The Federal Government has introduced a new package of tax incentives and fiscal waivers designed to ease the burden on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially businesses with annual turnover below N50 million.
The policy, approved at the Federal Executive Council meeting, includes a two-year tax holiday for tech startups and agribusinesses, along with simplified filing to curb multiple taxation and encourage informal businesses to adopt formal channels.
Officials also disclosed a low-interest credit facility to be managed by the Bank of Industry, positioning the reforms as a jobs-and-production strategy for a manufacturing chain strained by high operating costs.
Echotitbits take: These reforms are a direct response to rising inflation and the high cost of doing business. While the tax holiday is welcome, success will hinge on eliminating the ‘hidden taxes’ of weak infrastructure and logistics bottlenecks. Watch for implementation guidelines from FIRS in the coming weeks.
Source: Kuda – https://kuda.com/blog/nigeria-2026-tax-reform-what-it-means-for-your-money-and-business/ 2026-01-27
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday approved N1.6billion for the establishment of the e-Government Procurement Platform to address corrupt practices in the government’s procurement system.
The Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mamman Ahmadu, said the new platform would help eliminate corruption as well as enhance the country’s procurement process.
President Buhari presides over Federal Executive Council (FEC) Meeting in State House on 14th Oct 2020. Photo: Femi Adesina
He said: “Today, BPP presented a memo on e-government procurement. E-government procurement has the potential of improving the procurement process, eliminate corruption, and reduce the leak time in the procurement process itself.
“There have been a lot of complaints about the long time it takes to go through the due process. With the establishment of this, we will reduce that time.
“It also removes subjectivity from the process. There have been lots of complaints about subjectivity in the approval process that will be dealt with squarely when it is eventually launched,” he said.
According to him, the step taken by the government is in line with the current global trend.
“E-government procurement is a global trend and from the research carried out by the World Bank, it had been established that countries that have taken off with e-government procurement have witnessed exponential economic growth and they have stimulated ICT in those countries.
“It will reduce corruption to the barest minimum because it will reduce the human interface within the process. The overall cost is about N1.6 billion,” he said.
The Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, who also addressed the correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, said the Council approved Nigeria’s contribution of two million dollars for the West African Power Pool (WAPP)
He expressed the hope that the contribution would in turn generate income for Nigeria, to cushion the dwindling oil revenue.
According to him, the power pool being a common entity of countries in West Africa, plays a role of coordination and synergy among countries, as well as boosting electricity supply in the region.
Mamman also said the regional power pools would be of great assistance in case the national grid of any of the member states fails.
“The pool is about having synergy within the West African region. The decision has been taken by ECOWAS, it’s for the generation of electricity in the region, so as to have a more constant and steady power supply.
“It’s like the national grid in Nigeria, so we are going to have a regional grid. It means in case there is a failure in one country, another can supplement it. The $2 million is a contribution,” he said.
Also shedding more light on the electricity pool, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said all ECOWAS countries had been contributing annually to the cost of transmission of electricity in the region, since the establishment of WAPP in 1999.
He said: “The West African power pool is made up of all west African countries because each member state contributes annually to the cost of power transmission across the pool. Because the consequence is that if there is a problem in one country it could inadvertently affect the other country.
“It’s a common pool and every country has its own section and our contribution for this year is $2 million.
“It’s not as if we are giving two million dollars to ECOWAS, we are simply paying our own contribution to the transmission from Nigeria to other West African countries and viz-visa”, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.
The Federal Government has approved the sum of $1,9million for the construction of a rail line that will link Nigeria to the Niger Republic.
The fund approval was made at the 16th virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at the council chamber of the State House, Abuja
The rail line is expected to run from Kano through Katsina and will be linked with the Maradi rail line in the neighboring West African nation.
FEC also approved for the ministry of transport, a 3.04 billion naira contract awarded for the design, manufacture, supply, testing, and commissioning of one railway crane of 150-ton capacity for emergency and recovery of rolling stocks.
During briefing after the meeting, members of the FEC told state house correspondents that other memos approved by the council include 62 new black maria vehicles, 8 more forensic auditors for the NDDC, and the construction of the Umuahia/Bende/Ohafia road.
The highway in Umuahia is expected to engulf over N12 billion, while, the sum of N3.7 billion was approved as augmentation of the contract for the construction of the petroleum development fund corporate headquarters in Abuja.
Similarly, eight more forensic field auditors were added to the NDDC audit while, 1,800 laptops were approved for the customs service schools in Abuja, Lagos, and Kano for the sum of N351.5 million, and N197.8 million was approved for the expansion of the Nigeria Customs Service cash management software.
Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has urged the President Buhari-led Federal Executive Council (FEC) to begin in earnest estimates for the 2021 budget and ensure it is presented to the National Assembly by the end of September this year.
Senate President Lawan stated this Tuesday in his remarks after President Muhammadu Buhari’s request on the 2021 – 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) was referred to the Senate Committees on Finance; and National Planning for further legislative input.
Lawan, while charging both Committees to engage the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning on the MTEF/FSP request, stressed the need for the panel to lend its support to Revenue Generating Agencies, where necessary, towards meeting expected revenue targets.
The Committees were given four weeks to report back to the Senate.
“The request of Mr. President C-in-C is referred to the two committees, Senate Committees on Finance; Budget and National Planning, with Finance as the lead Committee.
“This Senate is giving the Committee four weeks within which to work very closely with the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, and particularly engagement with the revenue-generating agencies where we are expecting them to meet their targets.
“We need to ensure that they have all the support that they require from the National Assembly, particularly the Senate to meet their targets.
“Meanwhile, the executive should continue to work on the preparations for the 2021 budget, and by this, we are also equally committed to ensuring that we receive the budget estimates at the end of September and that we are able to consider the budget and get it passed before the end of December to repeat what we did for budget 2020,” Lawan said.
Photos: President Buhari presides over a Virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council Meeting in State House on 1st July 2020
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