*DO NOT TAKE THIS FOR GRANTED!!!*

   The first National Conference is here again and is holding in Lagos State your State of residence. Get involved. Get serious and be part of it.

   Are you in Lagos State and have not registered?? Make plans to attend this *Ideas-Over-Dinner* 1 day conference. It's really a day of charting the Roadmap to Success in 2017 by professionals, networking and building expert contacts in related and new fields and finally channelling your focus and energy towards achieving your vision and goals for the year.
 
    The subject we will be reviewing critically which is what the Millionaires secret is
  *What Makes You Rich? *What Makes a Millionaire Rich? Do you think is money? No! Money won't make you *RICH!*
* So what is that thing that makes you successful long before you see the signs of money?
* What are the *Practical Wisdom for Aspiring Millionaires?
* What does it really mean to be rich?
* Why Every *YOUTH* can be a Millionaire
* The Culture of Savings and Investment and finally
* Basic and Practical Principles of Wealth Creation.

   This and many more we will be reviewing in this month of February.
  Fasten your seat belts because the flight is about to take off.
Get a 3 months FREE interraction and association* with high networth individuals for being a part of this event.
  Please endeavour to visit http://youthslead.org for more info.

Nigerians must show evidence of tax payment to get International Passport

    Despite the hardship currently witnessed in the country, the government has finalized plans to burden Nigerians with a more stiffer tax regime.
 
The Federal Government has perfected plans to make Nigerians pay more taxes despite the harsh economic situation in the country.

    This much was made known by the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler who posited that to get an International Passport, Nigerians must show evidence of paying taxes or they will be forced to pay the backlog they owe before they can get the passports.

    Fowler made this pronouncement on Monday, November 28, 2016, at the 136th meeting of the Joint Tax Board held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, which had the theme:
'Increased Inter-Agency Co-operation to Enhance Tax Compliance and Optimise Revenue Collection.'

   Fowler said:“We did take a position and I believe it would be implemented in the very near future that before you get any services from the immigration department, renewal of passports etc, you’d have to show that you are a tax payer.

    These things are normal all over the world, in an effort to serve Nigerians and Nigeria better.
People believe that payment of tax is a burden and I’ll repeat that you only pay tax on income and profits.

    So if you reside in Nigeria and you are benefiting from being a Nigerian resident, it is only fair that you contribute to the system that makes you enjoy that standard of living.”

But many Nigerians have kicked against the numerous taxes they are being made to pay even as things are still not looking up for the citizens of the country occasioned by the ongoing recession.

Lawmakers want petrol sold at N70 per litre

   The lawmaker called for a realistic template that will bring down the price of petrol to N70.04 per litre.

  
   The House of Representatives has called on the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to review the current price of petrol to N70.04 per litre.

    Abubakar Fulata said the current template for the price of PMS could be reviewed downwards without affecting the profit margin of marketers and transporters and also contribute to reducing the current inflationary trend in the economy.

   Fulata noted that the provision of N4.56 in th price template for lightering services is absolutely unnecessary as "in line with international practice, all ships are supposed to dock at the harbour but in the case of Nigeria however, the water in all the harbours is shallow due to siltation and the harbours urgent dredging."

 
   He said: "Though the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is paid N0.84 for every litre of petrol, it has failed to dredge the various docking areas, as a result of which ships wait at the high sea and discharge their own cargo in smaller vessels and for this inefficiency of the NPA, Nigerians are asked to pay N4.56 for every litre of petrol, which would have been necessary if all docking areas have been dredged."

   "The provision of N2.00/l in the template for the maintenance of storage facilities does not benefit government facilities located at over 21 fuel depots in the country.

   "A realistic template will bring down the price of petrol to N70.04 per litre," the lawmaker added.

   The house adopted the motion after it was put to a voice vote by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

    The House also resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee that would work with relevant stakeholders with the view to bring down the price of petrol to N70.04 per litre.

        The committee is expected to report back to the house within eight weeks for further legislative action.

Data Price Increase

NIGERIANS WAIL AS PRESIDENT BUHARI GOES HARDER.

    Nigerians are kicking against a proposed hike in the cost of internet data. Respondents describe the move as insensitive.

    Pulse broke the news of an internet data hike
 on Monday.
   
     As offices shut their doors and the Akara'  and  'Suya' traders set out their stalls for the night's business, two Executives of blue chip telecom firms in Lagos, took turns to ring the Pulsenewsroom.

    Their message was crisp and clear--Nigerians will soon be forced to pay more for data by the Muhammadu Buhariadministration.

