By Ken Chiwendu
Following controversy and uproar that greeted the Tax Reform Bills,the Senate on Wednesday set up a committee to review the Bills which are before the National Assembly.
The Committee which is headed by Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South) will meet with the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, to address grey areas in the bills and revert to Senate before public hearing.
Presiding over plenary Wednesday,the Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin said the executive arm of the government agreed with the Senate that there is a need to resolve all the issues causing disagreements in the bills.
He said, “We decided to put politics, ethnicity, regionalism aside to sit among ourselves in order to find a way forward in respect to issues affecting the tax reform bills. It is on this note that we extended our view to the executive arm of government, and it was agreed that there should be a forum to sit down to look at the areas that are creating disagreements in order to resolve them so that the entire country will remain united in our efforts to solve our problems.
“Before the introduction of these bills, we know we have been faced with several problems; insecurity that we and the president have been trying to solve, issues about our economy which is in line with global economic problems. And we also agreed that we shouldn’t allow any other to come in to aggravate the problems of our country.
“It is on this note that it has been agreed by the executive and by us that there should be a forum that should sit with the Attorney General of the Federation so that we can sit and look at all the areas of disagreement and resolve them for the interest of this nation.
“It is therefore proposed that tomorrow there will be a meeting with the committee that will be set here to sit down with the Attorney General to look at those issues and resolve them. It is on this note that the Committee on Finance that the bills have been referred to halt action with public hearing and other issues until we resolve those issues.”
The Tax Reform Bills have passed through second reading in the Senate
The four Bills, forwarded by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly on October 3, 2024, aimed to harmonise,coordinate, and resolve disputes arising from revenue administration in the country..
However ,the introduction of the bills have generated a lot of mixed feelings, controversies and resistance particularly from the Northern part of the country despite explanations by expert’s that they would boost income generation and facilitate development. .
