•Abba Moro to lead 10-man committee to engage FG’s team over grey areas
• Senators pass bill to establish NPF training institutions
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Senate has suspended further actions on the four tax bills transmitted to the parliament by President Bola Tinubu pending when contentious issues in the proposed legislations are resolved.
The Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, disclosed this at yesterday’s plenary and directed the Senate Committee on Finance to put on hold its proposed public hearing on the bills.
The tax reform bills, which include the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024, The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024, The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 2024 -and the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024 have been generating concerns in the polity, with some governors and other stakeholders kicking against them.
The Senate, last week, passed the bills for second reading and committed them to its Committee on Finance for further legislative actions.
On Tuesday, President Tinubu directed the Ministry of Justice to liaise with the National Assembly to address areas of concerns in the tax reform bills.
Barau announced a team of senators led by the Minority Leader, Abba Moro, to meet with a team from the Executive arm today on some contentious provisions.
He said: “It is 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.
“The Senate of the Federal Republic, as known by everyone and indeed other Senates in the entire world, are known to be the stabilisers 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.”
Other members of the Senate team are the Chief Whip, Tahir Monguno; Adamu Ailero, (PDP, Kebbi Central), Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West), 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.
Meanwhile, the Senate has passed a bill seeking to give legal framework for the establishment of Nigerian Police Force Training Institutions.
The reports that the passage of the bill followed the adoption of a report of the Committee on Police Affairs presented by the Chairman of the committee, Abdulhamid Ahmed (APC-Jigawa) at plenary.
Ahmed, while presenting the report, said the passage of the bill would help improve the operations of the institutions and ultimately enhance the capacity of police personnel for better results.
He said the bill, when passed, would further motivate police personnel to carry out their constitutional responsibilities.
The senator expressed regret that many of the institutions in the country lacked legal and adequate financial resources to practise and function effectively in spite of their years of establishment.
He said some of them were not in good conditions due to years of neglect by the authorities.
According to him, the bill, when passed, will make the institutions to serve as high level centres for provision of professional training and other related matters.
In his own contribution, Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi) said it was important for the bill to be passed, as it would support the Police Force in its operations and make it stand the test of time.
Ningi stressed the need to get the best personnel to man the force, stressing that the passage of the bill would provide the required training for the personnel.