     The new data price regime will be rolled out on December 1, 2016, they announced grimly.
 

     "Under the new data price regime, the NCC (Nigeria Communications Commission) has directed all telecom operators in the country to review their current data prices to align with the new price floor and implement same by the 1st of December 2016, while defaulters risk having sanctions imposed on them", one CEO (Chief Executive Officer)explained.

      
    In letters addressed to all network operators, the NCC stated that it "decided to introduce the data price floor as a strategy to stabilize the industry, improve quality of service and ensure that customers get value for their money".

    
     97.1 million Nigerians now have access to the internet, according to 2015 data from the NCC. That's more than half of the country's population of 180 million people, hooked on the internet.

     Nigeria's internet users are spread across Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks.

    Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, more than half of Nigeria's population now reads the news, skim through gossip blogs, hook up on social media and conduct business via the internet.

    Beginning next month, all of those users will be hit hard in the wallet.

     Given that the country's economy is faltering under the weight of a biting recession; with inflation rising to 18 percent in the third quarter--according to latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics--it is little wonder that Nigerians have taken to the internet (where else?) to express their displeasure with the impending data price hike.
 

   "Maybe the real revolution will start when one government official will just wake up and decide that there should be tax on Jollof rice. Drivers license tax coming up.... ATM tax National ID card tax.  Tax everything in sight. Meanwhile we don't see what the money is doing o",  wrote Rita Onwurah on micro-blogging site, Twitter.

    Asher .O. wrote: "Companies are shrinking. Working environment is becoming more hostile day by day. But no! The government must make this harder. All the monies they claim to have recovered, what are they doing with it? Abi na Audio money?"

    According to Ayo Sogunro: "Increase electricity tariff, toll roads, cut subsidy, tax bank deposits, tax passports, tax phone calls. We need to keep government well-fed, folks".

    "We will soon pay tax for being alive in Nigeria. Probably in Buhari's 2nd term", wrote Biola Kazeem.

   "We will soon start paying tax for breathing in Nigeria",offered Saoud Al-Shuraim.

      Public commentator and sports analyst, Emmanuel Nwachukwuwas livid: "You are increasing taxes, tariffs, service charges, demanding tax clearance from people who are unemployed or taking pay cuts to keep a job!
"The FG providing jobs (low paying) for 200,000 but, same govt is going to take all the income via taxes and tariffs!! You people are mad!"
 

      Another public commentator and PR consultant, Bukola Ogunyemi, put the proposed tax regime this way: "Give your cronies and the super rich multiple tax breaks then overtax the poor. They introduce Copulation Tax and you gotta have a sit down with your wife. How many times can we afford in 2017? What if we get a loan?"

   The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has warned the federal government against the data tariff hike.
In a statement signed by its President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Acting Secretary General, Comrade (Barr.) Simeso Amachree, the TUC said the proposed move makes little economic sense and is insensitive.

The statement reads in parts:

"The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria warns against the on-going conspiracy between the Federal Government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and some major telecom companies, especially MTN to further increase their data rates from December 1, 2016. It is really startling the extent government and its capitalist cronies would go to frustrate the lives of Nigerians.

  
    "We feel particularly awful about the move because data is one of the cheapest ways to empower the teeming youth. This move if allowed, would make it unaffordable. In our view, this is insensitive and criminal on the part of the parties involved.

    "We are not surprised that MTN has thrown its whole weight behind the policy; but the telecom giant should realize that trying to lobby the government will not save the organization when the chips are down. Of course, this cannot happen in South Africa.
“Naturally, we had expected that government would increase awareness for greater citizens’ participation especially in ICT, but unfortunately they are doing the opposite. One cannot really situate Federal government policy direction these days.
 
“On the one hand, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is banking on ICT for youth empowerment while on the other, the NCC is trying to cut youth participation. All the promises made to the Chief Executive Officer of Facebook, Mark Zuckerbergwhen he visited the country cannot be achieved if the policy is implemented.

    “This is not the best way to make money. This move is spineless and should be done away with. What then would be the benefit of the policy to the self-employed who depend on data for their businesses? The truth is, cheap internet data is a vehicle of some sort to economic development.

  
  “It is very unfortunate, very unreasonable and inhuman to come up with such idea at a period of recession. Any call for increase in anything for now is most unreasonable, uncalled for and a calculated attempt to record more suicide cases and insecurity in our already tension-soaked country".

    Communication Minister, Adebayo Shittu, was yet to provide a response to this story at the time of heading to press.

   Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, could also not be reached for comments at the time of filing this.

