Tax Reform Bills and Mounting Opposition in Red Chamber

Despite necessary explanations by experts and wide acceptability they are receiving across Nigeria, Senators are still sharply divided over the suitability of the four tax reform bills. Sunday Aborisade reports.

There was a mild drama on the floor of the Senate last week when the red chamber suddenly reversed its earlier decision asking the Committee on Finance to put on hold, further actions on the tax reform bills including the public hearing until all issues surrounding it are sufficiently resolved.

Journalists and observers who monitor proceedings at the upper chamber during plenary expressed shock  when the Senate Leader, Senator OpeyemiBamidele, who came under constitution point or order, distanced the red chamber from the statement of the Deputy Senate President, Senator JibrinBarau, on the matter.

Barau had while presiding over the plenary last Wednesday declared that the Senator Sani Musa-led finance panel should halt its six-week legislative assignment on the fiscal legislations until all grey areas had been sorted out.

Barau had 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.”

However at the Thursday plenary, Bamidele, in what appears to be a sharp division in the Senate leadership, said there was no time such decision was agreed upon.

The Senate Leader drew the attention of his colleagues to some media reports on the matter and said he was going to put the record straight.

He expressed surprise that a national television station reported that the bills had been withdrawn and even invited the Governor of Nasarawa State, AbdullahiSule, to its studio to ask how he felt with the suspension and withdrawal of the bills.

He said it was reported that the hallowed chamber had suspended further consideration of the tax reform bills before the Senate which was a strange development to him.

Bamidele said the  (television anchor) actually used the word withdraw to describe the action taken by the Senate on the tax reform bills.

He said, “He, the (reporter) also used the word conundrum suggesting that they (tax bills) were confusing and were problematic.

“We just passed our votes and proceedings which is a reflection of our deliberations of the previous legislative day being yesterday (Wednesday).

“Nowhere in our votes and proceedings was it stated that we suspended further deliberations on the tax reform bill because we did not and I felt it would be important to place on record that the Senate did not suspend or withdraw the bills.

“This Senate did not suspend and does not intend to suspend deliberations and consideration of the tax reform bills.

“It was a misunderstanding of legislative process for anybody to have even reported that we had withdrawn the bills because they were executive bills transmitted to us by the executive arm of government through the office of Mr President.

“It is  only the executive arm that can withdraw these bills they are not private member bills sponsored by any Senator.  So,  no Senator is going to withdraw the bill and there’s no reason for these bills to be withdrawn.

“In the legislative process, it is normal that some people will have concern it is normal that people will sit around those concerns and discourse that is why in its wisdom this Senate in referring this matter to the  Committee on Finance gave them as much as six weeks (ultimatum).

“Our instruction was deliberate weeks, our instruction was that they should organise public hearing and submit their report not later than six weeks.

“It might not be up to six weeks, but if they choose to be up to six weeks, nobody will quarrel with them. Six weeks is long enough in a country that wants progress for a consensus to be reached.

“We are continuing with the deliberation, with the consideration of this bill. We drew out people from each geopolitical zone. And we constituted them into an adhoc Committee to, on our behalf, further interface.

“We were clear about what we were doing. The Senate Committee on Finance is in charge of public hearing. But we set up an Ad-hoc Committee as a further legislative action to, on our behalf, interface.

“Even the President of the country called on us to please interface with the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, which also we would have done in our public hearing.

“We have set up an ad-hoc Committee to do that. So while the Finance Committee is working on its timeline, planning for the public hearing, we want this committee to also quickly engage.

“The Deputy Senate President yesterday (Wednesday), in announcing this committee on our behalf, also said, the adhoc Committee should treat the matter with urgency, and that the meeting should start from today (Thursday).

“As a matter of fact, the meeting started yesterday. So the essence of what I am saying is that it’s important that members of public are patient with us. They understand the legislative process that we have to follow. They understand our role in the Constitution.

“Any attempt from any quarter, to intimidate the Parliament, will be undemocratic, and we will not allow ourselves to be distracted.

“We will encourage consensus. We will encourage discussions, engagement at all levels. But we will not, we cannot be bullied into adopting a certain procedure.

“As far as we are concerned, the tax reform bills are here in this hallowed chamber and  they are receiving consideration at various levels.

“We are open to discussions, to negotiations, to interface but let it not be said anywhere that we suspended further consideration of these bills and also it will be laughable for anybody to also think or say or report that the bills were withdrawn.

