The Ondo senator made this call in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.

Ibrahim, a member of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate, noted that President Tinubu’s ministers are too cold. “You have to dissolve the cabinet. You have to come up with knowledgeable people. The cabinet is too cold.”

Ibrahim said the ministers do not fall in the country’s “Grade A” and are not the best for Nigeria’s economy considering the economic situation of the country since the inauguration of President Tinubu.

The senator said some of the ministers who have been accused of corruption should be dropped.

He said, “If you fail to do that, you will be carrying their burdens, and that will be terrible for our country. You have to dissolve the cabinet, you have to come up with knowledgeable people, the cabinet is too cold, and some of them accused of corruption should be dropped.”

The post ‘They’re too cold, dissolve your cabinet now,’ Jimoh Ibrahim tells Tinubu appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

NewMailNG reported the committee suggested some changes to the current VAT rate, including increasing the state and local share of the VAT revenue to 90% combined.

But Oyedele in a series of tweets on his official X page, responded to reports that he suggested an increase in VAT.

He said: “This is quoted out of context to suit the objective of the author, What are the issues?

“Nigeria‘s VAT system places a huge burden on businesses as they are not allowed to claim the input VAT incurred on services and assets. Some items, which constitute basic consumptions (food, education, and healthcare) are liable to VAT rather than being exempt or zero-rated.

“Many small businesses have to contend with VAT compliance in view of the existing low VAT exemption threshold for small businesses. Many States charge other forms of consumption taxes in addition to VAT, thereby creating multiplicity of taxes. Exports of services and intellectual property bear VAT rather than being zero-rated to promote exports.

“What are we proposing? To address the above identified problems, we are proposing the following:

“Full input VAT credit for businesses to reduce their cost of doing business and minimise the strain on their cash flows, remove VAT on an expanded list of basic food, educational and healthcare items to protect the poor.

“Harmonise all consumption taxes into one (VAT only) and adjust the revenue sharing formula in favour of states to address multiplicity of taxes, remove VAT on export of service and intellectual property to promote non oil exports.

“Increase the threshold for VAT exemption for small businesses, enhance the VAT refund process to reduce the strain on working capital of businesses, and introduce VAT fiscalisation and electronic invoicing to curb evasion, which makes honest businesses uncompetitive.

“Consequential upward adjustment to the VAT rate on items not exempted to avoid a significant drop in revenue.

“It is important to note that the above proposals do not represent the position of the government but our committee’s reform proposals, which we are discussing with the private sector for their input.”

The post I didn’t propose increase in VAT rate, says Taiwo Oyedele appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The General Editor of an online newspaper, First News, Segun Olatunji, has resigned.

This is just as the news platform’s management apologised to Femi Gbajabiamila, President Bola Tinubu’s chief of staff, for a story published on its platform on January 29, 2024.

Olatunji’s article indicting the former Speaker of the House of Representatives was entitled “How Gbajabiamila attempted to corner $30 billion and 66 houses traced to Sabiu.”

The report led to his arrest and detention in an underground cell by the Defence Intelligence Agency, eliciting wild condemnation from the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, and the International Press Institute, which eventually led to his release.

In a statement on Wednesday, the management said it had discovered the story contained “falsehoods and fabricated stories handed out to us as facts by a misleading source, which was highly negligent on our part and for which we deeply tender an unreserved apology to the Chief of Staff to the President.

“As a responsible media organisation, we wish to state very categorically that we have no malicious intent towards the person of the Chief of Staff to the President or his office. Hence, our decision to tender an unreserved apology and the need to publish a retraction of the said story.”

However, Olatunji resigned as editor swiftly, stressing that the truth about the matter would come to light soon.

His resignation letter, sighted by our correspondent, read, “In view of the latest developments regarding the Gbajabiamila story and the stance of the company’s management, I hereby tender my resignation as the General Editor of First News.

“It has become imperative for me to resign my appointment for the safety of myself and my family. However, I want to state that in no distant time, the truth will come out, and then it’ll be my word against theirs,” he said.

He further appreciated the management for allowing him to contribute his quota as the editor in the past four years while urging them to settle his one-year outstanding salaries in due course.

Olatunji was abducted in his home in the Iyana Odo, Abule Egba area of Lagos State in March, and his arrest set panic among the staff members of the news platform.

His wife, Abiodun Olatunji, said the armed men numbering 10 arrived at their residence a few minutes after 6 pm and whisked her husband away without leaving any information behind as to where they were taking him.

She said her husband’s abductors reached for his phone and seized it immediately after they arrived before bundling him into a van like a common criminal and zooming off.

The post First News editor, Segun Olatunji resigns in protest appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser on information and strategy to the president, announced the development in a post on his X handle on Tuesday.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, along with his aides, will return to Nigeria tomorrow from Europe,” Onanuga wrote.

On April 22, Tinubu left Abuja, the country’s capital, for the Kingdom of The Netherlands on an official visit.

Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, said the president was visiting The Netherlands at the invitation of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

After the engagements in The Netherlands, Tinubu proceeded to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to attend a special World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting between April 28 and 29.

The president was expected back in the country after the forum in Saudi Arabia, but he did not return, which fueled speculations about his whereabouts.

The post Tinubu will return to Nigeria today, says presidency appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The figures, announced in the just published 2023 Shell Briefing Notes, show that SPDC paid $442 million, while SNEPCo remitted $649 million. Similar payments made by the two companies in 2022 amounted to $1.36 billion.

“These payments are Shell exclusive and do not include those made by our partners,” said SPDC Managing Director and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor. “Shell Companies in Nigeria will continue to contribute to the country’s economic growth through the revenue we generate and the employment opportunities we create by supporting the development of local businesses.”

