WorldStage Newsonline– The Senate has directed its committee on Finance to stop further actions on the landmark tax reform bills pending when grey areas of concern raised on the proposed legislations are properly addressed.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, who stated this at plenary , specifically asked the Senate Committee on Finance, to put the proposed public hearing on hold for now.
He said a team of the Senate will today (Thursday), meet a delegation of the Federal Government led by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
Barau said, “It’s on this note that the Committee on Finance that the bills have been referred to, should put on hold further action on it – public hearing and other issues until we resolve these issues.
“All sides will be given the opportunity and we shall resolve the issues before anything is allowed to go.”
Barau said the proposed meeting with the AGF was aimed at resolving the criticisms on the proposed tax reform bills currently before the two chambers of the National Assembly.
Barau said the meeting will be held at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja and that it was necessary for the lawmakers to have extensive interaction with the government officials before passing the tax reform bills.
He said the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro will lead the senators in the meeting.
Other senators who will attend the meeting according to the Deputy Senate President are, the Senate Chief Whip, Tahir Monguno; Adamu Ailero, (PDP, Kebbi Central), and Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West).
Others are Titus Zam (Benue South), Abdullahi Yahaya (Kebbi), Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Ogun West), Sani Musa (APC, Niger East) and Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East).
Barau said, “Of the tax reform bills that are before us. This was in consonance with the fact that we understand at all times that this Senate is the highest assembly in this country.
“The Senate is composed of men and women of wisdom, of pedigree that this country has entrusted to legislate for them for the peace and tranquility and the development of this country.
“The Senate of the Federal Republic, as known by everyone and indeed other Senates in the entire world are known to be the stabilizers of every country.
“When there are difficulties and disagreements, the Senate of this country comes in with solutions through dialogue and consensus at all times to solve such problems, and the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been doing that since 1999.
“Because of this, we decided to put politics, ethnicity, and regionalism aside to sit among ourselves and find the way forward with respect to the issues surrounding 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 to resolve them so that the entire country will remain united – united in our effort to solve our problems.
“Before the introduction of these bills, we know we’ve been faced with several problems and insecurity that we’ve been trying to solve.
“The president has been trying, and we’re also working with him to solve issues about our economy, which is in line with global economic problems.
“We also agree that we shouldn’t allow anything else to aggravate our country’s problems.
“It is on this note that it has been agreed by the executive and also by us that there should be a forum that will sit with the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) so that we can sit down and sort out all these problems in the interest of this nation.
“It is therefore proposed that by tomorrow (Thursday) there will be a meeting with the committee that we’ve set up here and the leadership to sit with the Attorney General of the Federation to look at those issues and resolve them.”
President Bola Tinubu had on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Justice to work with the National Assembly to address some of the concerns generated by the Tax Reform Bill currently before the Legislature.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris who disclosed this in statement he issued in Abuja, said the nationwide debate on the new tax reform bills was commendable.
He however pointed out that there was a lot of misinformation and fake news circulating around the tax bills and the overall reform agenda of the Tinubu Administration.
