Daily Watch – Nigerian banks amongst most regulated on earth according to CBN
18th September 2015
- The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (Economic policy), Sarah Alade, has said banks operating in Nigeria are among the most regulated in the world, adding that the era of bank failure was gone. Alade said the various economic policies already put in place by the regulator to supervise and monitor banks in the country would prevent the financial institutions from collapse.
- Nigeria’s 85 per cent tax on onshore crude oil production is dissuading local investors from taking over assets from international oil companies, Africa’s richest woman and founder of Famfa Oil, Folorunso Alakija, has said. Onshore producers pay 30 per cent corporate tax and 55 per cent tax on petroleum profit, while offshore producers who bought stakes in the 1990s are exempt from corporate tax and pay 50 per cent profit tax. “The 85 per cent that those who are onshore are having to pay is going to be too high for indigenous companies to be able to stand on their own two feet,” she said. Investment in Nigeria has been held up by uncertainty over the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), a law that has been delayed in the National Assembly for almost seven years due to political wrangling and opposition from international energy companies to proposed tax and royalty terms.
- The delay in paying subsidy monies owed to petroleum products importing and marketing firms, has hit their half-year earnings. The total fuel subsidy debt owed by Nigeria to importers of petroleum products had swelled to
N314 billion. The payment delays have been caused by the poor fiscal condition of government and the continued dispute between the authorities and marketers over arrears. The fall in the marketer’s revenues was due to the recent strike, and refusal to import refined products till a confirmation of subsidy payments.