ONE WORD

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is proposing to collect excise duty on soft drinks, abolished in 1993 by the interim national government. Appearing before a joint committee of the senate on finance and national planning on Thursday, Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of the NCS, said the federal government should lift the tax waivers for companies producing soft drinks within the country. Ali argued that if companies producing alcoholic beverages and tobacco could pay taxes, those producing soft drinks could do the same. “We have been pushing for the expansion of our own excise collection. During the (Ernest) Shonekan regime (in 1993), excise was stopped for carbonated drinks manufacturers, like Coca-Cola,” the retired colonel said. “The only one approved for us are tobacco alcoholic beverages. The understanding then was that tobacco and alcoholic beverages affect the health of citizens and should be taxed. “But we know that carbonated drinks are also injurious to the health of the peop...

- Nehemiah Adejoh, the suspect who drove the car that ran over Tolulope Arotile has said his action was a mistake - The suspect told a Kaduna magistrate court that he never intended to cause her death - The court has remanded him in prison pending further hearing Nehemiah Adejoh, the suspect who drove the car that killed Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile has said he never intended to kill the flying officer. The suspect told a Kaduna magistrates court on Thursday, August 20, that he mistakenly ran over the deceased, Daily Trust reported. Adejoh was reported to be the one behind the steering of the vehicle that knocked down Arotile on July 11 before she was pronounced dead at the Nigerian Air Force hospital. Driver says he killed female helicopter pilot, Arotile by mistake  he, however, denied having any premeditated plan to kill her in his cautionary statement. He explained that on sighting the deceased walking along the roadside at the Air Force base...

(CNN) Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced his immediate resignation on state television late Tuesday, hours after he and the Prime Minister were  arrested by mutinous soldiers  in a coup. Tuesday's events sparked international condemnation and are likely to further destabilize the West African nation, following months of anti-government mass protests and a rising insurgency from Islamist militants. Wearing a blue surgical mask amid the coronavirus pandemic, the President said on national broadcaster ORTM that he had little choice but to stand down to avoid bloodshed, and that the country's national assembly and government would now be dissolved. Why the Mali coup could worry Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron For seven years I have with great joy and happiness tried to put this country back on its feet," Keita said. "If today some people from the armed forces have decided to end it by their intervention, do I have a choice? I should submit to it becaus...

File photo: Barcelona’s Spanish coach Quique Setien reacts during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final football match between Barcelona and Bayern Munich at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 14, 2020. Rafael Marchante / POOL / AFP   Barcelona have sacked Quique Setién as coach of the first team  with a new manager set to be announced later. “The new coach will be announced in the coming days as part of a wide-ranging restructuring of the first team,” Barca tweeted on Monday.   Setien was only appointed in January but has paid the price for Barca surrendering the La Liga title to Real Madrid and then being humiliated by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.   File photo: Bayern Munich’s German forward Thomas Mueller (R) celebrates with Bayern Munich’s German midfielder Serge Gnabry after scoring a goal during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final football match between Barcelona and Bayern Munich at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 14, 2020. (Photo by Rafae...

Nigeria will resume international flight operations on August 29, the Federal Government has announced. The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, made the announcement on Monday in Abuja at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. He explained that the process for the resumption of international flights in the country would be similar to that of the domestic flight resumption. According to the minister, the resumption will commence on Saturday next week at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the nation’s capital. He thanked Nigerians for their patience while the ban on international flights was enforced and gave an assurance that the protocols and procedures for resumption would be announced in due course. Sirika also announced the resumption of international flights via his Twitter handle. . 

Bishop David Oyedepo  Lauretta Onochie, media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the warning by the founder and General Overseer of the Living Faith Church, also known as Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, against the application of the  Company and Allied Matters Acts, CAMA, in churches. Oyedepo on Sunday warned that the church is directly connected to God and therefore does not operate under the rules of men. Under the new CAMA law signed on August 7 by President Buhari, religious bodies (churches and mosques) as well as charity organisations, will be strictly regulated by the Registrar-General of Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and a supervising minister. According to Oyedepo, such laws were borne of out of the jealousy of “wicked leaders” about the prosperity recorded by the church. Reacting, Onochie on her Twitter page, declared that Oyedepo will have to live by the laws in Nigeria or manufacture his own country. Her tweet read: “Hope this is not true...

The Lagos State Government has extended hours of operations of food and non-food markets. They are to open at 8am and close at 6pm hencefort.  In a statement by Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Dr Wale Ahmed, the decision by Governor Babajide Sanwoolu is to further enhance trade and commerce as well as mitigate hardship of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahmed emphasised the alternate days of operations will remains in force whereby food markets open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday while non -food markets open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He urged all traders to adhere strictly to the Covid-19 protocols for their safety and the citizenry at large.