Osinbajo who made the announcement during an interactive session with delegates from the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria led by its President, Adesina Adedayo, at the Presidential Villa, said these global tech giants will be taxed even if they have not established an office or have a permanent establishment in the country.

A statement released by his media aide, Laolu Akande read  “While the Federal Government will not be raising tax rates at this time, based on the Finance Act 2019, it’s already empowered to widen the tax net. This includes collecting taxes on the Nigerian income of global tech giants with a significant economic presence here, even if they have not established an office or permanent establishment, and are currently not paying taxes in Nigeria. In this regard, Section 4 of the Finance Act 2019, provides that the finance minister, may by order of the president, determine what constitutes the significant economic presence of a company, other than a Nigerian company. We’ve had severe economic downturns, which of course implies that we may not be able to collect taxes with the aggressiveness that would ordinarily be expected. I think the most important thing is that we must widen our tax net so that more people who are eligible to pay tax are paying. I’m sure you are aware of the initiatives including the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), which was also an attempt to bring more people into the tax net, including those who have foreign assets”

In the letter released by Laolu Akande, Osinbajo’s spokesman, the vice-president said it would be insensitive for him to attend the award ceremony in the light of the travails of Omoyele Sowore, convener of RevolutionNow movement.

The letter reads:

”I am extremely grateful for the recognition and award of the “Integrity Specialty of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism’s Anti-corruption Defender Award of 2019” to me. The award, I note, is for our Justice reform efforts in Lagos State. I had accepted the award with pride on behalf of the excellent Justice Sector team we had. However, two reasons explain my absence. First is that I am currently in Abu Dhabi for an international meeting under the auspices of the government of the UAE where I am the keynote speaker.  Second, in view of the development on Friday in the Sowore case, I think it would be insensitive and inappropriate to attend the ceremony. Please accept my heartfelt apologies and extend the same to the other members of the organizing team. God bless you.”

He made this known at the National Festival for Arts and Culture in Benin, saying that smuggling discourages local production, added that prosperous nations always grow what they eat.

He said “Part of the reasons for shutting the border is the smuggling that has been going on. If we continue to allow the Chinese and others to continue to bring in all those things, we will kill farming completely and most of our people will not be employed. There may be some pain in other to gain. The countries of the world that are prosperous didn’t allow anybody to bring in anything to their country. They made sure they grew what they eat. I can assure you that very soon you will see a great deal of progress, you will see a more of our own commodity coming into the market. If we allow our own people grow these things, our people will prosper. The only way our people can prosper is if we let them use the opportunity that they have such as farming, fishing and others. We are going to make sure that commodity are cheaper. We must bare in mind that the reason today some commodity are more expensive is because we stopped smuggling. We have to encourage our local farmers so that our local farmers can prosper”.

The Vice President in the petition written on his behalf by Femi Atoyebi & Co, solicitors, described the video as defamatory. Osinbajo also stated that he will be seeking a legal redress if the video is not removed.

The letter reads “It is our understanding that you have provided a platform through which an account holder named RootsTV Nigeria, an online news platform that is available through this link… is able to continuously broadcast defamatory contents. In the broadcast published on the accounts of RootsTV Nigeria on September 20, 2019, the following incorrect statements and untruths were made: a. Our Client was stacking up public funds from agencies directly under his supervision, with a strong insinuation that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was the principal organ by which the alleged fraud was perpetrated. b. Our Client was unable to explain the alleged imbalance and discrepancies on the account of the FIRS on the interrogation of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Abba Kyari. c. Our Client was unable to explain the alleged failed disbursement to all beneficiaries under the Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government in Adamawa State. Our Client, therefore, demands that you immediately remove and/or suspend the publication/broadcast of the defamatory publication on the account of RootsTV Nigeria on the platform of YouTube.”

Speaking on behalf of the Presidency while appearing on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Wednesday September 18, Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said all the President did this week was just to “tweak governance and get the best for Nigerians”.

He said “The Vice President is the number two man in the country. the new economic advisory body can also relate with the Vice President as necessary. It’s just some Nigerians who want to drive a wedge between the President and the VP, that read meanings into everything and insinuate but there’s no need for that”.

The meeting comes on the heels of the inauguration of new ministers by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.

The NEC meeting which is held monthly, deliberates on the coordination of the economic planning efforts and economic programmes of the various levels in government. The council comprises the 36 state governors, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Minister of Finance, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and other government officials and agencies whose duties hinge on the economy.

On Friday August 9th, the verification badge on the account was removed and some of his tweets were deleted after attempts by some persons to hack his account.

Today we can report that VP has gotten his account back and his verification badge is back.

Mr Ayo Owolabi made this know to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who was in his house in Kaduna state on Sunday July 28th.

He said “There is nothing anyone can do in a situation like this. One has to take it as one of those challenges of life. I felt pained. The only thing that made me sad outside the event was that, when I learnt about what happened immediately after he was shot. He was taken to the first hospital where they said they could not handle his case and was referred to Garki hospital where he was attended to and was stabilised. But the doctor, who was supposed to do surgery on him, was far away. Possibly if he was available, the boy’s life would have been saved and that would have saved us from this agony we found ourselves in for the past one week. I would have loved to find out why the doctor was not around. And what step has the management of that hospital taken on that doctor’s action. I saw the boy in a video sitting down, holding his tommy and bleeding. But the doctor to do the surgery was nowhere to be found.”