“They  are executive bills that can only be withdrawn by the executive and there is no reason to do so because these bills we believe are in overriding public interest and will do everything possible to ensure that across geopolitical interests.

“Any political party, religious interest and everybody that has concern, civil society everybody that has concern,  is given a chance to contribute to the passage of these laws.

“I conclude by saying that the tax reform bills, for us, are a work in progress and we have the next weeks to do this and finalise and pass,” Bamidele concluded.

In his comments, Senate President, Senator GodswillAkpabio, commended Bamidele for his submission and explain that some sections of the media were misled to report that the Senate had withdrawn the bills.

He said, “At the National Assembly, we were all elected to do our work and that is the work of lawmaking in the overall interest of Nigeria.

“We do not do our work through social media. Neither do we do it through any committee or congregation of the church or any forum of any nature. We do our work according to our conscience in the best interest of Nigeria. The mechanism of lawmaking can be further explained to the public.

“The moment the bills went through second reading in the Senate, it simply means that the bills are alive. The next procedure is for the committee on finance to commence the process of consultations and public hearings.

“In the wisdom of the Senate yesterday (Wednesday), we had, in a closed session, set up a committee to be headed by the Minority Leader (Abba Moro) before the passage of the second reading.

“We said, in the event that some people are either uneducated on some aspects of the bill or confused or there are grey areas to be sorted out, they should interface with the necessary executive quarters, from the chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service to the Attorney General of the Federation, and if need be, even Mr. President.

“That committee was an internal mechanism of the Senate, different from the committee on finance.

“I think that was what was announced yesterday (Wednesday), and we said the committee should immediately move into work.

“There seems to be some grey areas to be sorted out. I want to thank Senator Abba Moro, the chairman of the committee, because as soon as that announcement was made yesterday, he immediately started consultation.

“In fact, the chairman of the Senate committee on finance and members of the committee can commence public hearings either next week or as soon as practicable.

“The bills are alive, they have not been suspended, the actions have not been suspended, the bills have not been withdrawn and the bills have passed second reading in the Senate and further legislative actions are taking place, including the setting up of this ad-hoc committee,” Akpabio stated.

He urged any state governor who is not comfortable with any section of the bill to make himself available for the public hearing.

His words, “So if any state governor in Nigeria, no matter whether the person is a religious leader or a business man that has problems with the bill, you know where to go, to public hearing.

“The Senate will not be bullied. We are doing our work in the interest of Nigerians, and by the time we come up with our final position, it will reflect the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.

“Any reform that we can make, painful as a reform may be, so long as this Senate is convinced that it is in the interest of Nigerians, we will go ahead with it.

“We refuse to break our economy on a forward march in support of the administration.

“We will not also shy away from deleting or abrogating or stopping whatever we feel is not in the public interest. But for the tax reform bills, we believe that there are too many provisions there that will definitely help Nigerians.

You can’t imagine what it means for businesses that earn less than N50 million not to pay tax. You can’t imagine what it means for multiplicity of taxes to be abrogated. You can’t imagine what it means for people who earn less than the minimum wage or even minimum wage not to pay tax. I assume the exceptions are such that only 100 million Nigerians will benefit from this tax reform bill.

“So let’s not listen to social media. I hope they are well guided with the explanation of the Senate leader. The government has nothing sinister to warrant the suggestion that the process is being rushed.

“You can see we gave them, we gave our committee six weeks so you can see we are not rushing the process of legislation, and if six weeks is not enough, we will extend the time for the committee.

“So this is executive communication. In line with the established legislative procedure, the federal government welcomes meaningful inputs that can address whatever grey areas that may be in the bill or in the bills.”

Also last Thursday, the leadership of the red chamber announced the removal of the Senate Chief Whip, Tahir Monguno, as a member of the adhoc committee that would meet with the team of the Attorney General of the Federation on the grey areas of the tax reform bills. In his place, the upper chamber asked the Senator representing Borno Central, Kaka Shehu to replace him as member representing North East on the ad-hoc panel.

Notwithstanding efforts by both the executive and the leadership of the Senate to convince federal lawmakers to embrace the proposed fiscal legislations, the tax reform bills have further divided the senators along ethnic lines.

While the southern senators applauded the bills and canvassed for their speedy consideration and passage, their colleagues in the northern part of the country are insisting that the proposed legislation be put on hold pending when all contentious issues would have been sufficiently resolved.