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Amid Depth Recession, Simplified Corporate Logistics Promises 70% Freight Savings To Nigerian Businesses

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L-R; South West Coordinator NEPC, Mr Babatunde Faleke, Nollywood Actress Mercy Aigbe, Regional Head, Bank Of Industry, Mr Obaro Osah and President/MD Simplified Corporate Logistics, Mr Nduka Udeh at the official launch of Simplified Corporate Logistics which held on September 8th 2016 at Muson Centre

Business owners currently facing difficulty ordering goods from overseas due to high costs of clearing and logistics are set to receive a much needed boost as Simplified Corporate Logistics, a global procurement, handling, clearing and forwarding service targeted at Nigerian businesses was recently launched and revealed its promise to help them reduce their incurred fines and charges, improve their cargo logistics efficiency and shrink their freight costs up to 70%.

Offering a full service cargo logistics package for export and import, including global procurement, warehousing locally and internationally, clearing, documentation review to ensure Customs and regulatory compliance, Simplified Corporate Logistics takes risk away completely from businesses complexity associated with import and export – by handling their forex needs to reduce the long processing times needed to access forex, providing a transparent Customs Clearing typically within 6 days while handling documentation for efficiency and offering a cargo consolidation service that will save businesses up to 70% on freight costs.

Speaking at the launch of Simplified Corporate Logistics, in Lagos, founder and CEO Nduka Udeh remarked,

“Nigerian businesses of recent have been hit by a steep hike in the price of ordering, handling and clearing goods from overseas. What Simplified Corporate Logistics does is that; it removes the risk factor from businesses. We make it our responsibility to source for Forex to carry out transactions so our customers only pay in Naira. Then we guide them through the entire clearing process and handle the documentation on their behalf so that they reduce incurred fines and charges to the barest minimum. Our process is so efficient that we can guarantee clearance of goods within six days.

We can even source for the items our customers want from trusted manufacturers globally, and get them at the best prices – thanks to our partnership with several auction companies in the USA. Most significantly, we offer a cargo consolidation service that can save our customers up to 70% in freight costs. We believe that it is these cost and efficiency savings that will propel the Nigerian small and medium enterprises into the future.”

To find out more about Simplified Corporate Logistics, go to www.sclogisticsng.com

Simplified Corporate Logistics

Simplified Corporate Logistics

 

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Detained Binance’s executive, Tigran Gambaryan sues Ribadu, EFCC

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Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, has sued Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA) and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleging violation of his fundamental rights.

According to reports on February 28, Gambaryan was detained, alongside Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s regional manager for Africa, by the Nigerian authorities after honouring the invitation of the office of the national security adviser (ONSA) and EFCC to discuss issues relating to the company’s operation in Nigeria.

Gambaryan and Anjarwalla’s passports were seized by ONSA.

However, on March 25, Anjarwalla escaped from custody and fled Nigeria with a smuggled passport.

Before escaping custody, on March 12, Anjarwalla was reported to have fallen ill while in detention.

According to NAN on Thursday, Gambaryan, in the originating motion dated and filed March 18 by his lawyer, Olujoke Aliyu, from Aluko and Oyebode Law Firm, sought five reliefs before Justice Inyang Ekwo.

Also, Anjarwalla filed a separate right enforcement suit before Ekwo.

Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, in the suits marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/356/24 and FHC/ABJ/CS/355/24, had sued the ONSA and EFCC as 1st and 2nd respondents.

The duo sought the same relief.

Gambaryan, a US citizen, in his application, sought a declaration that his detention and seizure of his international travel passport contravened Section 35 (1) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended).

He said the act amounted to a violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty as guaranteed by the constitution.

The Binance executive also sought an order directing the respondents to release him from their custody and return his international travel passport with immediate effect.

Gambaryan equally sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents and agents from further detaining him in relation to any investigation into or demands from Binance.

Also, he sought an order for the respondents to issue a public apology to him, and also prayed for the cost of the action on a full indemnity basis.

In a statement in support of the suit, Gambaryan said he is an American citizen who visited Nigeria on February 26, along with his colleague to honour the invitation of the ONSA and EFCC to discuss issues relating to Binance in Nigeria.

