Discordant tunes from the senate over Controversial Tax Reform Bills

***As it refutes Reports of suspending actions

***Akpabio Defends Tax Reform Process, Dismisses Claims of Rushed Legislation

There were some disagreement at Plenary on Thursday when the Senate contradicted itself over its Wednesday proceedings on the controversial Tax Reforms Bills.

The Senate leader, Opeyemi Bamidele disagreed with reports suggesting that actions on the controversial Tax Reform bills have been suspended.

This was coming against the backdrop that at Wednesday’s plenary Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin while presiding had explained reasons for putting actions on hold on the bills.
Coming under Order 42, the Senate leader countered media reports suggesting that the Senate had suspended or withdrawn the tax reform bills, Bamidele issued a firm position that the tax reform bills remain active and under legislative consideration.
He emphasized that the bills, being executive in nature, can only be withdrawn by the executive branch itself.
“We just passed our votes and proceedings which is a reflection of our deliberations of the previous legislative day being yesterday, nowhere in our votes and proceedings was it stated that we suspended further deliberations on the tax reform bills because we did not and I felt it would be important to place on record senate did not suspend or withdraw.
“This senate did not suspend and does not intend to suspend deliberations consideration of the tax reform bills.
This is simply my response it was a misunderstanding of legislative process for anybody to have even reported that we had withdrawn the bills the bills were executive bills transmitted to us by the executive arm of government through the office of the president, it’s only the executive arm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bills sponsored by any senator so no senator is going to withdraw the bill and there’s no reason for these bills to be withdrawn.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 senate committee on finance gave them as much as six weeks.
“Our instruction was that, deliberate publicly and submit your 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, for anybody who has concern to sit down and allow such concern to be addressed in overriding public interest. “In any case, Mr. President and distinguished colleagues, we are continuing with the deliberation, with the consideration of these bills.
“This is all I expected the media to report yesterday, which was well reported by some sections of the media, was that the Senate at its plenary session yesterday took a further legislative action in the consideration of the bill. “What was the further legislative action that we took? From northwest of Ademo Aleros, through the north central of Abba Moros, to the southeast of Oji Uzor Kalus, we drew out people, distinguished senators, from each. geopolitical zone and we constituted them into an Ad Hoc 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, I mean, 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. But even then, I mean, the executive requested for that.
“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, in announcing this committee on your behalf, also said, the Ad Hoc Committee should treat this matter with urgency, with this power, and that the meeting should start from today.
“As a matter of fact, Mr. President, 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 will not allow ourselves to be distracted. But 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 allied. in this hallowed chamber they are receiving consideration at various levels and we are opened 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 because like I said there are executive bills.
Responding the senate President said, “You came under Order 42 and also the constitutional provisions and the constitution is the ground norm. We can’t argue with the constitution. And Order 42 says that we should not engage in debates. And we should not also bring about any controversial matter.
“From your explanation, it would appear the Television station was totally misled into thinking that the bills were suspended or withdrawn by the Senate.

“Because I watched that news when the governor of Nassarawa was asked, now that the bills have been withdrawn, are you happy?
“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. And the processes of lawmaking.
“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 with a view to bringing recommendations back to the chamber.
“But in the wisdom of the Senate yesterday, we had, in a closed session, set up a committee to be headed by the minority leader before the passage of the second reading and we said, in the event that some people are either uneducated on some aspects of the bill or confused or there are gray 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. And I think that was what was announced yesterday, that that committee should immediately move into work. They should move into action.

Akpabio also refuted claims that the government was rushing the tax reform process, emphasizing that the legislative process is proceeding according to plan and in full alignment with established procedures.
Akpabio reassured Nigerians that there is “nothing sinister” behind the timeline, stating that the Senate has allocated six weeks for committee review. If necessary, the timeline will be extended to ensure thorough deliberation.

“This is executive communication in line with legislative procedure,” Akpabio explained. “The government welcomes meaningful input to address any gray areas in the bill, and President Bola Tinubu has already directed relevant ministries and agencies to collaborate closely with the National Assembly to ensure all concerns are addressed before the bills are finalized.”
Akpabio also highlighted that the Senate had proactively set up an Ad Hoc Committee before even receiving the President’s directive, reflecting the Senate’s foresight and commitment to transparency.

He assured stakeholders, including governors, religious leaders, and business figures, that they would have the opportunity to raise concerns publicly through the appropriate channels.
The Senate president further affirmed that the Senate would not be swayed by external pressure and would continue working in the best interests of Nigeria. “We are doing our work for Nigeria, and our final position will reflect the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians,” Akpabio said.
In defending the tax reform bills, Akpabio emphasized that provisions like exempting businesses earning under ₦50 million from taxes and addressing the issue of multiple taxes would greatly benefit Nigerians. He also noted that the reform would exempt those earning less than minimum wage from paying taxes, benefiting up to 100 million Nigerians.
Concluding his remarks, Akpabio urged Nigerians not to be influenced by social media or certain media outlets, such as Arise Television, which had raised concerns about the process. He reiterated the Senate’s commitment to a fair and thorough process that prioritizes the public interest and supports the nation’s economic progress.

Senator Barau however at Plenary on Wednesday had announced that, “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 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.

“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. “