SENATE TO COMMENCE PUBLIC HEARING ON TAX REFORM BILLS, INVITES CRITICAL STAKEHOLDERS 20-02-25
By Sadiq Aminu The Senate through its committee on Finance, will on Monday and Tuesday next week , carried out public hearing on tax reforms bills forwarded to both Chambers on October 3rd, 2024 by President Bola Tinubu.
The tax reform bills which are (i) The Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024, (ii)The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill (NTAB) 2024, ( iii)The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill (NRSEB) 2024 and (iv) The Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill (JRBEB) 2024, were passed for second reading in the Senate on 28th of November, 2024 and forwarded to the Committee on Finance for more legislative inputs through public hearing.
Addressing newsmen at the senate building in Abuja after a closed door meeting held with members of the committee ahead of the public hearing, the Chairman, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa (Niger East), stated that the public hearing is coming after wide consultations made with relevant stakeholders.
Senator Sani Musa said the bills on Joint revenue board establishment bill and Nigerian Revenue Services Bill, will be deliberated upon on Monday while the one on Nigerian Tax Administration and Nigeria Tax bill, will be on Tuesday.
According to him, to achieve a robust public hearing, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, the Attorney – General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi ( SAN), Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive, National Bureau of Statistics, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, the Minister of Petroleum and his counterpart in the Ministry of Trade and Investment and many others are expected at the public hearing.
In addition,The 71 different groups of stakeholders are also participating at the forum.
“The main purpose of the reform bills are to see to how government will generate more revenue so that we’ll be able to put our country on the pedestrian of advanced economies where infrastructure, education, agricultural sector and virtually every sector that revolves around the ecosystem of our economy will be adequately taken care of.
“Expectedly, we have had engagements with a lot of stakeholders before arriving at where we are today, and I believe that the public hearing is going to go on smoothly, and wherever the grey areas are, they will be addressed.
“Mr. President himself has said it, times without number, that he’s not going to interfere. It is our duty as legislators to do the needful for the good of this country.
“We are all representatives of different tribes, religion, geographic history, but we are Nigerians. And what we will work towards giving Nigeria, are laws, legislations that will put us on track economically, and by the grace of God, I think we will succeed”, he explained .
The committee had earlier met top management of Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) led by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Armstrong Tokang who was directed to provide the committee, the National Assets Register of the country.