Giving an 11-ground argument as to why his application should be granted, Gambaryan said he and his colleague, Anjarwalla, dutifully attended the meeting.

Gambaryan said after the meeting, they were detained by the respondents and had remained in detention since then, adding that he did not commit any offence during the meeting, nor was he informed in writing of any offence he committed in Nigeria at any other time.

“The only reason for his detention is because the government is requesting information from Binance and making demands on the company,” he said,

Gambaryan also said he was not a member of the board of directors of Binance.

ANJARWALLA’S SUIT WITHDRAWN

When the two suits were called on Thursday, Tonye Krukrubo, appeared for Anjarwalla and Gambaryan.

Krukrubo told the court that though the respondents were served two days ago, they were not represented in court.

The lawyer, however, drew the attention of the court to their notice of withdrawal of legal representation for Anjarwalla filed on March 26, without giving details of why they were withdrawing their legal representation.

Also, upon resumed hearing in Gambaryan’s suit, Krukrubo said though the processes had been served on ONSA and EFCC, they were still within time to respond.

He, therefore, sought an adjourned date, saying the respondents’ time to file their applications would expire next week Thursday.

In his judgement, Ekwo said having withdrawn their legal representation, “it means that the applicant has no legal representation and requires that the matter be adjourned for the applicant to seek legal representation and for the respondents to be given an opportunity to come to court”.

The judge adjourned the matter until April 8 for further mention.

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Crisis hits Eko Disco as chairman and directors disagree on Dr. Tinuade Sanda’s sacking

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Members of the board of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company are at loggerheads over the sack of the company’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tinuade Sanda.

We reported that the firm replaced Sanda with Mrs Rekhiat Momoh, who was said to have taken over on Tuesday.

It was gathered that Sanda’s sack was communicated through a letter signed by the EKEDC Chairman, Dere Otubu, on March 25.

According to Otubu, the decision to relieve Sanda of her duties followed a directive from the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission.

“We have received a directive from NERC stating that all staff working for the utility must be employed directly by the utility, bound by applicable service conditions that are applicable to the employees of the utility, and paid through the utility’s payroll.

“The Disco is obligated to comply with these directives due to the powers of NERC as stipulated in the Electricity Act 2023. In compliance with the aforementioned directive, all seconded staff from WPG Ltd are being released by Eko Electricity Distribution Plc and returned to WPG Ltd.

“Accordingly, you are hereby relieved of your role, office, and position at Eko Electricity Distribution Plc effectively immediately, and returned to your employer, WPG Ltd,” Otubu had said.

We reported earlier that some senior staff members of the Eko DisCo were recently accused of ghost worker recruitment, fraud and negligence; a claim the firm said was unfounded.

Reacting to the allegation, NERC ordered thorough investigations, while directing that all existing WPG secondees be returned to their original employer.

While announcing the change of leadership, the DisCo said, “We wish to inform the general public that Mrs Rekhiat Momoh has on 26th March 2024 assumed the role of Acting CEO of Eko Disco.

“This follows the redeployment of our erstwhile MD/CEO Mrs Tinuade Sanda back to WPG Ltd, the core investor who seconded her to Eko Disco.

“We have great confidence in her ability to perform this role effectively and take the company to greater heights,” the EKEDC said.

However, in a rebuttal on Wednesday, a Director and Chairman of the Legal & Regulatory Committee, Mr Babor Egeregor, disagreed with the chairman over the sack of Sanda.

He said the NERC did not order the removal of any staff either seconded to or hired by EKEDC, except those connected to the alleged fraud and negligence.

“It has come to my notice that by a letter dated 26th of March 2024, the Chairman of EKEDC, Mr Dere Otubu, purportedly terminated the Contract of Employment of Dr Tinuade Sanda, the MD/CEO of EKEDC, allegedly in compliance with orders/directives issued by the NERC.

“The said order of the NERC, herein displayed, are unambiguous, incapable of, and unyielding to plural interpretations. There was nowhere in the order where NERC requested the removal of any staff either seconded to or hired by EKEDC, except those connected to the alleged fraud and negligence i.e., Wola Joseph Condotti, Sheri Adegbenro, and Aik Alenkhe,” he said.

