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Ahmed made this known on Friday in Abuja at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance.

“In the light of the current economic situation, it is proposed that persons who earn minimum wage are exempted from paying PIT,” the minister said.

Ahmed explained that no new tax was introduced neither was there any tax increase in the bill.

The minister explained that the bill was to introduce reforms that would enable the country meet the current economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said that an amendment is being proposed to grant tax relief to companies that donated COVID-19 relief funds to government to encourage such in the future.

Ahmed said that the bill will streamline the application of incentive to banks that provided financing for primary agricultural produce.

According to her, the bill also seeks to clarify categories of agricultural businesses covered under the poorer incentive.

Ahmed said an amendment of the Company and Allied Matter Act was being proposed for the creation of an unclaimed dividend and unutilised bank balance trust fund.

She explained that dividend declared and unclaimed fund would be warehoused and owed as a perpetual debt to shareholders.

“It is proposed that such unclaimed dividend should be handed over to government as trustees in the fund created under the supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Dept Management Officer (DMO),” she said.

She said that Section 1 of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act will be altered to exempt small companies from paying tertiary education trust fund tax.

Ahmed said that an amendment of Section 33 of the Companies Income Tax Act has been proposed to reduce the minimum tax rate from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent of gross turnover of financial year ending in Dec. 31, 2021.

Also, she said that sections 8, 25, 26, 39, 50 and 69 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Act will be amended to give powers to the service to introduce technologies for tax collections and to punish staff that divulge taxpayers confidentiality.

She said that the bill will also alter the Capital Gains Tax Act to provide for tax exemption as compensation for loss of up to N10 million.

Declaring the hearing open, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said that the Finance Bill will determine amongst other things, the ability of the nation to fund the 2021 budget to meet the obligations of government.

He said it would determine the implementation of policies to build infrastructure, address the problem of insecurity, grow the economy, and provide jobs with living wage and lift families out of poverty.

“It is an important piece of legislation, deserving of thorough consideration, and reasoned debate by the parliament of the people, acting in the best interests of the people.

“We have a responsibility as legislators to meticulously review and examine every aspect of this Bill to ensure that we produce a legislative document that is clear in its objectives, thoughtful in the mandates it imposes and reflective of the best aspirations of all our citizens.

“This public hearing moves us closer to that laudable objective by providing an opportunity for citizens and legislators to jointly consider the contents of the Bill.

“It is expected that over the course of this public hearing, citizens will advance ideas and make recommendations that will improve the quality of the legislation and ensure the varied interests and considerations of all Nigerians are taken into view before final enactment into law of this essential legislation,” he said.

The Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Rep. James Faleke said that the creation of an inclusive, thriving and resilient economy for Nigerians and attainment of substantive reduction in the percentage of poor and unemployed Nigerians is a basic economic goal of the house.

He said that the Executive Arm of Government in the bid to properly reposition the economic fortune of the country, initiated the 2020 Finance Bill with a view to amending selected legislations.

“They include Capital Gain Tax Act as amended by the Finance Act 2019; Companies Income Tax Act as amended by the Finance Ad 2019 and Industrial Development (income Tax Relief) Act.

“Also, the Personal Income Tax, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment Etc.) Act, Customs and Excise Duties and Tariff etc. (Consolidated) Act.

“Other are Value Added Tax Act, Stamp Duties Act, Electronic Transaction Levy, Federal Inland Revenue Service ( Establishment) Act, Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority Act, Oil and Gas Export Processing Act, Crisis Intervention Act, Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund, Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, Fiscal Responsibility Act; and Public Procurement Act,” he said.

The rep said that the purpose of the amendments was to revitalise the economy, promote fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation and reform domestic tax laws to align with global standards among others.

“We hereby implore all the stakeholders and the general public to assist us by making the necessary inputs that will enable us pass this Bill in the interest of the nation’s economy and the generality of the Nigerian people,” he said. (NAN)

The Presidency in a statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on media and Publicity said he will not be forced to take any decision out of fear at a time Nigeria is battling with security challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"The Presidency responds to the recurring threats to the corporate existence of the country with factions giving specific timelines for the President to to do one thing or another or else, in their language, “the nation will break up.”

"This is to warn that such unpatriotic outbursts are both unhelpful and unwarranted as this government will not succumb to threats and take any decision out of pressure at a time when the nation’s full attention is needed to deal with the security challenges facing it at a time of the Covid-19 health crisis".

"Repeat: this administration will not take any decision against the interests of 200 million Nigerians, who are the President’s first responsibility under the constitution, out of fear or threats especially in this hour of health crisis".

"The President as an elected leader under this constitution will continue to work with patriotic Nigerians, through and in line with the Parliamentary processes to finding solutions to structural and other impediments to the growth and wellbeing of the nation and its people".

“Following concerns expressed about reporting of #endsars in Nigeria, the presidential Media team met with the BBC team to discuss the matter.

