Hon Amina Audu, the suspended chairman of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State who was abducted by armed herdsmen, has been freed.

Audu was on her way to Makurdi when she was abducted along with two others by gunmen and taken into the bush on the Makurdi – N’aka road on Monday.

It was gathered that she was released on Thursday evening in good health along with others and has since reunited with her family.

Efforts to confirm her release from the spokesperson of the Benue State Police Command, Catherine Anene, were not successful.

Aviation workers have threatened to shut down the sector if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu refuses to reconsider the implementation of 40 per cent Internal Generated Revenue remittance by aviation agencies to federal coffers.

On Thursday, Ben Nnabue, the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), made this known at the 11th Quadrennial National Delegates’ Conference in Benin, Edo State.

According to him, the 40 per cent deduction from the revenue of aviation agencies is unhealthy for the industry.

He stressed that no agency can survive the burden considering the level of expenditure.

He urged the President and the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to grant special waivers to agencies in the aviation sector.

“At the current revenue levels vis-à-vis expenditure levels, and recognising the high level of regulation in the industry, it is impossible for any agencies to sustain its operation under the present yoke of the Act.

“If the deductions continue, it is almost certain that the agencies will collapse, which will spell a heavy crisis for the national economy. Therefore, may I use this medium to appeal to President Bola Tinubu and the Hon. Minister of Finance to stop the double deductions and then grant special waivers to the aviation agencies without which the sector cannot perform their statutory duties. I sincerely hope this appeal will be heeded in the national interest,” he stated.

DAILY POST gathered that the policy aligns with Section 62 of the Finance Act 2020, which permits a 40 per cent auto deduction of federal agencies’ revenue to the Single Treasury Account, TSA.

The Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, has approved the lifting of the ban on the activities of the Zamfara Roads Traffic Agency (ZAROTA).

A statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Affairs, Lawal Hussein, on behalf of the Secretary to the State Government, Malam Abubakar Nakwada Gusau, indicated that the decision takes immediate effect.

The statement, therefore, urged members of the general public to be law-abiding and cooperate with the agency in the discharge of its constitutional duties to ensure safety on the road.

Recall that the same agency was disbanded by Governor Dauda Lawal as soon as he came on board.

President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to join other Heads of State and Government in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, on Thursday to celebrate the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary and Armed Forces Day.

A terse statement by Tinubu’s media aide, Ajuri Ngelale, noted that his principal, the President will arrive in Bissau on Thursday for the ceremony, which will be hosted by President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.

Recall that Guinea-Bissau marked its 50th Independence Anniversary on September 24, 2023, but the government had scheduled all celebrations for November 16, 2023.

Shortly after the event, Tinubu will return to Nigeria on Thursday.

Tinubu had been away from the country attending the Saudi-Africa summit, where he wooed investors to come to Nigeria for a guaranteed return on investment.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday launched an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of visas of 264 passengers aboard Air Peace airline from the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on November 13.

This followed the adoption of a motion jointly sponsored by Kama Nkemkanma (LP-Ebonyi) and three other lawmakers during plenary in Abuja.

In a motion, Mr Nkemkanma expressed displeasure over the development, while calling on the Federal Government to adopt the principle of reciprocity.

He said the House was informed that the Saudi Arabian authorities allegedly cancelled the visas of all the 264 passengers airlifted by one of Nigeria’s major carriers, Air Peace.

He said, “The House is aware that all the passengers went through the Advanced Passengers Pre-screening System, which was also monitored live by the Saudi Arabia authorities before the flight left Nigeria. The House is worried because according to sources at the Nigerian Embassy in Jeddah, even the Saudi immigration personnel could not locate who authorised the cancellation of the visas.’’

He added that this happened even when the APPS which was live between both countries was concluded and the airline was already airborne to Jeddah.He condemned the embarrassing act of the cancellation of visas of 264 Nigerians on arrival at Saudi Arabia by the country’s authorities.

Adopting the motion, the House urged the Federal Government to urgently take such diplomatic steps necessary to protect the nation’s image.

The House also urged the Federal Government to ensure the full implementation of the BASA, protect Nigerian national carriers flying into Saudi Arabia including protection of Nigerian travelling public.

The House, however, mandated the joint Committees on Foreign Affairs, Interior and Pilgrims Affairs to inquire into the immediate and remote circumstances surrounding the cancellation and to report back within two weeks

The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Wednesday urged the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Unions Congress to call off their two-day-old strike.

In a statement issued in Abuja by Mr Zakari Mijinyawa, Head, Strategic Communication, Office of the National Security Adviser, Ribadu also condemned the attack on the NLC President, Mr Joe Ajaero in Owerri, Imo State on November 1.

