The Senate, has warned Nigerian Governor against opposing the tax reforms bills and advised them to present their concerns at the public hearing to be conducted by the National Assembly rather than appearing on television stations to criticise provisions of the bills.
Penpushing reports that Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio handed over the warning, declaring that the Senate, under his leadership, will not tolerate bullying arguing that the lawmakers are performing their constitutional duties in the country’s interest.
“The Senate will not be bullied. We are doing our work in the interest of Nigerians, and by the time we come up with our final position, it will reflect the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians’, Akpabio emphasized
Penpushing further reports he made the declaration while commenting on an issue raised by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, that some media stations, particularly, Arise Television, misquoted the resolution of the upper house at Wednesday’s plenary.
The Senate leader, it is recalled referenced a programme on Arise Television where the presenter asked the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, if he was happy with the way the Senate withdrew the tax reform bills, while the Governor responded in the affirmative.
Penpushing also reports that the Senate President still reacting on the issue said any Governor or religious leader who has problems with the bills should go to the public hearing whenever it is organised.
“If the state governors or any state governor in Nigeria, no matter whether the person is a religious leader or a businessman that has problems with the bill, you know where to go, to public hearing’, he said.
‘The Senate will not be bullied. We are doing our work in the interest of Nigerians, and by the time we come up with our final position, it will reflect the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians’, Akpabio emphasised.
Penpushing reports that, as at the time of filing this report the finance committee to which the four tax bills were referred for further legislative action has yet to fix a hearing date, while on Wednesday, it was asked to suspend the planned exercise following the pending meeting between a special committee of the upper chamber and the executive team to address the concerns raised on the controversial bills.
The Senate President said the National Assembly will approve any reform proposed by the presidency if it is in the country’s interest, stressing that this will became necessary so long the Senate is convinced that it is in the interest of the citizens
“And not only that, any reform that we can make, painful as a reform may be, so long as this Senate is convinced that it is in the interest of Nigerians, we will go ahead with it. But we will not also shy away from deleting or abrogating or stopping whatever we feel is not in the public interest,” he said.
Penpushing further reports that Akpabio argued that provisions of the tax bills will help many Nigerians, explaining that for the tax reform bill the Senate believe that there are too many provisions there that will definitely help Nigerians.
“But for the tax reform bill, we believe that there are too many provisions there that will definitely help Nigerians. You can’t imagine what it means for businesses that earn less than 50 million not to pay tax. You can’t imagine what it means for multiplicity of taxes to be abrogated’.
‘You can’t imagine what it means for people who earn less than the minimum wage or even minimum wage not to pay tax. I assume the exceptions are such that only 100 million Nigerians will benefit from this tax reform bill,” he noted.
Penpushing also reports that the Senate President encouraged his colleagues to desist from relying on conversations on social media, and should in same vein ignored Arise Television, adding that by now the station should be guided
The Senate President clarified that the National Assembly is not in a rush to pass the tax reform bills contrary to speculations, assuring that the senate will extend the period for conducting public hearings on the bills if the six weeks earlier given to the Senate Committee on Finance is not enough.
‘So let’s not listen to social media. Let’s not listen to Arise television. I hope they are well guided with the explanation of the Senate leader. The government has nothing sinister to warrant the suggestion that the process is being rushed’.
‘And you can see that we gave our committee six weeks. So, you can see we are not rushing the process of legislation. And if six weeks is not enough, we will extend the time for the committee. The Senate is working in line with the directive of President Bola Tinubu’.
“So what was done yesterday was in line with even the directive of Mr. President. The ad hoc committee is working in line with the directive of the president and it also shows that this Senate is composed of men of wisdom and foresight. Before even the president gave this directive, we had already, before we passed our second reading, set up an ad hoc committee in the event of any grey area,” he stated.
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