“We acknowledge that the BBC has reported extensively on all sides of this story. We are pleased that the BBC has heard our concerns,” he wrote.

https://twitter.com/GarShehu/status/1337411237689368576?s=20

The Presidential media team has met with the BBC team to discuss its reportage of the #EndSARS protest which climaxed on October 20 with the shooting of protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos, Igbere TV reports.

Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed has repeatedly commended BBC over its report of the protest. On the other hand, he criticised CNN, saying the broadcaster reported a one-sided story.

CNN insists it gathered that soldiers shot live bullets at protesters but the government and the military have denied it severally.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in a tweet on Wednesday said he was “disgusted” by foreign media coverage of the protest especially CNN and BBC.

Over the years Nigeria has been on the US watch-list for religious intolerance. I must say, this problem has always been with us, but perhaps it became accentuated with the divisive propensity of the Buhari administration. The blacklisting of Nigeria by the US for violations of religious freedom cannot be argued otherwise. The reasons given by America for its decision are germane – if considered dispassionately.

One of the reasons on which the US situated its action is tolerance for religious violence and support for egregious religious violations by the Buhari administration.

“The secretary and really the world have great concern about what’s taking place in Nigeria at this time, and a number of terrorist groups are organising and pushing into the country. We’re seeing a lot of religious-tinged violence taking place in that country and indeed in West Africa. It’s an area of growing concern about what’s happening, in particular the tension that’s taking place there between religious groups. And it’s often the religious affiliation is used to try to recruit and inspire violent acts,” Samuel Brownback, US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said.

“You’ve got expanded terrorist activities, you’ve got a lot of it associated around religious affiliations, and the government’s response has been minimal to not happening at all. A number of cases – there have not been criminal cases brought forward by the government. The terrorism continues to happen and grow, in some places unabated.’’

That the Buhari administration harbours religious zealots is indubitable. Bashir Ahmad, personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, did not cloak is religious zealotry and extremist complexion when he declared his support for death against blasphemy.

These are the words of an aide of Nigeria’s president which he wrote on Twitter: ‘’I can’t pretend or keep silent. I support the death penalty for BLASPHEMY. That’s my belief and I do not and will never support #saveKanonine.’’

It is clear that the government at the highest level is tepid about issues of religious extremism. The Buhari administration could well be peopled by sympathisers of extremism. We must not be hypocritical about the US blacklisting of our country. We are an extremist nation. One singer in Kano is still in the gulag for alleged blasphemy awaiting a tragic end. What has the Buhari administration done in the case of this singer despite the global outcry for his release? Nothing!

Yet, Lai Mohammed, minister of information, claims the government ‘’protects religious freedom jealously’’. Where is the freedom when people are threatened with death for allegedly going contrary to the religious grain? Where is the freedom when an actress, Rahama Sadau, who wore a beautiful dress in a photo shoot, was threatened with death for alleged blasphemy for simply wearing a nice-looking dress? This actress was even reported to the police. How tragic! Where is the freedom when Hisbah, the religious police in Kano, go from house to house looking for sinners; arresting people in hotels and destroying alcoholic drinks? Where is the freedom when a religious law subsists in a country that touts itself as secular?

Let us cut out the bull-crap and face up to the truth. We are an extremist nation. We create the environment for extremists to rise and thrive; a system where a law within the law allows death for blasphemy will fecund extremism. Those holding up death for blasphemy are only pushing the agenda of Boko Haram. How are they different?

The US also cited the government’s vapid response to issues of religious violence, particularly as regards Boko Haram as one of its reasons for giving Nigeria the hammer. Let us chew on this fact. Is the Buhari administration’s decision to rehabilitate and release terrorists into the civil population while an insurgency is still raging not a declaration of sympathy for them and other religious extremists? The government put an extremist label on itself by this deliberate effort.

Let me make it clear, religious extremists abound in Christianity as well. Why we are not having violent fundamentalism is because one pastor, general overseer or bishop has not given his adherents their marching orders. We could, perhaps, have a bigger problem in our hands when Christian fundamentalists bear firearms. So, extremism is not limited to one religion.

Nigeria is an extremist nation. It incubates and nurtures extremists – both Christians and Muslims.

​Today, I announce the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the situation in Nigeria.

As I stated last year at the annual Assembly of States Parties, before I end my term as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or the "Court"wink, I intend to reach determinations on all files that have been under preliminary examination under my tenure, as far as I am able. In that statement, I also indicated the high likelihood that several preliminary examinations would progress to the investigative stage. Following a thorough process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria have been met.

Specifically, my Office has concluded that there is a reasonable basis to believe that members of Boko Haram and its splinter groups have committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder; rape, sexual slavery, including forced pregnancy and forced marriage; enslavement; torture; cruel treatment; outrages upon personal dignity; taking of hostages; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance; intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to education and to places of worship and similar institutions; conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed groups and using them to participate actively in hostilities; persecution on gender and religious grounds; and other inhumane acts.

