BREAKING| MTN in fresh FIRS troubles, invesment committment falls by 67%

The Federal Inland Revenue Service has queried MTN Nigeria for deducting tax from the ₦330 billion fine it paid the NCC for SIM card infraction. The FIRS boss, Babatunde Fowler, who insisted that the telecommunication giant still has an issue to resolve despite “paying” the fine, said the company does not have the right to deduct tax from the money paid to the NCC. According to Fowler, the fines and penalties for regulatory infractions are revenues paid to the FG and should not be subjected to any tax deductions contrary to MTN’s position that the fine or penalty should be tax-deductible. The NCC had in October 2015, imposed a fine of ₦1.04 trillion on MTN for non-compliance with a deadline set by the commission to disconnect all unregistered SIM cards. The fine was later reduced to ₦780 billion, and then to was further reduced to ₦330 billion after MTN agreed to be listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange.

Petrol is expected to account for at least 53% of the Dangote Refinery’s total daily production, once the refinery begins operations. Aliko Dangote said that he looks forward to refining 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Going by this, the 53% daily production of petroleum translates to 344,500 barrels per day. Dangote spoke during a visit to the NNPC’s headquarters in Abuja. Work is ongoing to meet the 2020 date set for the start of Dangote Refinery production, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation said it had shipped a piece of vital equipment ‘atmospheric tower’, to be installed at the refinery. The NNPC’s four refineries have a production capacity of 445,000 bpd.

The Nigerian economy recorded a total investment commitment of $15.15 billion in various sectors of the economy between January and June 2019, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission has said. Data from the NIPC showed that the $15.15 billion proposed investments were made for 43 projects in 12 states and the FCT, a 67% decline compared to the $45.74 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2018. Mining and quarrying recorded investment announcements of $12.3 billion, reflecting 81% of the total investment proposals made. Manufacturing recorded $2.2 billion worth of investment proposals announced. Finance and insurance recorded $200 million investment proposals while information and communication recorded $200 million within the period under review. The records showed further that Morocco recorded investments commitments of $2.1 billion while Nigerian local investors made investment commitments of $1.3 billion. Investors from Malaysia made investment commitments of $0.9 billion, while other unnamed nations cumulatively made investment commitments of $3.5 billion.

Data from the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation showed that the country’s banking industry lost ₦15.15 billion to fraud and other related cases last year, an increase of 539 percent from the ₦2.37 billion lost in 2017. The total amount involved in fraud in the year under review stood at ₦38.93 billion compared to ₦12.01 billion in 2017. The NDIC said a total of 37,817 fraud cases were reported in 2018, compared to 26,182 in 2017. The increase was attributed to “the increase in the sophistication of fraud-related techniques such as hacking, cybercrime as well as an increase in IT-related products and usage, fraudulent withdrawals and unauthorised credit. Internet and technology-based sources of fraud have the highest frequency, accounting for 59.2% of fraud cases and 42.83% of the actual total loss suffered. Web-based fraud cases increased from 7,869 in 2017 to 12,343 in 2018. ATM/card-related fraud cases, however, declined from 16,397 in 2017 to 10,063 in 2018. The report noted the involvement of staff in fraud and forgery cases. 899 staff were involved in fraud and forgery cases in 2018 compared to 320 in 2017. The corporation also stated that it made a cumulative payment amounting to ₦116.258 billion to depositors, creditors and shareholders as of 31 December 2018.