Shell has invested in Nigeria for more than 60 years. The Briefing Notes report on the progress of the businesses of Shell Companies in Nigeria – SPDC, SNEPCo, Shell Nigeria Gas and Daystar Power for 2023.

The reports show that the companies continued to make progress, working closely with stakeholders and communities to promote socio-economic development and provide cost-effective and cleaner energy solutions.

Okunbor added: “It is important to emphasise that Shell is not leaving Nigeria and will remain a major partner of the country’s energy sector through its deep-water and integrated gas businesses. Our collective focus remains on delivery of safe operations and care for our people.”

The post Shell Nigeria pays $1.09bn in taxes, royalties in 2023 appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The post Appointees wishing Tinubu dead before 2027 behind El-Rufai, Yahaya Bello’s ordeals – APC chieftain  appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The state-owned oil company cited that in filling stations monitored across several states, including Lagos and the FCT, the queues have since thinned out, “a development that will keep improving daily in other States.”

“The Company wishes to state that at the moment, it has over 1.5 billion litres of stock of PMS, which is equivalent to over 30 days of sufficiency.

The NNPC first urged Nigerians to avoid panic buying on April 25, stating that available products are sufficient in the country.

According to the state-owned oil company, tightness in the supply of PMS currently being experienced in some areas across the country is as a result of logistics issues, which have been resolved.

“It also wishes to reiterate that the prices of petroleum products are not changing,” NNPC said in an earlier statement.

The post NNPC warns against panic buying second time in 2024 appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Bolt Nigeria, a technology-driven ride-hailing platform, said on Tuesday that its restructuring efforts affected 22 employees who were laid off.

The firm’s Communications Manager, Femi Adeyemo, confirmed this to our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday.

Adeyemo emphasised that Bolt Nigeria is not facing financial difficulties but is instead undergoing a restructuring process.

“22 people out of 45 from a department were relieved of their jobs, not nearly half as claimed by some reports. The department where it happened has 45 workers, not the whole Bolt. That number is not half of the workforce of Bolt.

“The affected employees will receive comprehensive severance packages to support their transition to new career opportunities,” Adeyemo added.

Subsequently, the e-hailing firm shared a statement that read, “Bolt has never done and is not doing any layoffs, which implies massively downsizing the team because the company is struggling financially. We have made the difficult decision to discontinue collaboration with 22 employees in Nigeria.

“This decision comes as we have been going through the process of restructuring a considerable number of customer support and operational processes in the country. We have offered the people who will be leaving us severance packages that will support their transition to new career opportunities.

“This decision does not affect the quality of our products for riders and drivers. We see great potential in Nigeria, and we will stand by our investment commitments in all our African markets.”

Bolt (formerly known as Taxify) entered the Nigerian market in 2016 and surpassed 150 million customers in over 45 countries and 500 cities.

It noted that it now has over 3.5 million partners (drivers and couriers) using the app to earn a living, including over one million in Africa alone.

The post Bolt sacks 22 workers in Nigeria appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

This move, if confirmed, would have profound implications for the country’s technological landscape, potentially impacting job opportunities and innovation in the sector.

According to industry insiders who spoke to The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday, Microsoft informed staff on Monday of the closure plans.

According to reports from the newspaper, affected employees are slated to receive salary payments up until June and will continue to be covered by health insurance.

However, an unnamed source within Microsoft’s Lagos office neither confirmed nor refuted the closure when approached by the newspaper.

While the precise motives behind the decision remain ambiguous, sources suggest Nigeria’s challenging economic conditions likely played a role.

The closure appears to affect only the ADC’s West Africa operations in Nigeria, not its East Africa facility in Nairobi, Kenya.

Microsoft launched its $100 million African Development Centers initiative in 2019, establishing facilities in both Lagos and Nairobi.

The Nigeria centre employed over 120 engineers upon launch in 2022, growing to more than 200 total staff members.

At the time, Gafar Lawal, Managing Director of Microsoft ADC West Africa, said, as quoted by The Guardian, “We intended to recruit 500 full-time engineers by the end of the year or by 2023. However, currently, we have exceeded 500. This is to tell you about the abundance of talents we have in Africa.”

The Lagos Centre was inaugurated to develop innovative technology solutions to address challenges across Africa and globally.

A Microsoft statement stated, “This also creates opportunities for engineers to do meaningful work from their home countries and be plugged into a global engineering and development organisation.”

The post 200 jobs at risk as Microsoft shuts down centre in Nigeria appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Shittu served as minister of communications from 2015 to 2019 during Muhammadu Buhari’s first tenure as civilian president.

In an interview on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, Shittu admitted that the Buhari administration failed to fulfil some of its campaign promises.

“Even as an individual who had a mandate to oversee communications, there were several projects that I initiated but were frustrated along the way,” he said.

“For instance, I wanted to do an ICT university for Nigeria, and I made a proposal, and it got to the federal executive council, only for a number of our colleagues to oppose it, and at the end of the day, Mr. President said, ‘Barrister Shittu, I want to commend you for your hard work on this memo, but this is an overambitious project’.

“That was my saddest day in government. This is one of the things that happened,, and I was not happy but at the end of the day, when the federal executive council as a body rejects a proposal, you cannot do anything.”

“We do know very well that Nigeria had virtually been run aground before he (Buhari) came onboard. Even as someone who served in the Buhari government during the first term, I am always honest enough to admit certain failures that we had.”

Shittu added that the president was sometimes kept in the dark about contract award processes and the goings-on in his administration.

“Let me tell you, there were a lot of manipulations, and we even heard that a lot of the so-called approvals did not emanate from President Buhari. There were a lot of manipulations and approvals that did not emanate from the president. I am telling you confidently that a lot of it did not get his attention,” he said.

The post Some of my projects were frustrated by colleagues in Buhari’s administration, says Adebayo Shittu appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.