Sick nation ! Sick leaders !! Presidency fails to remit PAYE, VAT to FIRS

Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of executive power, failed to remit taxes, such as pay as you earn (PAYE), value added tax (VAT) and withholding tax (WHT), to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in 2016 — despite deducting at source.

The two chambers of the national assembly also failed to remit these taxes same year.

These revelations are contained in the just-released 2016 annual report of the auditor-general of the federation obtained by TheCable.

The auditor-general said State House headquarters did not remit N253,194,782.74 in taxes, while State House operations (president) withheld N10,500,471.26 and State House operations (vice president) N7,497,570.93.

A total of 109 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) — including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) — failed to remit taxes to the appropriate agencies during the audited period, according to the report signed by AM Ayine, the auditor-general of the federation.

Also named as defaulters are teaching hospitals, national parks, federal government colleges, polytechnics, universities, federal ministry of justice, office of the head of civil service of the federation, Nigerian Prison Service, Nigerian Television Authority and National Emergency Management Agency.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TOO

On the house of representatives, the auditor-general wrote: “Pay As You Earn (PAYE) deductions from staff salaries totalling N821,564,296.48 (Eight hundred and twenty-one million, five hundred and sixty-four thousand, two hundred and ninety-six naira, forty-eight kobo), were claimed to have been remitted to the tax authorities, but receipts for the remittances were not produced for audit verification in contravention of Financial Regulation 235 which states that “Deductions for WHT, VAT and PAYE shall be remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service at the same time the payee who is the subject of the deduction is paid.

“The Clerk to the National Assembly should produce the receipts confirming the remittance of the sum of N821,564,296.48 to the Federal Inland Revenue Service for verification. (b) Contrary to the provisions of Financial Regulations 1404(i) and 1405 which require Accounting Officers to provide adequate Advances records and to ensure that officers granted advances retire them promptly, advances granted to officers of the House of Representatives totalling N254,059,513.70 (Two hundred and fifty-four million, fifty-nine thousand, five hundred and thirteen naira, seventy kobo) for procurement of goods and services between January and December, 2016 remained unretired as at the time of examination in June 2017.

“The Clerk to the National Assembly should recover the whole sum of N254,059,513.70 from the defaulting officers and forward recovery particulars for Verification.”

On the senate, he wrote: “Withholding and Value Added Taxes totalling N118,625,057.48 (One hundred and eighteen million, six hundred and twenty-five thousand, fifty-seven naira, forty-eight kobo), which were purportedly remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, were not acknowledged with revenue receipts.

“The Clerk to the National Assembly was requested to recover the whole sum from the defaulting officers and furnish recovery particulars for verification. (b) Withholding and Value Added Taxes totalling N118,625,057.48 (One hundred and eighteen million, six hundred and twenty-five thousand, fifty-seven naira, forty-eight kobo), which were purportedly remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, were not acknowledged with revenue receipts. The Clerk to the National Assembly should produce the receipts from the Tax Authorities for verification.”

The federal government has been cracking down on tax defaulters recently 2015 but recently declared limited amnesty through VAIDS.

The auditor-general is required by Section 85 (5) of the constitution to submit the report on the audit of the accountant-general’s financial statements to the national assembly within 90 days of receipt of the statements from the accountant-general.

In the executive summary, Ayine wrote: “The Financial Statements of the Federal Government for the year ended 31st December, 2016 were first submitted to me by the Accountant-General of the Federation on 30th June, 2017. Following my preliminary observations, the Statements were significantly amended and resubmitted on 29th September,  2017.  Further  amendments to the Financial Statements led to another re-submission on 29th December, 2017 and 16th January, 2018 before the final version was eventually submitted on 20th March, 2018,” he said.

UNREMITTED TAXES AND OTHER DEDUCTIONS

Source : TheCable

Taraba community: We’ve lost 62 persons to Fulani herdsmen attack

The Yandang Community in Taraba state on Wednesday said the killing of six Yandang traders at Iware market square, a Jalingo suburb, on Tuesday, has brought the total number of its natives killed by herdsmen to sixty two, only from last Sunday.

Six Yandangs, already displaced by Fulani herdsmen hostilities in Lau local government area, were hacked to death when they brought cows to Iware market to sell and alleviate their sufferings in an IDP camp.

They were trailed and brutally massacred by Fulani marauders who alleged the cows were stolen ones.

