to encourage sub-regional trade because we have been talking about sub-regional trade for a long time and this is how it should be between neighbouring countries. Niger should import from us what we have and we should be able to import from Niger what they have. Let us encourage intra-regional trade and this is one good example of trading within West Africa.”

THE Federal Government has formally petitioned CNN over the airing of its investigative report on the Lekki toll gate shooting of EndSARS protesters titled ‘How a Bloody Night of Bullets Quashed a Young Protest Movement.’

The report was aired on November 18, 2020.
Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a letter, addressed to the CNN Vice President on Communications, Mr. Jonathan Hawkins, on November 23, 2020, described the report as blatantly irresponsible and a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organisation.

He also protested that the report did not just fall short of journalistic standards, but reinforced the disinformation being peddled around on the issue.

Mohammed described as inexcusable and indefensible CNN’s failure to live up to the principles of journalism on balance and fairness by rushing to air the story without presenting the government’s side.

The federal government also cited another breach by the Atlanta, Georgia-based network in its investigation by relying on unverified footage which it sourced from social media while it had no reporter on the ground at the Lekki toll gate gate on the night of the incident.

“In airing its ‘investigative’ report, CNN conveniently forgot that on October 23, 2020, it emphatically tweeted, from its verified Twitter handle, that the military killed 38 people when it opened fire on peaceful protesters on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.

“Almost a month later, the same CNN – after a supposedly exhaustive investigation – is now reporting only one death from what the world was made to believe was a massacre. Is CNN not embarrassed by this sharp climb down? Has CNN owned up to this and apologised for its faux pas?

“It is also interesting that while CNN obtained footage showing when the vehicles carrying soldiers left their barracks and arrived at the Lekki Toll Gate, it could not obtain any footage showing the bodies of those supposedly killed in the ‘massacre’.
After all, forensic ballistic experts will most likely testify that firing military-grade weapons into a crowd will not leave anyone needing a microscope to look for blood or bodies at the scene,” Mohammed said.

The Federal Government subsequently demanded an immediate retraction from CNN asking for an exhaustive investigation into its ‘investigative’ report on the Lekki toll gate incident to determine, among others, its authenticity and if it met the basic standards of journalism in addition to the selective use of unverified social media videos to manipulate public opinion.

THE Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said a total of 138 members of the National Youth Service Corps have tested positive for Covid-19.

The NDDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this today in Abuja, while briefing the presidential task force on Covid-19.

He, however, said the safe reopening of the NYSC orientation camps across the country was successful.

He stated that none of those who tested positive was allowed into the camps.

According to him, “a total of 34,785 corps members and members of the camp communities have been tested so far in the last weeks of which only 138 was found positive, which is 0.4 per cent prevalence and 1 in 200 people.”

Ihekweazu said those who tested positive were either managed at home or in a treatment centre depending on if they had symptoms and what state they were in.

The DG said the next challenge would be how to work with education stakeholders to ensure safe reopening of the universities.

“Universities have proven to be slightly risky; it has its unique challenges but we are confident that we can address this as we have done in other sectors like aviation,” Ihekweazu stated.

THE Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has approved the promotion of 82,779 junior police officers to their next ranks.

This development was contained in a statement by the Force spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, titled ‘IGP promotes 82,779 junior officers.’

According to the statement the promotion of the officers was part of the efforts at boosting the morale of personnel and repositioning the police for greater efficiency.

The statement noted 56,779 Sergeants were promoted to Inspector, 17,569 Corporal to Sergeants and 8,431 Constables to Corporal
About 38 policemen were reportedly killed while many others were injured during the violence that rocked the country.

Those promoted on Monday also include 86 junior officers negatively impacted by the #EndSARS riots, 16 of whom got special posthumous promotion while 70 others injured during the violence arising from the protests were equally elevated.

The statement that announced the promotion read in part, “The IGP while congratulating the officers, charged them to see their promotion as a mark of additional responsibility and a call to rededicate themselves to their professional calling.

“He enjoined them to continue to carry out their duties diligently and in conformity with best practices and respect for the rights of the citizen. He noted that the promotion albeit, posthumously, of the officers who were killed by some ENDSARS protesters is a symbolic gesture in recognition of the ultimate price they paid in the service of the nation.”

The statement further said the IG also promised to work with all relevant agencies, organs of government and other stakeholders in driving a successful reform of the police for improved welfare and conditions of service “towards better service delivery to the people.”