According to Egregor, NERC’s directives were issued to compel the board of EKEDC, following picketing by the union and unrelenting staff protests, “to act appropriately in the face of the determined position of a majority of the board members to cover up the alleged use of ghost workers together with the alleged fraud and protect Wola Joseph Condotti, especially”.

“Mr Dere Otubu’s letter, therefore, was done in bad faith and in vengeful revenge against the MD/CEO for escalating the alleged fraud and issuing queries against one of his protégés, whom he has desperately sworn to protect by all means.

“Rather than comply with the orders of NERC, a recourse to subterfuge was hatched with the purported termination. There are no doubts about a deliberate agenda and unconcealed mischief to misread the orders of the NERC to malign Dr Sanda’s reputation for daring to escalate and issue queries to Wola Joseph Condotti for alleged fraud through the use of ghost workers for three years, and continuous payment of salaries to exited staff despite personally receiving their resignation letters,” Egregor stated.

He added that similar queries were issued to the Chief Audit and Compliance Officer, Sheri Adegbenro, and the Chief Human Resources Officers, Aik Alenkhe, “for their failure and gross negligence to audit and detect fraudulent payments on payroll for over three years”.

On the appointment of Momoh as the Acting MD/CEO, Egregor said, “The board of EKEDC, on which I sit, has neither met nor decided on the purported appointment of Mrs Rekiah Momoh as Acting MD/CEO, except Mr Otubu and his close circle of colleagues have transformed themselves into ‘the board’.

“I and all well-meaning members of the EKEDC board, I believe, should vehemently distance themselves from this contrivance.

“The board is not a one-man show, and matters are to be collectively deliberated on and approved by Board members. Mrs Momoh is the Chief Commercial Officer of EKEDC and remains so.”

Amid the allegations of fraud, the director took pride in saying that the EKEDC was known for due process and legality, adding that anything that would erode the commitment to due process and corporate governance would be resisted.

“Therefore, let it be known that Dr Tinuade Sanda remains the MD/CEO of Eko Electricity Distribution Company and has since her assumption of office as the MD/CEO, turned EKEDC around for good, with very great milestones and achievements which every sector player recognises.

“She made EKEDC the number one distribution company in Nigeria. The investors, board, and management of EKEDC believe firmly in her leadership and look forward to many more record-setting and breaking moments,” he submitted.

Contacted, the EKEDC spokesperson, Babatunde Lasaki, told our correspondent that Sanda was not sacked but only asked to step aside “until the realignment of the structural management process is completed”.

According to Lasaki, Momoh was appointed to avoid a vacuum.

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FG directs banks to deduct 0.375% stamp duty charges on all loans

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The Federal Government has directed commercial banks in the country to henceforth deduct and remit 0.375% on all loans disbursed by them.

The deduction is to be made on the principal loan amount, according to a message sent to customers by banks.

This comes as the government expands the net on transactions covered by the stamp duty charges from regular bank transfers to foreign transactions and now loans.

Recall that banks were also in January this year directed to deduct stamp duty on old foreign transactions between January 2021 to December 2023 by January 31, 2024. Before that, the electronic money transfer levy was only applicable to accounts receiving electronic deposits of N10,000 and above or its equivalent.

In a message sent to their customers on Wednesday notifying them of the deduction, one of the banks wrote:

“Dear Valued Customer,

“We write to inform you that the Federal Government of Nigeria has directed that all banks remit stamp duty on all loans.

“In line with this directive, 0.375% on every principal loan amount disbursed will be debited and remitted to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“However, all existing approved loans remain unchanged and are to be fully repaid in line with the terms and conditions. We are committed to offering you exceptional service every step of the way.”

According to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Stamp Duty is an indirect tax in Nigeria governed by the Stamp Duties Act (SDA), CAP S8 LFN 2004 (as amended).

It is a tax charged for a stamp or seal applied on a written or electronic document which if executed, makes it a legal document and will be admissible in any court of law.

Last year, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, disclosed that the total revenue collected as stamp duty on behalf of the Federal Government in 6 years, between 2016 and 2022, stood at N370.686 billion.

The disclosure came amid allegations by a member of the House of Representatives, Muhammed Kazaure, who claimed that a humongous sum of N89 trillion collected as stamp duty had been allegedly stolen.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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