The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has finally thrown its weight behind the proposed tax reform bills currently at the national assembly.

In a statement on Thursday, the group proposed an “equitable” sharing formula for value-added tax (VAT).

The development was an outcome of a meeting between the NGF and the presidential tax reform committee, convened on January 16, 2025, to deliberate on critical national issues, including the reform of Nigeria’s fiscal policies and tax system.

According to the statement, the governors recommended that there should be no terminal clause for TETFUND, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in the sharing of development levies in the bills.

They also supported the continuation of the legislative process at the national assembly that will culminate in the eventual passage of the tax reform bills.

“The Forum reiterated its strong support for the comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s archaic tax laws. Members acknowledged the importance of modernizing the tax system to enhance fiscal stability and align with global best practices,” the statement reads.

“The Forum endorsed a revised Value Added Tax (VAT) sharing formula to ensure equitable distribution of resources: 50% based on equality, 30% based on derivation, and 20% based on population.

“Members agreed that there should be no increase in the VAT rate or reduction in Corporate Income Tax (CIT) at this time, to maintain economic stability.”

The group advocated for the continued exemption of essential goods and agricultural produce from VAT to safeguard the welfare of citizens and
promote agricultural productivity.

On October 13, 2024, President Bola Tinubu asked the national assembly to consider and pass four tax reform bills.

The proposed legislations are the Nigeria tax bill, tax administration bill, and joint revenue board establishment bill.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled two digital solutions to reduce the use of cash for government transactions.

The innovations are the document flow (DocFLow) system and the ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) naira payment solution.

According to a statement on Thursday, Olayemi Cardoso, CBN’s governor, launched the initiatives on January 15 in Abuja.

Cardoso described the projects as part of the bank’s digital revolution project tagged, ‘Digital First’.

The governor had flagged off the ‘Digital First’ initiative in December 2023 as one of his transformation initiatives.

Speaking on the two solutions, Cardoso said the DocFlow system would revolutionise the bank’s document management by digitising paperwork, reducing paper usage, and streamlining the approval process.

He said the MDAs naira payment solution is a vital tool for automating cash withdrawal processes for MDAs, noting its potential to improve service delivery and client support.

Cardoso also lauded the in-house development of both systems, citing the associated cost savings and their contribution to sustainability through technological progress.

On his part, Emem Usoro, CBN’s deputy governor of operations, said the launch highlighted the bank’s commitment to innovation and operational excellence.

Usoro said improved service delivery, reduced errors, and stronger measures against fraud are the benefits of the MDAs naira payment solution.

Omoyemen Jide-Samuel, acting director of the CBN’s information technology department, said the MDAs naira payment solution has been successfully tested with several MDAs and aligns with the bank’s goal of “Excellence in Central Banking Operations.”

She said the payment solution is considered a game-changer in the CBN’s financial transaction management.

Jide-Samuel said the initiative is projected to “improve payment turnaround time by 70 percent and further enhance Nigeria’s financial ecosystem”.

Meta has announced plans to lay off approximately five percent of its workforce.

The move, outlined in a memo obtained by Bloomberg, is part of a broader strategy to raise performance standards as the company gears up for what Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Meta, described as an “intense year”.

In the memo, Zuckerberg highlighted Meta’s dedication to developing transformative technologies and shared the company’s goal of building teams with the brightest talent.

He added that the company’s updated performance management approach will accelerate the process of addressing low performance.

“Meta is working on building some of the most important technologies of the world. AI, glasses as the next computing platform and the future of social media. This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” the memo reads.

“We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle, with the intention of back filling these roles in 2025.”

Meta has more than 72,000 employees, according to its most recent quarterly report.

In a report by CNBC, an unnamed director at the company confirmed that the latest reduction expected to be completed by February 10, 2025, will affect about 3,600 employees.

The decision also comes amid significant operational shifts at Meta.

On January 7, Zuckerberg announced plans to replace third-party fact-checkers with a community notes system, similar to Elon Musk’s X platform, and to reinstate more political content on the platform.

The tech mogul had also revealed plans for artificial intelligence (AI) to take over the roles of mid-level software engineers at Meta.