Leader of the Yandang ethnic group, Alfred Kobbiba, who condemned the attack and killing, said the victims were not cattle rustlers.

Kobbiba, a Special Adviser to Governor Darius Ishaku on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), said they were demanding justice over the dastardly act.

He briefed reporters in Jalingo while crying to security agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.

Kobbiba said: “The brutal killing of six of our people at Iware cattle market is most unfortunate. We are saddened.

“All the six people killed on Tuesday in Iware cattle market are well known to me and I can attest of their good character.

“The cows they brought to the market for sale were their personal cows. Our people are in the business of cattle rearing too, contrary to the claims of the attackers.

“Five of those killed are Yandang people from Mayo Lope while one is from a neighbouring village.

“We strongly suspect that the killing is a continuation of the violence by Fulani herdsmen already going on in Lau,” he said.

“If the cows were really stolen from them, why didn’t they report the matter for their cows to be returned? Instead they killed the people and disappeared.”

The Yandang people alleged that the Fulani herders have sacked several communities in Lau local government area and are now grazing freely in their crop farms.

They called on the federal and state governments to address the matter, adding: “the situation has now posed a serious danger, as food insecurity looms.”

Their leader (Kobbiba) disclosed that many, injured in the market attack, were receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre in Jalingo.

A security meeting was yesterday held by Governor Darius Ishaku and the commissioner of police on how to “trace the killers.”

Governor Ishaku told The Nation that “cow theft is a criminal act that will not be condoned but is not enough reason to kill anyone.” - The Nation

23-year-old man remanded for allegedly raping 4-year-old girl

An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Wednesday remanded one Folarin Dauda,  at the Kirikiri Prison, Apapa for allegedly defiling a four-year-old girl.

Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi, the Magistrate, refused to take the plea of the accused and ordered that the accused should be kept behind bars, pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP.

Dauda, whose address was not provided, is facing a charge of defilement.

ASP Ezekiel Ayorinde, the Police Prosecutor told the court that the accused committed the offence on July 2, at Ago Palace Way, Lagos.

Ayorinde said that the accused raped the girl at her parents’ house when he went to fix an electrical fault at the compound.

“The girl was riding her bicycle when the accused called her inside, took her to a room and had sex with her.”

“She told her mother what the accused had done to her and her mother reported the case at the police station and the accused was arrested,’’ he said

.The case was adjourned until Aug. 6 for mention. 

The prosecutor added that the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015(Revised).

Ayorinde added that the section prescribes life imprisonment for convicted offenders.

Mourinho's pre-season fears mount with Sanchez sidelined due to visa issues

Alexis Sanchez could join several Manchester United stars sidelined during an interrupted pre-season which Jose Mourinho fears will have a lasting effect.

United hoped Sanchez would be one of few experienced forwards on their tour of the United States but the Chile star has been denied a visa after accepting a suspended sentence for tax fraud in Spain earlier this year.

His absence leaves Mourinho with just Anthony Martial and Juan Mata to choose from in attack as Romelu Lukaku, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford remain on holiday after their lengthy World Cup campaigns.

David de Gea, Nemanja Matic and new signing Fred are expected to link up with the squad next week, prior to the first of three International Champions Cup clashes.

"It is really bad. It is really sad, it is not good for us," Mourinho said of Sanchez's situation. "It's not good for anyone, for the team, it's not good for the organisation of the International Champions Cup.

"It's not good for anyone but there is no one to blame. I know the club is making the effort. I have to respect the US authorities in their process of selection for visas.

"Hopefully he will come to join us later because it would be important to at least work with Alexis, Mata and Martial, who are the players I think we have in attack for the start of the season.

"No Lukaku, no Lingard, no Marcus Rashford.

"So if Alexis is not working with us for another 15 to 20 days that will be bad."

United's first pre-season outing sees them meet Club America in Arizona on Thursday, just three weeks before their opening Premier League fixture against Leicester City.

Mourinho bemoaned the preparation "as very bad" despite the enforced opportunities that will be provided to young players.

"They have the chance to know what it is like to be a Manchester United first-team player and to have the chance to play against fantastic teams - Liverpool, Milan, Real Madrid," he said.

"But everything is really bad and then we go to the UK and have to play in the Premier League.

