News Rider

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja The digital payment provider, OPay has empowered 15,000 Nigerian women and youth through education and innovation, under its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, initiative. Through the programme, the company is leveraging technology, resources and partnerships to support education, skills development, innovation and economic inclusion in Nigeria. OPay Scholars programme, which includes the National Innovation Challenge, OPay Futures programme and a 10-year scholarship commitment of N1.2 billion, had reached more than 1,200 direct beneficiaries. This was even as the National Innovation Challenge, NIC, implemented in partnership with Google and the 3 Million Technical Talent ,3MTT, programme, supports young Nigerians with ideas and skills to address real-world problems. The company said on Thursday that its Play4aChild initiative had supported more than 14,000 direct beneficiaries through educational materials and other interventions, aimed at improvin...

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has endorsed the upcoming 2026 World Public Relations Forum, WPRF, scheduled for November, highlighting the impact of strategic communication towards the success of key reforms implemented by the Service. Comptroller-General of Customs, CGC, Adewale Adeniyi disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, when a delegation led by the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, Professor Justin Green, alongside the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, and Chairman of Council, Ike Neliaku, visited him at the Customs House Abuja, ahead of the global event. He listed strategic reforms undertaken by the Service, including B’Odogwu, Authorised Economic Operator, AEO, programme and Advance Ruling, which improved Customs processes, border security and legitimate trade, while strengthening the relationship between the Service and its stakeholders....

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja Taiwo Oyedele Ahead of the October deadline, the Federal Government has slashed the interest rate for late payment of tax, advising taxpayers to offset outstanding liabilities promptly or engage the relevant tax authority. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele on Thursday in Abuja, issued the Nigeria Tax Administration (Interest on Late Payment of Tax) Order, 2026. Referencing section 65 of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, the Order fixed interest rate on late payment of tax, effective October 1, 2026, linking the cost of late payment more closely to market rates. The Order addressed taxpayers’ certainty about the cost of late payment with applicable default penalty, ensuring that intentionally negating early payment of taxation is not cheaper than borrowing from the market. Oyedele said: “For tax payable in Naira, interest is charged at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s, CBNs, Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, pl...

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja Mr Joseph Tegbe The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai has stated that the recent agreements on economic partnership and aquatic exports would boost bilateral trade between Nigeria and China, promising to deepen economic cooperation. At a reception to mark the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Abuja, the envoy disclosed that bilateral trade between Nigeria and China rose to $18 billion in the first half of 2026, representing a 35 per cent increase. He noted that the increase was accompanied by a significant rise in Chinese imports from Nigeria, which surged by 81 per cent during the period, pledging to create more opportunities for Nigerian exports. Dunhai said: “In the first half of this year, our bilateral trade reached $18 billion, up 35%, with Chinese imports from Nigeria surging 81 percent. The development reflected the growing economic ties between the two countries and provided opportunities for further ...

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja The Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, AIRS, has launched a massive war against defaulting taxpayers as over 450,000 individuals registered under the Anambra State Identification Number, ASIN, shunned filing of annual returns. Executive Chairman of AIRS, Mr Ikeazor Nnaemeka Okonkwo stated this in a chat with newsmen in Awka, confirming that only about 10 per cent of the approximately 500,000 registered taxpayers filed their annual tax returns for the 2025 tax year. He said: “If about 90 per cent of registered taxpayers have not filed their annual returns, that is a significant problem.” To this end, he noted that the Agency has commenced enforcement against taxpayers who failed to regularise their tax affairs, targeting one million registered and actively engaged taxpayers from the inherited database of about 500,000. The enforcement followed months of taxpayer education, engagement and opportunities for voluntary compliance as part of efforts to ...

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, has called on State governments to strengthen their capacity for project preparation in order to minimise cost and translate opportunities into tangible outcomes, harping on the need for states to understand investment risks. Director of Contract Compliance, ICRC, Mr Ahmed Abdulrazak stated this on Friday in Abuja, at an investment mobilisation stakeholders’ roundtable organised by the Forum of State Investment Promotion Agencies of Nigeria, FOSIPAN, in collaboration with Brave Icons Global, BIG, with the theme: “From Opportunity to Capital Outcomes: Building Nigeria’s Subnational Investment Mobilisation Structure.” He disclosed that many state governments often undertook projects independently, encouraging them to collaborate as well as pool their finances and resources to facilitate project implementation. In his presentation titled: “Closing the Conversion Gap: What it Takes to Move State Op...

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja The Federal Government has indicted the contractor handling Maje–Jazu Section II Road, Messrs CCECC Nigeria Limited over sluggish work at the site, directing the contractor to substantially increase its mobilisation and productivity for timely delivery of the project within the agreed timeline and required quality standards. Minister of State for Works, Rt. Hon. Bello Muhammad Goronyo revealed this while inspecting the Bida–Lapa–Lambata and Maje–Dikko road corridors in Niger State, as part of the Ministry’s sustained monitoring of critical road projects across the country, particularly inherited projects. He noted that more than ₦10 billion had so far been released to the contractor as mobilisation out of the approximately ₦90 billion project value, lamenting that the level of work completed, which stood at about one per cent, was not commensurate with the funds already advanced or the progress expected under the project schedule. Goronyo said: “The am...