The federal government has concluded plans to slash the levy to be paid on imported cars from 35 percent to five percent.

This is contained in the draft bill of the 2020 finance bill to be presented to the national assembly.

The bill becomes law after it is passed by the legislature and assented by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Details of the bill shared by the presidency also show that the import duty of tractors and motor vehicles for the transportation of goods has been slashed from 35 percent to 10 percent.

The bill also grants tax relief to companies that donated to the COVID-19 relief fund under the private sector-led Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID).

To improve ease of doing business, the bill also proposes that software acquisition now qualifies as capital expenditure.

Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, had previously explained that the reduction in import duties and levies is targeted at reducing the cost of transportation.

“The reason for us is to reduce the cost of transportation which is a major driver of inflation especially food production,” she told state house correspondents at the end of the federal executive council (FEC) on Wednesday, November 18.

In 2019, Hameed Ali, the comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service had urged the federal government to reduce the levy paid on imported cars to 10 percent.

At the time, Ali argued that the levy, which is paid in addition to the 35 percent import duty, has discouraged importers; causing them to divert their importation to neighbouring countries and heightened smuggling.
https://www.thecable.ng/no-more-35-fg-to-slash-levy-on-imported-cars-to-5/amp

The Transmission Company of Nigeria has said Nigeria requires nothing less than N1tn to effectively wheel electricity through the national grid.

The Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider, TCN, Victor Adewumi, said this at the 52nd Power Dialogue of the Nigeria Electricity Hub on which held online in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said TCN would require the sum to make the country’s power grid stable, adding that the $1.6bn which the transmission company was getting from international agencies would not be enough to stablilise the grid.

When asked to state how much would be needed to get the grid to transmit electricity effectively, Adewumi replied, “Simply put, TCN requires nothing less than N1tn to make the grid to be very stable.

“For the project that TCN is financing internally, relying on our IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) and the Federal Government budget system, TCN requires nothing less than N600bn.

“So when you look at the total, you will be talking about N1tn. This is a huge sum of money and if you look at it critically, there is no way that even the Federal Government can provide this kind of fund.”

He said investors were invited to come and fund some of the projects in TCN, as they would recoup their investments over time.

Adewumi said, “So the alternative way is to look at project financing, where those who have the money can come to TCN and finance probably the transmission lines and then look at the cost of energy to be wheeled on that line, spread it over a period of time and then get their money back.

He said, “But with the current kind of fund that is entering TCN, there is no way TCN can embark on that.

“This is because the Discos are not giving us the required money; we are getting less than 60 per cent of TCN tariff.0

He added, “That is even after the Nigerian Electricity a Regulatory Commission forced them to do it.”

He, however, stated that the Discos would not receive all the blame as many power users were involved in electricity theft.

This came as senior officials of the African Development Bank and the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company stated that the Nigerian power sector was not bankable.
https://m.punchng.com/Business/Nigeria-requires-N1tn-for-efficient-electricity-transmission–TCN