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"The Premier League and broadcasters, they were not nice to us by giving us the Friday match [against Leicester]. That complicates things. I would lie if I said I am not worried about it, but it is what it is." - Goal

Transfer news ; Chelsea set to meet with Rugani's agent

Chelsea are set to meet with the agent of Juventus central defender Daniele Rugani.

According to Italian journalist Romeo Agresti, Chelsea are set to meet with Rugani’s agent on Wednesday night.

Chelsea have been heavily linked with a move for Rugani throughout the summer, and had reportedly agreed a €40m deal with Juventus last week.

That appears to be wide of the mark, though, with Chelsea still in talks over a deal for the defender.

Rugani has been capped seven times by Italy, and made 22 appearances in the Serie A for Juventus last season.

The 23-year-old is one of Maurizio Sarri’s top transfer targets ahead of next season, with three weeks until the window slams shut. - Read Sport

The items which could soon be banned from your hand luggage at the airport

Just as you get your head around what you can and cannot carry in your hand luggage, the playing field is about to change again.

GetWestLondon has reported that that everyday, powder-based items such as baby powder, coffee, powder cosmetics, spices and even protein mixes could be restricted to no more than 340 grams. 
Similar powder restrictions have already been introduced in Australia, New Zealand and America.

As to why this is potentially being introduced, a spokesperson for the Department of Transport told The Independent: "The safety and security of the public is our top priority, and the UK has some of the most robust aviation security measures in the world.
“It is for each country to determine its own security measures based on its own assessments. We work closely with all our international partners to keep aviation security under constant review, but for obvious reasons we do not comment on specifics.”

Understandably there is some concern that this will again slow down the security process, as the hand luggage checks are already quite slow and thorough.

The restrictions on liquids in your hand luggage, according to gov.uk :

The liquids you can take in your hand luggage include:

• all drinks, including water
• liquid or semi-liquid foods, for example soup, jam, honey and syrups
• cosmetics and toiletries, including creams, lotions, oils, perfumes, mascara and lip gloss
• sprays, including shaving foam, hairspray and spray deodorants
• pastes, including toothpaste
• gels, including hair and shower gel
• contact lens solution
• any other solutions and items of similar consistency

If you take liquids in your hand luggage:

• containers must hold no more than 100ml
• containers must be in a single, transparent, resealable plastic bag, which holds no more than a litre and measures approximately 20cm x 20cm
• contents must fit comfortably inside the bag so it can be sealed
• the bag must not be knotted or tied at the top
• you are limited to one plastic bag per person
• you must show the bag at the airport security point

- Manchester Evening

Trump says he accepts Russia meddled in election, but still muddies waters

Donald Trump sought to reverse course on Tuesday, after top Republicans scrambled to distance themselves from his behavior in his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. 

Even then, Trump could not resist muddying the waters further. Speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, the president stated that he accepted the assessment of US intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election – and then, moments later, cast doubt on who was responsible.

“Let me be totally clear in saying that … I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump said, reading from a prepared script. He then added: “It could be other people also. There’s a lot of people out there.”

On Monday, Trump met Putin with only interpreters in attendance for two hours then held a press briefing in which he sided with the Kremlin and against US intelligence services.

Back on US soil, Trump claimed the fury that greeted his display was the result of a misspoken word. Citing the transcript of his remarks, Trump said his assertion that he did not see “any reason why it would be Russia” behind election inference should have been: “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.”

“So you can put that in,” he said.

Trump said much more in Helsinki. Standing beside Putin, he said: “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” He also repeated conspiracist-tinged complaints about a Democratic National Committee server and the FBI.

On Tuesday, Trump had made handwritten notes to his script. According to a copy shared by a CNN reporter, these included a misspelling: “There was no colusion”.

 Trump also said his decision to meet Putin as the result of “the firm conviction that diplomacy and engagement is better than hostility and conflict”.

Before Trump spoke, Republicans struggled to defend him on Capitol Hill. House speaker Paul Ryan told reporters: “They did interfere in our elections. It’s really clear. They should be no doubt about that. Russia is trying to undermine democracy itself.

“I understand the desire and the need to have good relations. That’s perfectly reasonable. But Russia is a menacing government that does not share our interests and it does not share our values.”

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said: “The Russians need to understand there are a lot of us who really understand what happened in 2016 and it really better not happen again in 2018.”

Concrete legal or political action, however, was conspicuous by its absence.

