The next day, little Felician, accompanied by her daughter Lily, ran to the mine again.
No matter what Cao Mo said, Ochosan Little Felician certainly knew the true nature of the cooperation.
As a professor at Oyo State Junior College, Ojosan has a deep understanding of the history of Kanem, and he is well aware that this land is full of suffering.
From the early 16th century to the mid-20th century, Canem was colonized by Portugal, France, England and other countries.
During the most prosperous period of the slave trade, a total of more than two million people in this land were sold to North and South America as slaves; the colonists also never stopped plundering Kanem in other aspects.
After the overthrow of colonial rule, more than 90% of the federal government's financial dependence was on oil and gas extraction, various metal mineral deposits, and cash crop exports, all of which were monopolized by European and American companies or the descendants of the colonists who stayed in Kanem.
Ochosan himself has a natural psychological repulsion and conflict with foreign-funded enterprises.
However, as a scholar, he also knew that Kanem needed to develop at this time and could not do without the investment of external capital and technology.
In the past two years, more and more Chinese-funded enterprises have entered the market. Most of them are backward industries that have been eliminated from China. Their methods of opening up the market are also quite barbaric. They generally bribe local officials and have little awareness of the environment and taxation. At the same time, they are very concerned about Kanem
I don’t have much confidence in the future development, and there are no long-term development plans in Kanem. In short, there are various shortcomings.
However, at least it has made some contributions to Kanem's employment and development.
Ochosan knows that there is an old saying in China, which is "the lesser of two evils." Kanem is far from being picky, so he himself is not very enthusiastic about foreign-funded enterprises, but he is not
Acceptable.
His personal attitude towards the tribe's cooperation with foreigners in mining gold mines was nothing more than that. At first, he just thought that Cao Mo wanted to make a quick buck in Yibogu and left.
The relationship between Ochosan and his father had been tense for a long time, and he was indifferent to the affairs of the tribe. However, his father called to explain the situation. Even though the Yibo gold mine was constantly being harassed by the local area, Cao Mo actually suffered the greater loss.
In any case, these four police officers were directly targeting the Felician family.
This meant that he could no longer sit idly by.
Of course, after seeing it in person, Ochosan's mind changed a lot.
Although the Lonta region is backward, Ochosan still has some knowledge as a scholar at Catero College, the capital of Oyo State.
He had to admit that Cao Mo was still different from some of the foreign investors he had interacted with in the past.
Cao Mo's investment in the Yibogu Gold Mine is not large, but his investment and construction of the mining area are all aimed at regular mining companies and long-term development.
The construction of the work area has a clear plan and is being implemented step by step.
The access roads built from the tribes to the mining areas were not simply designed to be convenient and trouble-free. They were also of high standard and were conducive to the development of the tribes to the north.
The tailings from placer gold mining and the turbid sewage were not directly poured back into the Lukaku River. Instead, a stone dam wall was built near the river using the terrain of the valley.
The placer machine is placed on the inside of the stone dam wall. The stone dam wall can intercept the tailings mud water, which can prevent the tailings from clogging the river. The sewage will settle and then flow back into the Lukaku River, which can further reduce the pollution to the water body.
Hiring teachers to provide vocational training for the workers in the tribe further shows that Cao Mo has long-term investment and development ideas in Yibo Ancient Village.
As for the investment and development of the farm, when Ochosan returned to the tribe, he directly met with officials from the Chinese consulate and agricultural aid experts in Africa, which further proved that Cao Mo was not just talking about this.
No matter what prejudice Ochosan harbors against foreign investors, he will not exclude investors like Cao Mo.
It’s not exclusive, but conditions must still be mentioned.
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No matter what the relationship between Ochosan and Felician was with his father, he was the heir to this land. The villagers in the tribe and the workers in the mine also respected him.
Seeing Ochosan, accompanied by Lily, walk directly into the work area to visit, Cao Mo saw that except for Kabuga, Owema, Potu and others took it for granted, and no one came over to tell him.
Cao Mo could only be glad that he didn't have any evil intentions when cooperating with the old chief.
The registration of the company and the signing of the agreement were done in accordance with the current laws of Kanem, and the mining license from the state government was also duly issued.
Otherwise, if Ochosan wanted to drive him away, he would have no room to struggle.
"Mr. Felician, you're up so early!" Cao Mo walked over to say hello.
Ochosan was tall and tall, but still had the temperament of a scholar. Wearing a traditional local robe, Ochosan walked onto the river bank. When he saw Cao Mo walking alone, he directly mentioned what Abacha had told him before leaving last night.
Abacha arrived at Ibogu Village yesterday, indeed with good intentions.
To put it bluntly, it has to do with the chaotic local tax system.
The local tax law of Oyo State stipulates that in addition to a small amount of mining license fees collected directly by the state government, more taxes from small enterprises such as the Ibogu gold mine only need to be paid to the tribe.
The problem is that the Yibogu Gold Mine is a mining company registered by the Felician family. The equipment rental and technical service company registered by Cao Mo is a partner, and the gold mine is located on the private land of the Felician family.
