Author: darelasisi@gmail.com

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has launched a national intelligence gathering system to gather data and track all tax evaders and defaulters, with a view to bringing them all to book and make them pay their fair share of taxes to the country. The Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami, revealed this on Wednesday in Abuja during an inter-agency collaborative visit to the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owansanoye. Mr. Nami also disclosed that the Service is restructuring and revamping its system to enable it to meet…

The Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs has given recognition to the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) headed by Dr Joy Nunieh. The committee also threw its weight behind the ongoing forensic auditing of accounts of the agency by the executive arm of government . The executive had earlier discontinued with the plan to inaugurate the 15 member board of the commission screened by the Senate in Nov. 2019. But the Senate, in December 2019, ordered its committee to accord recognition to the approved board members and not the interim management committee. President Muhammadu…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday presided over the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the 33rd Ordinary Session of Presidents and Governments of the African Union. The President is, however, expected back in the country today. The meeting was heralded by the National Anthem, the Christian and Muslim prayers. Afterward, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, with the permission of the vice president, called for a minute of silence in honour of those killed in the latest Boko Haram attack…

A Midnight fire outbreak on Wednesday destroyed some shops at the Mogadishu Cantonment Mammy Market at Asokoro in Abuja. A statement by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Army Headquarters Garrison, Col. Omale Ochagwuba, said the fire affected only a few make-shift shops in the market. Ochagwuba said that the fire, which started at about 4 a.m on Wednesday morning, immediately triggered a fire alarm in the cantonment. According to him, the cantonment community raced to the scene to fight the fire before Fire Service arrived at the scene. He said that the combined efforts of fire services of the…

The Oyo State High Court in Ibadan, on Wednesday fixed Feb, 21, for a report on the out-of-court settlement or hearing in a suit instituted by the Oyo State Government against the sacked 33 Local Government Chairmen and 35 LCDA in the state. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Oyo State government instituted the case to prevent the chairmen from returning to their offices as ordered by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF). The respondents in the suit are the AGF, Inspector-General of Police,Oyo State Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON),Mr Abass Alesinloye and…

Access Bank Plc has unveiled a series of deals and exciting offers to celebrate its customers in the Valentine season in a campaign tagged “It’s a Love Thing”. Mr Victor Etuokwu, the bank’s Executive Director, Retail Banking, said in Lagos on Wednesday that the campaign, the fourth in the series, had kicked-off on Feb.11 and would last until Feb. 29. “Valentine season is another opportunity to show love to our customers by rewarding their loyalty and enabling them to achieve their valentine’s wishes. “We are using this opportunity to thank our customers for their loyalty to Access Bank. “We are…

Alhaji Jamilu Gwamna, the Managing Director, Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), has described illegal connection and meter bypass as the major challenges bedeviling the operation of the company in its franchise areas of Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa. This is contained in a statement signed by Ibrahim Sani-Shawai, the Head, Corporate Communications of the company, and issued to newsmen in Kano on Wednesday. According to him, the analysis of events within the Kano franchise areas by the company’s field officers had seen these constraints causing serious economic losses to the company and the country at large. Gwamna said: “As a company,…

ABUJA – The Association of Senior Staff Union of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) rose from its annual congress in Abuja and embarked on a solidarity rally around the city in support of the management of the agency, which is commended for delivering on its objectives. According to a statement by Comrade Ibrahim Sumaila on behalf of Congress, the new Caretaker Chairman, Comrade Yinka Agaba said that the workers are pleased and impressed with the efforts of the Director-General, Engr. Mustapha Maihaja and other stakeholders of the agency in the restoration of lasting peace and sanity to the Northeast…

The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has raised alarm over the contamination of local rice with stones by fraudulent characters in the sector. The group’s Deputy National President, Mr Segun Atho, raised the alarm in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos. Atho said that in a bid to discredit the quality of locally processed rice and fuel the smuggling of imported and expired rice, these impostors add stones to local rice that they buy and then resell to the public. “In terms of eradicating stones from our local rice, we are gradually…

The Government of Oyo State declared on Tuesday that members of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) were deliberately frustrating the planned out-of-court settlement of the crisis rocking local governments in the state. Special Counsel to the State Governor, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), who spoke on the stance of ALGON members in a statement on Tuesday, said that the sacked chairmen wrongly latched onto a script by the Attorney General of the Federation, which he said lacks foundation in law. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the Special Counsel…