Asked if he agreed with former CIA director John Brennan’s characterization of the president’s actions as “treasonous”, Ryan said: “I do not.”

In Helsinki, Trump recorded two interviews with supportive Fox News hosts. Sean Hannity’s interview went out on Monday night. In excerpts of the Tucker Carlson interview publicised by Fox before its broadcast on Tuesday night, Trump lashed out at Brennan, who led the CIA under Barack Obama.

“I think Brennan is a very bad guy and if you look at it a lot of things happened under his watch,” Trump said. “I think he’s a very bad person.”

He also said the FBI agent Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, former FBI director James Comey and former deputy director Andrew McCabe, all targets of Republican fire over the Russia investigation, were “bad people, and they’re being exposed for what they are”.

Democratic leaders escalated their criticism of Trump and insisted any response from Republicans would be insufficient without an attempt to hold him accountable. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said secretary of state Mike Pompeo and other members of the national security team who travelled to Finland should testify before Congress.

“The debasement of American interests before a foreign adversary demands a response,” the New Yorker said on the Senate floor. “Our Republican colleagues cannot just go, ‘Tsk, tsk, tsk.’ They must act if they want to help America.”

Schumer’s request was denied by John Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican, who said: “There have been a lot of hearings.”

Cornyn told reporters he thought new sanctions might pass, saying: “We could find common ground to turn the screws on Russia.”

 McConnell said there was a “possibility” for the Senate to take up bipartisan legislation that would levy further sanctions if Russia meddled in future elections. The bill, sponsored by Marco Rubio of Florida and Chris van Hollen of Maryland, would require the implementation of penalties within 10 days if the director of national intelligence determined interference took place.

McConnell was also pressed on whether Republicans had faith in Trump’s approach to Nato and Russia. “I’m not here to critique anyone else,” he said. “I’m here to speak for myself.”

Neither Ryan nor McConnell joined calls for Congress to pass bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference and links between Trump aides and Moscow. From the podium in Helsinki, Trump repeatedly denied collusion.

“I’ve been clear from day one,” Ryan said. “[Mueller] should be allowed to finish his investigation and carry out his work. Nothing’s changed.”

Some Republicans did concede it was time to send a clear message to Trump. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, told reporters one appropriate course of action would be to pass legislation limiting presidential authority on trade tariffs. A measure approved last week was entirely symbolic.

“It feels like the dam is breaking,” Corker said. But when asked if the Trump-Putin summit marked an actual turning point in US politics, he said he was “not sure”. - The Guardian 

Nigeria has the highest number of unvaccinated children in the world - WHO

Nigeria has the highest number of unvaccinated children in the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In a report released on Monday, the organisation said a total of 19.9 million children miss vaccination yearly.

It said 4 million children in this category are Nigerians.

The major disadvantage of not being vaccinated is high susceptibility to a disease outbreak. The unvaccinated fellow’s immune system is unable to identify and neutralise the disease causing agent virus or bacteria.

The report said 60 percent of unvaccinated children are typically based in 10 countries.

With 2.9 million, India comes next to Nigeria, followed by Pakistan with 1.3 million, Indonesia (1 million) and Iraq (450,000).

The other African countries named in the report are Ethiopia with 850,000  Democratic Republic of Congo (600,000), Angola (560,000) and South Africa (390,000).

Last month, Nigeria overtook India as the country with the highest number of poor individuals.

According to Brookings Institute, a century-old American research group, 87 million people out of 198 million Nigerians live in poverty.

The Nigerian government had discarded the World Poverty Report on the grounds that the indicators used were obtained when it was in recession. - TheCable

Analysis: Does Putin have something on Trump?

There was a time when the Steele dossier's alleged, lewd tape of Donald Trump in a Moscow hotel room was Something We Didn't Talk About. Then James B. Comey made it not-so-taboo.

Now the broader idea that Russia has compromising information, or kompromat, on Trump has moved even more to the forefront. And it's all thanks to Trump's decision to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and then practically bow to him.

The thing about Trump's posture toward Putin isn't just that it's highly controversial and questionable given Russia's 2016 election interference; it's also totally counter to Trump's brand. This is the guy who wrote the “Art of the Deal” and, just days before his meeting with Putin, was wrecking shop at a NATO summit in hopes of getting fellow members to kick in more for the common defense.