Here's why Nigerians will soon pay more for data

   
  
   Telecom subscribers will soon be paying more for data services, according to plans leaked by stakeholders.
 
    Users of data services – individuals and businesses – across all the networks will soon have to pay more for data.
 
    This follows the introduction of a new price floor for data services by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Pulse has been exclusively informed by telecom operators doing business in Nigeria.

    Two weeks ago, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, proposed a tax on phone calls
 above three minutes, as a way of getting Nigeria out of economic recession.
   
     According to Emefiele, a tax on phone calls will yield some N100B to the treasury.

    A source in one of the telecom services told Pulse on the basis of anonymity that "under the new data price regime, the NCC has directed all telecom operators in the country to review their current data prices to align with the new price floor and implement same by the 1st of December 2016, while defaulters risk having sanctions imposed on them". 

     In letters addressed to all network operators, the NCC stated that it decided to introduce the data price floor as a strategy to stabilize the industry, improve quality of service and ensure that customers get value for their money.

    But there's been resistance from stakeholders.
Indications from industry stakeholders is that the new data price floor would affect all data packages in the market .

     All the current data prices in the market fall below the new price floor, meaning telecoms subscribers should expect an increase in the price of data on their network. 

    A cross section of industry stakeholders have also expressed displeasure over the new price floor introduced by NCC, arguing that it will increase the cost of doing business especially for Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) and other sectors whose operations depend on data.  

    Communications Minister Adebayo Shittu was yet to provide a response to this story at the time of heading to press.

How Nigerian government made Ponzi scheme popular

    The Nigerian government has made MMM popular thanks to its anti-people policies that hasn't helped much in the recession.
   Have you wondered why MMM is popular?

  While there are several reasons to this such as Nigerians loving quick cash, we cannot deny the role played by the Nigerian government.

    Nigerians have had trust issues with the government for years so when the Central Bank of Nigeria advised people not to invest in the Ponzi scheme, many people did not take the  warning to heart.
 
    
      The head of the Consumer Protection Department of the CBN,Suleja Kassim warned Nigerians not to invest
 their hard earned money in the scheme during a mentoring program for students.
  
    The advice fell on deaf ears as the popularity of MMM has continued to soar.
  
  According to the Alexa, the website of MMM Nigeria now ranks higher than the popular social networking site.
 
     MMM is the fifth most visited site in the country while Facebook is now the sixth.

      Another reason why MMM is extremely popular with Nigerians is that people view the government as against the masses.
     Politicians in government can spend millions on themselves and steal public funds but when poor Nigerians start making money on the side, the government tries to shut it down.

    Nigerians flocking to sign up for MMM is a protest move against a government that has done little or nothing to reduce the hardships faced by millions of people during this economic recession.
   
     MMM is not the only Ponzi scheme that Nigerians are signing up for. There are now new schemes that promise people double the money they invested in it.
 
        The CBN has issued a warning and the House of Reps have ordered that the EFCC shut it down, but MMM is still making money and no one is doing anything about it.
  
   Will the MMM bubble burst or will it continue to enrich Nigerians during these hard times.

Why buy exotic cars worth N3.6B in a recession? While state Governors can't afford pay salary to civil servants

   
  
       Lawmakers purchasing cars at billions of Naira during a recession have finally severed non-existent ties with the Nigerian people24
    
     According to various reports, lawmakers in the green chamber have begun taking delivery of their exotic cars worth some N3.6B.
 

    A story in The Punch newspaper details that 28 units of thePeugeot 508 series have been delivered to lawmakers in Abuja.

   
     In the words of the newspaper, “The House allocated a princely N3.6B for the cars in the 2016 budget at a unit price of N10m.

 
“Fifty cars will be delivered in the first batch; 28 have already been supplied. That was last week.

   “Twenty-two more in the first batch are required  to be delivered this week.”

The Senate has since acquired its own exotic cars at a cumulative cost of N4.7B.

   The lawmakers say these cars will aid their work. The cars have been called ‘utility’ or ‘committee’ vehicles.
 

    Nigerians have long deemed the lifestyle choices of their parliamentarians as mindlessly obscene.
When the legislators aren’t receiving bumper packages to upgrade their wardrobes and purchase new furniture, they are acquiring luxury cars.
Abdulrazak Namdas, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, says Nigerians should cut the lawmakers some slack in this instance.

   “This issue of cars is long overdue. They are not for luxury but for committee and oversight duties. The 8th Assembly is nearing two years, yet members have no cars to carry out their duties.

     “Ministers and other officials in the executive have long bought vehicles for official duties.

