HammerTimes News Online

Tag: Grants

  • NIPC grants tax exemption to 34 coys in 2023 to promote investment

     

    The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said it granted three years tax exemption to 34 companies in 2023.

    Mrs Lovina Kayode, Head of Incentives Administration, NIPC, told newsmen in Abuja that the exemption was to promote the company’s investments and to grow the nation’s economy.

    “This tax exemption known as Pioneer Status Incentives (PSI) is executed under the Investors Relations Department of the NIPC and allows a company three years of not paying Corporate Income Tax,”she said.

    According to her, not all companies are granted incentives due to stringent procedures followed by the commission on waivers awards.

    While acknowledging the high amount of revenue lost to waivers granted every year, Kayode said what mattered was the bigger picture, amount of forex brought into the country.

    She said,“The Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS) and our parent ministry, the Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment, is also part of this process to ensure the right investors get this incentive.

    “So far this year, 34 applications have been approved, and one of the things we intend to do is to ensure we are not just giving incentives to undeserving companies.

    “Meanwhile, there is already a notion that Nigeria gives out too many waivers, incentives, and concessions.

    “However, tax expenditure, which means what the government has lost by granting PSI, is just a small amount compared to what the country gains by granting these incentives to qualified companies.”

    Kayode revealed plans by the commission to publish impact assessment reports on the effectiveness of the pioneer status report on job creation and other economic activities to promote investments.

    “On impact, that is one thing NIPC is planning on, next year, it is one of our biggest tasks to do an impact assessment.

    “These incentives we gave out, how have they impacted the country in terms of job creation and what kind of import substitution has come about because we granted these incentives.

    “And how much will the government gain after the three years of them(the companies( not paying these taxes,” she added.

    The Head, Policy and Advocacy of NIPC, Salami Abayomi, expressed displeasure at the rate at which foreign companies/investors were leaving the country.

    According to him, a lot of challenges are responsible for this development, but the commission is already collaborating with relevant agencies in the country to address the issue.

    He expressed optimism that by 2024, the efforts of the agencies in that regard would yield positive impact.

    Earlier, NIPC’s Executive Secretary, Aisha Rimi, reiterated the commission’s commitment to facilitate and assist investors to gain inroad into the country.

  • NIPC grants tax exemption to 34 coys in 2023 to promote investment

     

    The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said it granted three years tax exemption to 34 companies in 2023.

    Mrs Lovina Kayode, Head of Incentives Administration, NIPC, told newsmen in Abuja that the exemption was to promote the company’s investments and to grow the nation’s economy.

    “This tax exemption known as Pioneer Status Incentives (PSI) is executed under the Investors Relations Department of the NIPC and allows a company three years of not paying Corporate Income Tax,”she said.

    According to her, not all companies are granted incentives due to stringent procedures followed by the commission on waivers awards.

    While acknowledging the high amount of revenue lost to waivers granted every year, Kayode said what mattered was the bigger picture, amount of forex brought into the country.

    She said,“The Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS) and our parent ministry, the Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment, is also part of this process to ensure the right investors get this incentive.

    “So far this year, 34 applications have been approved, and one of the things we intend to do is to ensure we are not just giving incentives to undeserving companies.

    “Meanwhile, there is already a notion that Nigeria gives out too many waivers, incentives, and concessions.

    “However, tax expenditure, which means what the government has lost by granting PSI, is just a small amount compared to what the country gains by granting these incentives to qualified companies.”

    Kayode revealed plans by the commission to publish impact assessment reports on the effectiveness of the pioneer status report on job creation and other economic activities to promote investments.

    “On impact, that is one thing NIPC is planning on, next year, it is one of our biggest tasks to do an impact assessment.

    “These incentives we gave out, how have they impacted the country in terms of job creation and what kind of import substitution has come about because we granted these incentives.

    “And how much will the government gain after the three years of them(the companies( not paying these taxes,” she added.

    The Head, Policy and Advocacy of NIPC, Salami Abayomi, expressed displeasure at the rate at which foreign companies/investors were leaving the country.

    According to him, a lot of challenges are responsible for this development, but the commission is already collaborating with relevant agencies in the country to address the issue.

    He expressed optimism that by 2024, the efforts of the agencies in that regard would yield positive impact.

    Earlier, NIPC’s Executive Secretary, Aisha Rimi, reiterated the commission’s commitment to facilitate and assist investors to gain inroad into the country.

  • GPE COVID-19 response grant targets 12m children, teachers – UNICEF

    The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday said the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) COVID-19 response grant given to Nigeria was aimed at reaching 12 million children.

    UNICEF said the grant was also to assist in training 30,500 teachers and reach 43,000 schools.

