A California court  has ruled that Apple cannot stop app developers from directing users to third-party payment options. That was part of the outcome after Fortnite-maker Epic Games took Apple to court on some of Apple’s app store policies, including the requirements that all apps must use  Apple’s own in-app payment options. Apple picks about 30% of all payments as its commissions.

The Tekedia Business Growth Playbooks with Ndubuisi Ekekwe continues today at 4.30pm WAT. I will introduce why the most important decision a CEO can make in business is deciding the business model he/she will run. In short, companies pay CEOs to decide on a business model!

Yes, while there are many business models out there, I will zero down on the two most dominant models/playbooks which are accelerating value creation across the world. Zoom in the Board.

We’re Tekedia Institute, we are the high priests for the understanding of market systems. Visit school.tekedia.com

If you want to join Tekedia Institute Mini-MBA edition 6 which begins on Monday, Sept 13, now is the time to register. The early registration benefits (free Facyber cybersecurity, free ebooks, etc) end today. Sure, you can still register after today but those benefits will not be included. Cost remains N50k or $140 for the 12-week business education.

Join other innovators and project champions as we begin another edition of academic festival on the pillars of innovation, growth and business execution, cemented on digital operational overlay.

Register here and join us.

Read this Facebook post by Rivers State governor, Governor Wike, as the battle for who collects VAT in Rivers state rages.

In a stakeholders meeting, the governor noted that he would go after the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) if they do not cease from attempting to collect VAT in Rivers State.

He said, “People say that let heaven not fall but sometimes I believe that heaven should come down so that everybody will rest…When we do the right thing, heaven is at peace. So, the right thing must be done at all times.

“Rivers State is challenging FIRS from collecting VAT in Rivers State. I am not challenging FIRS from collecting VAT in Abuja. Let it be understood. But the law says Rivers must collect VAT in the state.”

“The Federal Government surreptitiously lobbied to amend the constitution to place VAT collection under the exclusive legislative list. We have challenged it and we have no apologies to anybody.

“I don’t want to be in the good book of anybody but in the good book of God. You don’t bully a state like us. FIRS should be very careful. I have the political will to do a lot of things. If they continue to bully us, I will take all their offices in the state.’’

Lagos State Joins Rivers State

Lagos state has joined this fray passing a bill to also be in charge of its own VAT collection. The governor has signed it into law: “Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has signed into law the State Value-Added Tax Bill as passed by the House of Assembly days after Rivers State government took the same route.”

“The governor signed the ‘bill for a law to impose and charge VAT on certain goods and services’ at about 11.45 a.m. on Friday after returning from an official trip in Abuja,” Gbenga Omotoso, the commissioner for Information and Strategy, said in a statement.

“By this act, the bill has now become a law,” he added.

The Lagos State House of Assembly transmitted a clean copyof the VAT Bill to Mr Sanwo-Olu on September 9, through the acting clerk of the House, Olalekan Onafeko.

Appeal Court Rules on River State

The Court has ruled that Rivers State and FIRS should pause this VAT battle until the court concludes. FIRS appealed the ruling or High Court which said that Rivers State has the right to collect VAT in the state. FIRS pushed for a state of execution which was not granted. Now, the appeal court wants all the parties to pause until it finishes its works.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Friday, ordered the Rivers and Lagos state governments to stay action on their bids to collect Value Added Tax (VAT) pending the resolution of the legal dispute on the matter.

A three-man panel of the appellate court ordered that the enforcement of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, latched on to by the state governments be put on hold.

Haruna Tsanami, the judge who delivered the lead ruling of the panel, also suspended the operation of the law passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly and assented to by Governor Nyesom Wike, for the collection of VAT by the State government.

Value added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax paid when goods are purchased and services are rendered, and it is currently set at 7.5 per cent in Nigeria.

Court Declares VAT Collection by Nigeria Unconstitutional

Coinbase, the US-based cryptocurrency exchange, is not happy about something. That thing has to do with Wells notice. A Wells notice is the official way a regulator tells a company it intends to sue the company in court. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has alerted Coinbase that it was coming.

Then, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase went to Twitter to “report” the Securities and Exchange Commission. Yes, Mr. Armstrong took to Twitter to share his thoughts and clarify the situation with the SEC early Wednesday morning. “Some really sketchy behavior coming out of the SEC recently,” he began, adding:

Ostensibly the SEC’s goal is to protect investors and create fair markets. So who are they protecting here and where is the harm? People seem pretty happy to be earning yield on these various products, across lots of other crypto companies.

“Shutting these down would arguably be harming consumers more than protecting them, and by preventing Coinbase from launching the same thing that other companies already have live, they’re creating an unfair market,” he argued.

Armstrong further opined: “If we end up in court we may finally get the regulatory clarity the SEC refuses to provide. But regulation by litigation should be the last resort for the SEC, not the first.”

My Question: is this a possibility in Nigeria where SEC and the Central Bank of Nigeria can unilaterally SUSPEND, PAUSE, BAN and do whatever they like without engaging companies? But here, a company is essentially reporting its regulator being confident that the court will do its work. People, we need to advance our corporate democratic systems in Nigeria.

1/ Some really sketchy behavior coming out of the SEC recently.
Story time…

— Brian Armstrong ?? (@brian_armstrong) September 8, 2021