In the agreement signed by both parties, Cao Mo had folded all the taxes and fees payable to the tribe into dividends.
This is also a common practice among foreign investors in Canem.
Abacha's intention was not to ask Cao Mo to pay additional taxes to the Longta Municipal Council, but such a tax structure was obviously unreasonable, and everyone was well aware of it.
The Patriotic Construction Front is not only Kanem's ruling party, but also the first political party in Oyo State. However, as a political party that holds power through elections, its daily expenses and the cost of elections every four years are staggering.
To put it bluntly, Abacha and other municipal councilors of the Patriotic Construction Front who hold power in the Longta area provide necessary facilities for the Ibogu gold mine, but Cao Mo is required to make regular donations to the Patriotic Construction Front in accordance with a certain proportion.
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"Mr. Felician, please let me think about it first."
Cao Mo understood that this was a political donation, which could also be regarded as an additional tax burden or local protection fee, but it did not need to be paid to the Longta area, but directly to the Patriotic Construction Front.
If his intuition was correct, Abacha wanted to put forward this condition directly yesterday and put pressure on him to agree directly, but the arrival of Zhou Jianmin disrupted Abacha's plan.
Abacha softened his attitude and left the whole matter to Ojosan, which meant that there was still room for bargaining.
Even if Cao Mo could accept such conditions, he would not directly agree to it so quickly.
He said that he would reply to Abacha and other Lonta municipal councilors of the Patriotic Construction Front through Ojosan after careful consideration.
Ochosan was not in a hurry.
Since he asked Abacha to solve the problem of the corrupt police extorting the Ibogu gold mine, he must bring these words to Abacha.
In addition, although he is also a senior member of the Patriotic Construction Front in Oyo State, he has always been in academia and has not been directly involved in politics. He will not directly intervene in such donations.
Ocho Sang sent the message and returned to the tribe. Cao Mo walked to his residence and saw Song Yuqing had just gotten up.
At this time, the cook prepared breakfast and brought it to Cao Mo's room.
Cao Mo first briefly explained today's work to Kabuja, Overma, Potu, Pari and others, and also asked Lucy, who only came to the mine every half month, to follow Kabuja to familiarize herself with the situation in the mine.
, he and Song Yuqing sat on the balcony, enjoying breakfast in the not-too-blazing morning sun.
The rays of the morning sun reflected shimmering light on the leaves, and the Shikaku River meandered from afar.
The Lukaku River originates from the depths of the jungle mountains on the border between Kanem and Benin. Its flow is quite stable. Even at the end of the rainy season, the water flow is still quite strong.
"What did Mr. Felician want to talk to you about?" Song Yuqing asked Cao Mo curiously when she saw Ocho Sang leaving.
"You also know that when I rent equipment and provide technical support, I get a commission based on the amount of gold mined," Cao Mo said. "Abacha hopes that 3% of the profits from the Ibogu Gold Mine will be donated to the Patriotic Construction Front.
As for the donation, Ochosan must have promised Abacha that I should also contribute a proportion of the money..."
"Are you going to agree to their conditions?" Song Yuqing saw Cao Mo hesitatingly tearing the bread with his hands and asked, "To be honest, collecting a total of 3% of the profit as protection fee is not too harsh. If we were in China,
Your income and personal income tax can make you cry for several nights..."
"..." Of course Cao Mo knew that the money was not much, but the Kanem federal government held elections every four years in the region. If he was determined to get a handful, he would have stuffed it with thirty to fifty thousand US dollars in the past two years.
It doesn't matter whether Abacha is in his personal pocket. It is definitely more beneficial than harmful to have a good relationship with the Patriotic Construction Front.
However, he was thinking about long-term development in Kanem, which was a bit uncomfortable anyway, so he did not rush to agree to Ochosan, and thought about weighing the relationship more thoroughly before talking.
"Of course, if you want to cooperate with the Felician family for a long time, or from the perspective of the long-term interests of the Felician family, there are still some problems. The last election was two years ago, and the next two years will be new.
When the election comes, let alone whether the Patriotic Construction Front can continue to govern Kanem, it is not clear what will happen with the Oyo State Assembly election and the regional municipal committee election - in the long run, even if you are willing to pay this money, how can
You still have to think carefully before purchasing,”
As a financial officer, Song Yuqing always pays attention to Kanem's tax policy adjustments, saying,
"The Patriotic Construction Front and President Buhari have emphasized the need to strengthen the taxing power of regional finances and use them for infrastructure construction. If you and the Felician family pay this money directly as local taxes, they will be paid to Long Island.
As for the finance of the Tajikistan region, no matter what changes occur in Kanem’s political situation due to the election in the future, it will not have much impact on you. However, it is difficult to say whether Ochosan can convince Abacha..."
"Let's talk first anyway," Cao Mo said.
He is not very worried about this, he is flexible here.
He first thought clearly about some issues, what attitudes were Ochosan and Abacha's, and how much room for negotiation there was. During the negotiation, he could completely follow their changes in attitude and adapt accordingly.
The worst outcome is to donate the money directly to the Patriotic Construction Front to tide over the most critical development period of the first two years.