Even as he has oscillated from being extremely tough on and extremely friendly toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has almost always been deferential to Putin. And that was certainly the case Monday.

By the end of the day, both Trump and Putin had been asked about the idea that Russia may be blackmailing Trump (Putin addressed it twice, in fact), and two Democratic senators, including Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), had suggested Putin had something on Trump. Once wary of looking too conspiratorial, they just went for it.

“Millions of Americans will continue to wonder if the only possible explanation for this dangerous and inexplicable behavior is the possibility — the very real possibility — that President Putin holds damaging information over President Trump,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) went even further, saying it was “likely” that Russia had something on Trump.

“I think it's likely,” Merkley told BuzzFeed News. He added: “It's the standard strategy of Russia when people visit there who are important, to try to get compromising information on them, to set them up with hookers, to tape everything that goes on in their room. So it's likely that they have that.”

Yep, a United States senator is now talking openly about a United States president having been blackmailed using, in his own words, “hookers.” Charlie Dent, the recently retired Republican congressman, also voiced his suspicion about it on Tuesday morning on CNN.

Putin and Trump, for their parts, offered similar talking points to rebut the idea that Putin is pulling Trump's strings. After not appearing to totally deny that he had something on Trump during their news conference, Putin offered a flatter denial to Fox News's Chris Wallace, saying Trump was of no interest to him given he hadn't launched his political career when he was in Moscow in 2013.

“We don't have anything on them, and there can't be anything on them. I don't want to insult President Trump when I say this — and I may come [off] as rude — but before he announced that he will run for presidency, he was of no interest for us,” Putin said, according to Fox's translation. “He was a rich person but, well, there's plenty of rich persons in the United States. He was in the construction business. He organized the beauty pageants.

“It sounds like it's utter nonsense.”

Trump echoed that in an interview with Fox's Sean Hannity.

“I guess he said as strongly as you can say it, 'They have no information on Trump,'" Trump said, yet again apparently taking a former KGB officer at his word. “It was an interesting statement, too. You know, many years ago when I was there — what was it, '13 — a long time ago, he said there were many, many business people there. In all fairness, I was a very successful businessman, but I was one of a lot of people. And one thing you know if they had it, it would have been out. And so, he said it's nonsense.”

Exactly why Trump acts this way toward Putin is anybody's guess. One possible reason is that he truly admires the strongman and wants to be his friend. Another is that this is all a troll — a massive, obstinate overreaction to the narrative that Russia interfered in the election (and maybe elected Trump). Trump is known to do pretty much the opposite of what everyone urges him to do, and pretty much everyone, including his own party, has urged him to get tough on Putin.

But this is also a topic that Trump, according to Comey, hates. Comey said Trump asked him to investigate and disprove the lewd tape allegation. Comey wrote that it “bothered him if there was ‘even a 1 percent chance’ his wife, Melania, thought it was true.”

If Trump truly wanted to combat this story line, it would seem rather easy. Instead, he insists upon holding a private, two-hour meeting with Putin and repeatedly declining to press him on the 2016 election. Then he practically defends Putin in public, with the whole world watching.

It's becoming a topic that's more difficult to ignore. And even if Putin actually has nothing on Trump, it completely plays into his goal of destabilizing the United States and the West. The more chatter there is about an American president being compromised, the better for him. - The Washington Post

India arrests two Nigerians for forgery

Indian security officials have arrested two Nigerians in the India-Nepal border town of Raxaul, Bihar for allegedly forging the documents used in entering the country.

According to DNA India, they were arrested by Raxaul Immigration Department in East Champaran district.
The Nigerians were also accused of having ties with ISI, Pakistani security agency.

The broadsheet newspaper, which quoted security sources, said “a book on hacking, some documents revealing their link to Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, USB pen drive and other suspicious documents were recovered from the suspects.”
The pen drive was said to contain information on international banking transactions.
The unnamed suspects reportedly told security agencies during interrogation that they were footballers heading to Kolkata via Kathmandu, in Nepal.

However, their passports had stamps of arrival at Delhi airport which were found to be fake.
“Security agencies suspect that the stamp of Delhi arrival was put to mislead authorities as they had no Indian visa. They tried to enter the country via Raxaul border and were luckily caught by the authorities,” the report read.
Bilateral relations between India and Pakistan have worsened in recent times following several terrorist attacks in India. - TheCable