Photo: NRS chairman, Zacch Adedeji

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has clarified that the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA) did not introduce VAT on banking charges, nor did it impose any new tax obligation on customers in this regard.

In a statement made available to newsmen and signed by Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser on Media to the NRS chairman, Zacch Adedeji, the service said the claims are incorrect.

According to the NRS, VAT has always applied to banking services and was not introduced by the Nigeria Tax Act.

The statement reads:

“The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) wishes to address and correct misleading narratives circulating in sections of the media suggesting that Value Added Tax (VAT) has been newly introduced on banking services, fees, commissions, or electronic money transfers.

This claim is categorically incorrect.

“VAT has always applied to fees, commissions, and charges for services rendered by banks and other financial institutions under Nigeria’s long-established VAT regime.”

Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced plans to revise its inflation reporting methodology.

This followed concerns that December’s year-on-year figure may be artificially inflated due to the impact of last year’s rebasing exercise.

The agency said the expected spike in December inflation did not reflect actual price movements in the economy but was largely a statistical distortion caused by the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index.

Reuters reported that the rebasing, the first in 15 years, adopted December 2024 as the index reference point.

Officials explained that the change is likely to exaggerate the year-on-year inflation figure for December without accurately capturing prevailing market trends.

Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, yesterday, rewarded his cement distributors with gifts valued at about N15 billion.

The group is targeting a cement production capacity of approximately 90 million tonnes by 2030.

Dangote made this known during an event organised by the Group to celebrate its most loyal Dangote Cement customers, where CNG-powered trucks, SUVs and other items were presented to distributors across various performance categories, including regional awards, growth awards, best distributor in export sales and national awards.

According to him, the cement expansion drive forms part of the group’s newly launched Vision 2030 strategy, which is aimed at positioning the conglomerate as a $100 billion enterprise by the end of the decade through industrial expansion and cross-border investments.

“Under this vision, we have actually signed an agreement.

But before even signing the agreement, the target that we have, our cement company, will end up being at 90 million tons by 2030 means that we are 50 per cent more than the entire production of Saudi Arabia,” Dangote said.

He said the group has also signed an agreement to expand its petroleum refinery from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day, adding that construction work would commence immediately.