While my Office recognises that the vast majority of criminality within the situation is attributable to non-state actors, we have also found a reasonable basis to believe that members of the Nigerian Security Forces ("NSF"wink have committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder, rape, torture, and cruel treatment; enforced disappearance; forcible transfer of population; outrages upon personal dignity; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such and against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; unlawful imprisonment; conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces and using them to participate actively in hostilities; persecution on gender and political grounds; and other inhumane acts.

These allegations are also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by my Office, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. My Office will provide further details in our forthcoming annual Report on Preliminary Examination Activities.

The preliminary examination has been lengthy not because of the findings on crimes – indeed, as early as 2013, the Office announced its findings on crimes in Nigeria, which have been updated regularly since. The duration of the preliminary examination, open since 2010, was due to the priority given by my Office in supporting the Nigerian authorities in investigating and prosecuting these crimes domestically.

It has always been my conviction that the goals of the Rome Statute are best served by States executing their own primary responsibility to ensure accountability at the national level. I have repeatedly stressed my aspiration for the ability of the Nigerian judicial system to address these alleged crimes. We have engaged in multiple missions to Nigeria to support national efforts, shared our own assessments, and invited the authorities to act. We have seen some efforts made by the prosecuting authorities in Nigeria to hold members of Boko Haram to account in recent years, primarily against low-level captured fighters for membership in a terrorist organisation. The military authorities have also informed me that they have examined, and dismissed, allegations against their own troops.

I have given ample time for these proceedings to progress, bearing in mind the overarching requirements of partnership and vigilance that must guide our approach to complementarity. However, our assessment is that none of these proceedings relate, even indirectly, to the forms of conduct or categories of persons that would likely form the focus of my investigations. And while this does not foreclose the possibility for the authorities to conduct relevant and genuine proceedings, it does mean that, as things stand, the requirements under the Statute are met for my Office to proceed.

Moving forward, the next step will be to request authorisation from the Judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court to open investigations. The Office faces a situation where several preliminary examinations have reached or are approaching the same stage, at a time when we remain gripped by operational challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, on the one hand, and by the limitations of our operational capacity due to overextended resources, on the other. This is also occurring in the context of the pressures the pandemic is placing on the global economy. Against this backdrop, in the immediate period ahead, we will need to take several strategic and operational decisions on the prioritisation of the Office's workload, which also duly take into account the legitimate expectations of victims and affected communities as well as other stakeholders. This is a matter that I will also discuss with the incoming Prosecutor, once elected, as part of the transition discussions I intend to have. In the interim, my Office will continue to take the necessary measures to ensure the integrity of future investigations in relation to the situation in Nigeria.

The predicament we are confronted with due to capacity constraints underscores the clear mismatch between the resources afforded to my Office and the ever growing demands placed upon it. It is a situation that requires not only prioritization on behalf of the Office, to which we remain firmly committed, but also open and frank discussions with the Assembly of States Parties, and other stakeholders of the Rome Statute system, on the real resource needs of my Office in order to effectively execute its statutory mandate.

As we move towards the next steps concerning the situation in Nigeria, I count on the full support of the Nigerian authorities, as well as of the Assembly of States Parties more generally, on whose support the Court ultimately depends. And as we look ahead to future investigations in the independent and impartial exercise of our mandate, I also look forward to a constructive and collaborative exchange with the Government of Nigeria to determine how justice may best be served under the shared framework of complementary domestic and international action.

The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC conducts independent and impartial preliminary examinations, investigations and prosecutions of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Since 2003, the Office has been conducting investigations in multiple situations within the ICC's jurisdiction, namely in Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur, Sudan; the Central African Republic (two distinct situations); Kenya; Libya; Côte d'Ivoire; Mali; Georgia, Burundi Bangladesh/Myanmar and Afghanistan (subject to a pending article 18 deferral request). The Office is also currently conducting preliminary examinations relating to the situations in Bolivia; Colombia; Guinea; the Philippines; Ukraine; and Venezuela (I and II), while the situation in Palestine is pending a judicial ruling.

The Police said the mace was recovered at Abule Ado Area of the state at about 8.30am.

A statement from the spokesman of Nigeria Police in Lagos Olumyiwa Adejobi, a Superintendent of Police, said the operatives of the force , who were responsive, worked on intelligence from the members of the community that someone in a moving vehicle, suspected to be Toyota Siena Space Wagon, threw out an object into the nearby bush and recovered the object which was later identified to be the Ogun State House of Assembly Mace.

He said the mace had been allegedly stolen from the House of Assembly complex , Ogun State recently. It has been handed over to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu, who later instructed the DCP State CID, Lagos State, Yetunde Longe, to protect the mace and liaise with the Ogun State Police Command on the return of the recovered mace to Ogun State.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu however promised to assist the Ogun State Police Command in the investigation into the incident that led to the recovery of the mace.