After weeks of uncertainty, the Senate will today (Monday) commence a public hearing on the tax reform bills.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives will open its doors for stakeholders’ input on the controversial bills, which sparked intense debate during plenary two weeks ago before their eventual passage for second reading.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa, disclosed the Red Chamber’s readiness to commence the exercise, saying, “We have all agreed that we are starting the public hearing on February 24 and 25.
“We intend to take on two of the bills each day. The Senate Committee on Finance is going to invite the general public, particularly some organisations, to a two-day public hearing on the tax reform bills.
“One of them is the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Fund Bill, the Nigerian Revenue Services Bill, the Nigerian Tax Administration Bill, and the Nigerian Tax Bills.”
The Senator, a member of the All Progressives Congress representing Niger East District, emphasised the importance of the bills to the Federal Government’s fiscal reforms and economic revival.
“The main purpose of this is to see how the government will generate more revenues so that we’ll be able to put our country on the pedestal of advanced economies where infrastructure, education, agricultural sectors and virtually every sector that revolves around the ecosystem of the economy will be adequately taken care of with enough funds.
“We want to align ourselves with Mr President. Looking at the bills, we have studied them very well as a committee. 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.
“Whatever the grey areas are, Mr President has said it, times without number, that he is 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, religions, and geographic histories, but we are Nigerians,” he explained.
That said, Musa said his committee had invited many heads of agencies such as the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy and the Minister of Trade and Investment.
The Senate committee chair said the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Minister of Petroleum, the Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, and the Statistician General of Nigeria, who heads the National Bureau of Statistics, were also invited.
Similarly, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, last week named a Special Committee led by the Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Abiodun Faleke, to conduct a public hearing on the tax reform bills following their passage for a second reading.
In what appeared a move aimed at spearheading a broad-based conversation on the subject matter, Speaker Abbas added six leaders of the regional caucuses to the Finance Committee to organise and collate input during the public hearing.
Alhassan Ado-Doguwa and Nicholas Mutu, leaders of the Northern and Southern Caucuses in the House, respectively, were named to represent those regions While the quartet of Sada Soli, Fred Agbedi, Iduma Igariwey and Ibrahim Wase will represent the North West, South South, South East and North Central geo-political zones, respectively.
Public hearing open to all Honourable members – Rotimi
Although, the Finance Committee is charged with the mandate of spearheading the debate and collating input from the public on the proposed tax laws; spokesman of the House, Akin Rotimi told newsmen that all members of the Green Chamber are at liberty to participate in the event.
He said, “There is a committee that was set up to oversee the public hearing. The committee comprises the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, the Rt Hon Abiodun Faleke and all the statutory members of the Finance Committee, which has one person from every state and co-opted members which includes regional caucus leaders.
“However, all honourable members have the right to attend the public hearing as stakeholders to refine the tax laws in such a way that they will be in the best interest of all Nigerians. It is a public event and every member has the right to participate.”
According to the House image maker, “Public hearings are more of dialogues and getting feedbacks from the public and getting their perspectives.”
He recalled that when the bills were debated on the floor of the House, the exercise was characterised by mass participation of members with every lawmaker allowed to join the conversation without let or hindrance.
Confirming his attendance, a member of the Committee representing Jibia/Kaita Federal Constituency, Katsina State, Sada Soli said his opposition to the reforms was not total but only concerned some clauses which will be addressed during the public hearing.
Asked if he would attend the public hearing, Mr Soli responded in the affirmative, saying, “Of course, I will be there, but remember that I was not against the reform bills. I didn’t like some of the provisions.”
Public hearing, not endorsement of bills-Opposition lawmaker
Meanwhile, an opposition lawmaker has warned those who see the public hearing as an endorsement of the bills to have a rethink.
The Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker does not want his name in print because of the sensitive nature of the proposed initiatives, told newsmen that the expectation of the House is that the Finance Committee will do a good job.
He said, “The House will still consider the report of the Finance Committee and vote on it on a clause-by-clause basis. So, there is nothing to be excited about because anything can happen.
“We have already delegated our powers to the Finance committee to work on the referral and present a report. We will be watching closely to see if they will do justice to it because there’s never been a legislative bill that generated widespread debates and got x-rayed and dissected like the tax bills.”
According to him, “The nation has taken note of all contentious clauses and other portions of the bills for redrafting and deletion if necessary. We’ll wait to see if the observations made will be addressed by the Committee.”