He said ONSA was concerned about the strike and worried about its implications on the livelihoods of Nigerians and its potential impact on economic, security and other strategic national interests.

Mr Ribadu noted that he immediately intervened on learning about Ajaero’s travails in Owerri as attested to by the NLC leadership.

“ONSA regrets the incident and condemns it entirely as it is against the rule of law and the principles of freedom of association and expression subscribed to by President Bola Tinubu and his administration. The Federal Government will never condone such act.

“Fallout of the incident was the directive given to relevant authorities to conduct thorough investigation and to bring culprits to book. Available updates indicate that some arrests have been made in this regard and the outcome of the investigation will be made public as soon as it is concluded.

“The Federal Government, through ONSA, therefore appeals to the labour leadership to call off the strike and allow dialogue already in progress to be exhausted,’’ Mr Ribadu said in the statement.

President Bola Tinubu, on Monday night, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, advanced negotiations concerning a multi-billion dollar infrastructure finance facility from the Islamic Development Bank to fund a multi-sectoral portfolio of infrastructure projects at the federal and sub-national levels in Nigeria.

This development was the outcome of substantive investment discussions held between President Tinubu and the Vice-President (Country Programs) of the Islamic Development Bank, Dr. Mansur Muhtar, after the President’s return from evening prayers.

“Nigeria is the candle of hope that will light the way for Africa. And once Africa is illuminated, the world will be a brighter place for all of humanity. We are determined to create a future for our gifted youths. Investments in Nigeria will be among the world’s most high-yielding.

Investor money will flow easily in and out of our country. Processes will be seamless. And your bank has always been a faithful partner in progress.

“We have serious deficits in port infrastructure, power infrastructure, and agro-allied facilities that will enable sustainable food security in our country.

These deficits present unrivalled opportunity for savvy investors in a market that is by far the largest on the continent. Yes, we had the vision to enable Lekki Deep Seaport before others saw it. We must be bold again.

“We inherited serious liabilities, but also assets from our predecessors. We do not make any excuses. There are several sectors replete with investment opportunity for smart investors. Access to finance and guarantees can be a hindrance in some cases. You can come in there. We see you as a critical enabler. You have partnered with us before. We want to scale it up now and do much more with greater ambition and clear vision,” the President stated.

Noting the historic essence of President Tinubu’s swift and decisive economic reforms, the Vice-President of the Islamic Development Bank said the financial world has been monitoring events in Nigeria and has concluded that Africa’s largest economy means business this time.

“Mr. President, we know you inherited a very tough set of circumstances. It is to your credit that you have taken very bold steps without delay. We are ready to work with you. We are ready to support big investments in Nigeria. We agree that if Nigeria succeeds, Africa succeeds. And the world needs Africa to succeed.

“The Islamic Development Bank President announced the provision of $50 billion U.S. Dollars of new investment for the African continent from the Arab Coordination Group (ACG). This was announced at the Saudi-Arab-African Economic Summit. As the largest market and the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria will certainly receive a significant share. We look forward to supporting Nigeria’s economic transformation,” the Islamic Development Bank Vice-President said.

The President concluded by thanking the Islamic Development Bank management while pledging the unwavering commitment of his administration to win investors’ trust and confidence, just as he did in Lagos State many years ago.

Members of the Nigerian delegation present at the meeting in Mecca were: Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State; Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State; Governor Umar Bago of Niger State; Minister of Budget & Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, and others.

Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni said his administration planned to spend the sum of N217,000,000,000 billion for the 2024 fiscal year.

Buni disclosed this while presenting the 2024 Appropriation and Finance Bills before the State House of Assembly on Tuesday.

Tagged the “BUDGET OF CONSOLIDATION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY”, Buni informed the lawmakers that N94,156,000,000 representing 43.39% of the budget is proposed as recurrent expenditure while N122,844,000,000 representing 56.61% is allocated to capital expenditure.

“The 2024 Budget is geared towards the completion of ongoing projects and funding of new ones.

“In the light of the financial constraints and our commitment to move the state forward, our budget for the year 2024 will prioritize key sectors and programmes that directly impact the lives of our citizens”, he said.

While highlighting the overall performance of the 2023 budget, the governor said it has achieved 58.2% success as of 30th September 2023, covering N94,859,528,492 for both recurrent and capital expenditures.

“Let me use this opportunity to especially commend and appreciate the leadership and entire members of the Yobe State House of Assembly for your support and cooperation.

“The cordial working relationship between the legislative and executive arms of government has no doubt contributed to the modest achievements recorded by this administration”, he said.

