FG approves Bilateral agreement to end double taxation with Singapore

The Federal Government on Wednesday approved a Bilateral Agreement that will end double taxation and evasion of taxes on income and capital benefits between Nigeria and Singapore.

The government also approved a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with the State of Qatar, Singapore and Nigeria.

The approvals were made at the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo .

Briefing newsmen after the meeting which lasted for three hours , Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun alongside Ministers of Culture and Information, Lai Mohammed, State for Aviation Hadi Sirika, said the approval is meant to facilitate more trade between Nigeria and Singapore seeing that the two countries have a major trade history.

“The basis for which we choose to sign this agreement with Singapore is that Singapore is a major trading partner with Nigeria. They buy oil from us. Petroleum export to Singapore for the last five years is about $264 billion and we import about N311 billion worth of goods from them. Its a major trading partner and we needed to have this
bilateral agreement.

“Is basically to ensure companies are not tax twice but it also ensure companies cannot evade tax when trading between the two countries” she said.

On the bilateral air service agreement with the State of Qatar, Singapore and Nigeria, the minister of state for Aviation said the government considered Singapore’s efficiency as the biggest hop in the far eastern part of the globe before entering into the agreement.

He said, “Of course Singapore is becoming the most efficient and the biggest hop around the far eastern part of our globe, serving New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Singapore, Indonesia etc.

“We thought that in our efforts to also create a hop within Nigeria, the centre of Africa, we will leverage on the opportunity to create air services between the two countries and Qatar being in the middle east with robust aviation and strong carrier with ability to move goods and services in a very efficient and fast manner and also high
value commodities by air. We saw the need to sign some agreement so that it will be defined how we are going to do businesses between Nigeria, Qatar and Singapore.

“The President had approved that air services agreement be signed and now the council has rectified and approved what was signed as a document and is now on its way to National Assembly for ratification”.

In February this year, President Muhamadu Buhari signed a Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA), to liberalise aviation international commercial air transport services and avoidance of double taxation and tax evasion with Qatar.