    Mrs Mairama Dikwa, the Education Specialist of UNICEF made this known at the ongoing Cluster Mobilisation and Sensitisation Meetings on COVID-19 Protocol, Surveillance and Safe School Reopening Readiness.

    She said that 32 local government areas from 16 states were also selected as beneficiaries of the grant.

    She listed the focal states as Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Kastina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe, Nasarawa, Benue, Enugu, Ebonyi, Taraba, Plateau and Niger.

    She said that all 36 states and the FCT were also included in the grant through digital learning programmes.

    According to her, the grant will ensure access to diverse learning programmes for each contest through states level radio and television programmes and others.

    “The GPE grant is an 18-months project from June 2020 to  November 2021, which will cover 121 million children directly or indirectly.

    “The grant will also help in training 3,500 teachers and 43,000 schools across the country.

    “ There is therefore need to involve the School Based Management Committee (SBMC), Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and community to advice parent on the need to bring special children to school,’’ she said.

    Meanwhile, Mrs Elizabeth Wapmuk, the Commissioner for Education in Plateau called for more training and retraining of teachers on how to handle teaching in the face of any pandemic.

    Wapmuk said that the pandemic had enabled stakeholders to know that education did not end in the classroom alone but other measures could be adopted to transmit knowledge to students.

    “When the COVID-19 came, we taught it brought a lot of disadvantages but since 2020, it has given the education sector an insight into training and retraining of teachers to cope with the challenges of the pandemic.

    “It has enabled us to know that there are interior areas in this country that have not seen light and water, not to talk of education.

    “Especially in Plateau, when intervention came, we realise that some areas in Plateau during the day usually experience darkness because of the terrain of mountains in the area.

    “During the COVID-19 e-learning process, there was no way we could get to those disadvantaged areas hence the need for more interventions,” she said.

    She pleaded with UNICEF, Federal Ministry of Education and other stakeholders to include Plateau in the area of disadvantaged state to give access to learning in such areas.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a 15 million dollars COVID-19 response grant had been given to the country by the GPE to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in schools.

  • FG gives N66m grants to 3,300 rural women in Delta

    The Federal Government in it Special Cash Grant for Rural Women Project had distributed N66 million to not fewer than 3,300 women of N20, 000 each in Delta.

    Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, said this in a statement by Mrs Rhoda Iliya, the Deputy Director of Information in the Ministry on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Farouq said this was consistent with the President’s  national vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years.

    “It is designed to provide a one-off grant to some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in rural and semi-urban areas of the country.

    “Our target in Delta is to disburse the grant of N20,000 each to about 3,300 beneficiaries across all the Local Government Area Councils in the state,” she said.

    The minister, who was represented by the Director of Humanitarian Affairs in the Ministry, Alhaji Ali Grema, noted that President Buhari’s led-administration since it’s inception had paid attention to addressing the plight of the poor and vulnerable people in the country.

    She said this was done in spite of  the economic slump and glaring revenue challenges adding that poverty reduction was now a major objectives of governments all over the world.

    According to the minister, it is a key goal every country is working towards in order to achieve the United Nations Sustainable development goals.

    “Poverty reduction goals requires a combination of strategies, each targeting specific needs sectors among the population.

    “This informed the decision by Mr President, Muhammadu Bihari, to initiate the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) as a strategy for reducing poverty  and enhancing social Inclusion.

    “The NSIP is adjudged the largest social programme in Africa with billions of dollars earmarked annually to cause positive changes in the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in the country,” she said.

    Furthermore, the minister stated that the NSIP had impacted positively on the lives of the poor and vulnerable in Nigeria as millions of households had benefited from the interventions in the last five years.

    The NSIP include the N-power programme, the National Home Grown School Feeding programme involving over eight million Primary one to three pupils in public schools, Conditional Cash Transfer of N5, 000 to one million indigent Nigerians.

    she urged the beneficiaries of the grant to make  good use of it to boost their businesses and improve their living standards.

    Speaking, the Governor of Delta, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, represented by the Commissioner of Women Affairs, Mrs Flora Satan expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for the grant given the the rural women in the state.

    The governor said the programme was applaudable as it aimed at bringing succor to the vulnerable in the rural areas especially with the devastating effect of COVID-19 Pandemic.

    He said the programme came at the right time, adding that it was a big plus to the women programmes that already existed in the state.

    Earlier, the Delta Focal Person on NSIP, Mrs Bridget  Anyafulu, said the success of the grant would go a long way in alleviating the suffering of rural women.

    “It will also enhance the economy of rural Nigeria, facilitate the economic recovery of the nation and set the country on the path to economic growth and sustainable development,” she said. (NAN)