The 2024 Finance and Appropriation Bills have passed the first and second readings with the Speaker of the Assembly assuring to give the Bills speedy scrutiny and pass them into law before the end of December 2023.

Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa has won his second term bid after scoring 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 115,262 votes.

On Monday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer, Farouk Kuta, declared Mr Diri the duly elected governor after a fiercely contested battle with Mr Sylva, a former petroleum minister.

The incumbent governor won in six of the eight local government areas of the state, while Mr Sylva only clinched Brass and Nembe.

Mr Diri polled 24,675 votes in the highly-contested Southern Ijaw Local Government, a major local government thought to be a stronghold of the APC where Mr Sylva’s running mate, Maciver Joshua, is a native.

Mr Sylva, on his part, scored 18,174 votes in Southern Ijaw, promoting APC agents at the collation centre in Yenagoa to reject the results on the grounds of alleged manipulation.

The agents asserted that the party polled over 70,000 votes in the LG.

Property owners in Abuja should get ready to start paying taxes on their properties as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has approved a draft property tax regulation for the city.

It was gathered that the FCT-Internal Revenue Service had commenced the implementation of Capital Gains Tax in Abuja, as stipulated in the Capital Gains Tax Act 2004.

The CGT imposes a tax of 10 percent on the total amount of chargeable gains (after making allowable deductions from the computation of such gains) accruing to any person on the disposal of chargeable assets in a year of assessment.

The Executive Chairman, FCT-IRS, Haruna Abdullahi, who disclosed this to journalists in Abuja on Sunday, also stated that the capital city’s revenue service had been able to grow its Internally Generated Revenue to about N140bn.

Commenting on measures being put in place by the service to drive revenue for the FCT, Abdullahi said the minister had approved some key initiatives to achieve this.

He said, “In the last three weeks, the minister has approved some initiatives that are huge and will certainly change the dynamics in terms of the bottom line. Just the other day, we submitted a draft proposal to the minister for the FCT property tax regulation.

“The FCT-IRS Act empowers the minister to come up with a property tax regulation for the FCT. So we had a long conversation and we suggested it to the minister, and he asked us to come up with a draft regulation, which we did, and he has approved the initiative.

“So we have an inter-agency collaboration whereby we review it because the draft was just done by the FCT-IRS, but that’s not enough, you need other stakeholders. So he approved the initiative to go ahead and review the draft and then come back.

“Subsequently at the end of the day, he will sign the regulation and is gazetted and implemented. So that alone should tell you that there is a huge positive impact on the bottom line of the IGR in the city.”

He further pointed out that the minister also approved the full implementation of the Capital Gains Tax in Abuja, stressing that this would also increase the revenue targets of the FCT.

“Also, just recently we inaugurated another committee, we are now implementing the Capital Gains Tax law. Previously people just voluntarily go and pay, so there is very little payment in terms of capital gains tax.

“But now we have briefed the minister and he has approved the inter-agency collaboration and so we are now going to begin to implement the Capital Gains Tax fully.

“So you can imagine an FCT with a property tax, a fully implemented Capital Gains Tax, and then about a month ago there was a circular where the minister approved the implementation of Section 85 of the Personal Income Tax Act and Section 31 of the FCT IRS Act,” Abdullahi added.

The FCT-IRS boss noted that when he assumed office two years ago, “in my first meeting I told the staff that we cannot do much if we don’t implement Section 85, but it is a huge section that needs political support. And, of course, the minister came and he endorsed that.”

He explained that the impact of this would be huge, adding that “what that means is that all of us must have a tax clearance certificate. You must file your returns, you must get a tax clearance certificate.

“You cannot get a building permit, for before the development control unit can give you the permit to go ahead, you need to show that you are paying your tax and you have a TCC and it must be verifiable by the appropriate tax authority.”

Abdullahi stated that these three major initiatives, the implementation of Section 85 of Personal Income Tax and 31 of FCT-IRS Act 2015, implementation of Capital Gains Tax and then now the Property Tax regulation, “should take us to certainly above 50 to 60 percent of what we are doing at the moment. And that is a huge positive impact on the bottom line.”

On whether the service was facing challenges in terms of collecting taxes in the city, Abdullahi stated that revenue issues were political issues because the agency required the political will of the minister to overcome a lot of challenges.

“This is why I mention the fact that the minister has given us the required political support and that has lessened the burden. Other ones are general operational issues and lack of information in terms of clarity of what happens and what is supposed to happen.

“We face significant challenges from many stakeholders when you consider the kind of letters we receive here. But we try as much as possible to deal with them.

“However, now that the minister has come to show that revenue issues are in the forefront for him, all stakeholders in the city now see that the political will is there and have seen the direction of the administration and will not joke with it,” he stated.