   “At the state level, members of House of Assembly have cars to carry out basic functions. I think it is only fair that members of the National Assembly will have utility vehicles for their assignments.”
 

      Like the rest of the country, our lawmakers should have their budgets for items like car purchases, slashed.

     At a time when State Governors say they can’t afford to pay salaries of civil servants, when majority of Nigerians are just managing to get by, when more than 80 percent of Nigerians survive on less than a dollar a day and when millions of Nigerians live in extreme poverty.........at a period when the price of oil in the international market has continued to plunge and when the value of the Naira is eroding faster thanPresident Buhari’s goodwill, is it really okay for lawmakers to go on with this exotic car purchases?

        If government officials still ride around town in exotic     cars, what moral right do they have to ask the citizenry to tighten their belts?
It has to be said that our lawmakers live in an alternate universe and that government officials exist in a bubble.
 
        If there’s still some conscience left in the world, some of these exotic cars will be auctioned and the monies returned to the treasury. If the lawmakers really need these cars, they can actually purchase cheaper cars at a price lower than N10M for each car.

In the words of singer Omawumi: "Do these guys mean us well?"

John Mikel Obi, Midfielder is ready to leave Chelsea in January

   Conte has preferred the midfield partnership N'Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic leaving the Nigeria international out.
  John Mikel Obi  midfielder John Mikel Obi has revealed that he is ready to leave the club in January after failing to make Antonio Conte’s team.
Mikel Obi has been out of the team since he returned from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games where he played and won bronze for Nigeria in the football event.

    Conte has preferred the midfielder partnership N'Golo Kanteand Nemanja Matic leaving the Nigeria international out.
 
The lack of playing time is getting to Mikel who says he might leave Chelsea in January.

“We will wait and see what happens in January,” the 29-year-old midfielder told ESPN.

“For the first time in my career, this is happening to me and I have to stand up and deal with it.
“It is what it is but I'm training hard every day and I always wish the team the best and I am happy we are doing well.

 
  After 10 years at the club, John Mikel Obi is ready to leave Chelsea.

“I've been at Chelsea a long time. Managers come and go, players come and go. I've been at Chelsea a long time and these things happen in football. So we will have to make that decision when January comes.”

Mikel is the second oldest serving Chelsea player in the club currently and has won two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, a Europe League trophy and a Champions League at the club.

5 crazy things couples do when they become comfortable with each other

Most times, these signs point to the fact that the love and affection in your relationship is growing.

                     
                    When the newness of a relationship wears off, and the lovers fall into a pattern of intimacy, how does this affect their relationship?


Many times, what happens at this stage is that the partners get far away from the awkwardness that is usually common at the beginning of the relationship.


Each partner knows what the other likes already; they also know the boundaries of each other's temperaments. In short, they know all about each other.


This is actually a very good stage to be in, as it suggests that the relationship lasted long enough for understanding to blossom.
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Pillowfights are simply the stuff of intimate couples.

What are the crazy things that couples might do at this stage?
1. Let out 'gas' in presence of the other

Some partners actually believe that if the other has not done this in their presence, he/she is still hiding something from them.

Crazy, yeah? But it is actually a gauge for closeness and intimacy.


2. Play fighting

This actually needs no explanation, except to say that it does not happen without a certain deep level of intimacy.


3. Ridiculous nicknames

This is really reserved for really playful, close partners, and most times, the crazier the nickname, the likelier it is that the partners are very intimate.
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4. Jokeful insults

Surely Nigerians in relationships must understand this very well.

"See your head like Badagry coconut." We all know this is not really an insult, It is a word of endearment.


5. Brutal honesty

Simply because by this stage, you both are too close to be mincing words on serious matters.

You just say it as it is.

Couples should have sex 3 times a week, 40.6% of the 2500 says.

How often should sex be in a marriage or relationship?

Having sex thrice in a week is the ideal for couples who intend to reach happiness in their relationship.


    40.6% of the 2500 in the survey say that this is how it should be, while 21.1% of those people say once in a week is enough for sex.


       Another 18% believe that for couples to reach sexual satisfaction, they have to get at it five times in a week. [Basically, that's having sex from Monday to Friday. Rest on Saturday and Sunday, then repeat.]

      20.3% favour random, unplanned sex, voting that couple can do whatever works best for them - maybe that is doing it once a month or seven days a week.
play
 Three times a week is the ideal number of times to have sex for couples.

 



      Regardless of how many times couples decide to enjoy sex though, it is agreed that they can reduce the frequency as they age.

This is due to several reasons, among which is the fact that less sex reduces the risk of Urinary Tract Infection.