EndSARS: 730 petitions and counting over police brutality
Trailing the EndSARS conversation tells a tale of neglect to Nigerians and law enforcement, with the number of petitions as an indicator of indiscretions from the latter. Yes, government-mandated Judicial panels of inquiry are the first steps. But implementation and duration will tell the rest. [Read more]
#CountedCost: Amid Concerns, 38% of Nigeria’s 2022 Budget is Loan-backed
A Dataphyte analysis of the just presented 2022 Budget by President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that 38% of it will be financed by loans. Last week, October 7th, the Nigeria President, before the joint session of the National Assembly presented a total budget of N16.39 trillion for the year 2022. However, Dataphyte check of the Debt Management Office shows that the country is currently wallowing in N35 trillion debt. This means that before the end of 2022, the debt would climb to, at least, N41 Trillion. [Read more]
Nigeria Laments Low Tax Income, Has it Considered Changing Demographics of Taxpayers?
At a public presentation and breakdown of the 2022 appropriation bill last week, Muhammad Nami, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) chairman, disclosed that compared to the population of over 200 million people, many Nigerians are evading tax. While acknowledging that Nigeria has 41 million taxpayers as of 2021, he expressed concerns that Nigeria has earned less despite the population and number of taxpayers when compared to other African countries. Considering the young population of Nigerians, net taxpayer demography is expected to grow as additional thousands join the workforce. However, the NBS unemployment statistics might already explain why the tax revenue numbers dwindled in the last couple of years.[Read more]
Advance Fee Fraud, other Financial crimes on the rise among women in Nigeria
Women committing crimes in Nigeria are on the rise, and they are more involved in advanced-fee-fraud. According to a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report titled Men and Women in Nigeria 2020, between 2017 and 2019, a total of 2,505 crimes were committed by women. Of this figure, 804 was advanced-fee-fraud.Advance-fee fraud is when fraudsters target victims to make advance or upfront payments for goods, services and/or financial gains that do not materialise. According to the report, the number of women involved in this crime is more than those involved in other crimes. [Read more]
In 3 months, Five FG agencies paid N790 million without description
Five federal government agencies have paid N790 million into some accounts without payment descriptions, findings by Dataphyte covering a financial span of three months has revealed. Due to this development and against financial laws, it has become impossible to determine the purpose of the expenditures. These non-descriptive payments comprise 46 payments made to various ministries, parastatals, banks and others. A breakdown of the figures showed that N411 million was paid in June, N276 million in July and N103 million, all without descriptions.[Read more]