Nigeria’s ruling party has overwhelmingly won the governorship election in the south-eastern Imo state amid a boycott by some voters.

Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress won with more than 540,000 votes – his closest rival had 71,500.

Some Imo residents were seen queuing to buy water rather than going to vote as a strike has cut supplies of drinking water and electricity.

Saturday’s elections in three states saw reports of violence and rigging.

The results of elections for the powerful position of governor in the southern, oil-producing state of Bayelsa state and the central state of Kogi are expected later on Sunday.

Under Nigeria’s federal system, governors control huge budgets – larger than those of some countries in West Africa.

However, there have been numerous reports that some of this money has been stolen. Some former governors have been prosecuted and jailed for misappropriation of funds and money laundering.

In Imo state, Samuel Anyanwu of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 71,500 votes, with the Labour Party’s Athan Nneji Achonu third on 64,000.

Some clashes were reported in Bayelsa state during voting on Saturday. An electoral official was abducted a day before the polls before being released.

In Kogi state, two people accused of trying to steal ballot boxes have reportedly been shot dead, while the electoral body says it’s investigating opposition allegations that the results had been written before voting had even started.

These elections are seen as a test of how much confidence people still have in the country’s electoral process after February’s presidential election results were challenged by the two main opposition candidates.

They had alleged irregularities and sought to have the results overturned in court.

But President Bola Tinubu’s election victory was upheld, with the judges saying the opposition had failed to present any evidence of rigging.

The Katsina government has banned large religious, social and other night gatherings.

The information commissioner, Bala Salisu-Zango, made the announcement in a statement on Saturday.

LThe commissioner said, “This ban includes large religious and social public gatherings with the exception of obligatory prayers.”

The commissioner, however, said permission must be obtained in the case of such gatherings during hours of the day.

“When it becomes necessary to hold the gathering, permission must be sought from a police divisional officer within the local government area where the gathering will take place.

“This announcement is in the best public interest and safety,” he said.The commissioner said that the ban took immediate effect.

Mr Salisu-Zango, therefore, urged the public to strictly comply with the directives, as violators would face the full wrath of the law.

Voting has commenced at Agbadu Bunu village in Kaba/Bunu Local Government Area in kogi state on Saturday.

Governorship election is taking place across polling units in the state.

President Bola Tinubu on Monday swore in three new ministers during the second Federal Executive Council held at the council chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The new cabinet members are Balarabe Lawal from Kaduna State as Minister of Environment, Jamila Bio-Ibrahim from Kwara, Minister of Youths and Ayodele Olawande from Ondo, Minister of State for Youths.

The ministers were the three nominated by Mr Tinubu to take charge of the newly created Ministry of Youths and a replacement for former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai.

The Ministry of Youth was formerly with the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development.

Mr El-Rufai was rejected during the Senate ministerial screening process when a member brought up a petition against him.

The council also observed a minute of silence for a former member of cabinet, Mobolaji Ajose-Adeogun, who died on July 1 at the age of 96.

He was appointed the FCT Minister in 1976 by the Murtala Mohammed military administration and served until 1979.

The Lagos State House of Assembly ad hoc committee has visited those whose buildings were demolished by the state task force in Mosafejo Oworonshoki community of the state.

The committee, led by its chairman, Nureni Akinsanya (Mushin I Constituency), visited the area for an on-the-spot assessment of the demolished buildings on Tuesday.

The other members of the committee included Lukmon Olumoh, Sanni Okanlawon, Kehinde Joesph and Obafemi Saheed.

The Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, last Thursday at plenary inaugurated an eight-man committee to investigate the demolition of buildings in Kosofe area by the state’s task force.

Mr Akinsanya said the committee was visiting the affected areas with a plea to the victims to maintain peace as the issue was being investigated by the assembly.He said:

“We are at the scene at the behest of the speaker who shares his pain and had asked the agency to stop the demolition with immediate effect.

“We are also at the scene to see the extent of the demolition and to know the number of victims that are involved in the exercise.”

He said the committee would invite officials of the community development committee (CDC) and the community development area (CDA) in the area.

Mr Akinsanya urged the affected victims to avail the committee with any information needed to help the investigation.

In their responses, the affected community confirmed that the agency stopped the demolition exercise after the order from the House of Assembly.

A resident of the community, Olarenwaju Olusegun, who spoke on behalf of the affected residents, thanked Mr Obasa and members for their swift response to the community’s plight.

He told the committee that the community would be glad if there was a provision for the children whose schools were also demolished.

He promised the committee that the community would continue to be law-abiding and peaceful.