News

Govs threatening Reps over Tinubu VAT bill – Spokesman

Published

2 months ago

November 18, 2024

The deputy spokesman for the House of Representatives, Mr Philip Agbese, has disclosed that some state governors are threatening to deny federal lawmakers return tickets in the 2027 general elections if they do not withdraw their support for President Bola Tinubu’s Tax Reform Bills now before the National Assembly for consideration.

Agbese also disclosed that the lawmakers will today (Monday) engage the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, and other renowned tax experts on the bills.

Recall that on September 3, 2024, the President transmitted four tax reform bills to the National Assembly for consideration, following the recommendations of the Oyedele-led tax reforms committee.

The bills include the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, which is expected to provide the fiscal framework for taxation in the country, and the Tax Administration Bill, which will provide a clear and concise legal framework for all taxes in the country and reduce disputes.

Others are the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, which will repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act and establish the Nigeria Revenue Service, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, which will create a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman.

The 36 state governors have, however, demanded the withdrawal of the executive bills, citing the need for more consultation and public input.

In the meantime, the President has rejected the counsel of the governors, insisting that amendments to some of the clauses can be made when the bills come up for debate in the Senate and House of Representatives.

In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH in Abuja, Agbese said some governors are holding meetings ahead of National Assembly resumption to consider the tax bills and other important legislations.

He said, “Some of these governors are threatening members from their states. They have even gone far to threaten that they would deny members return tickets in 2027 if they support the bills.”

The threats notwithstanding, the Benue lawmaker said nothing would make him and his colleagues change course, provided the bills are targeted at revamping the economy.

He continued, “As far as we are concerned in the House of Representatives, nobody can stop us from supporting President Bola Tinubu’s bid to reboot the economy to work for the country.

“We are united across party lines to make sure the country works. This is the disposition of Speaker, Tajudeen Abass.”

Waxing spiritual, Agbese quoted Isaiah 54:15 saying, “Behold, they shall surely gather, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.”

While noting that lawmakers in the past could indeed be cajoled to give up their principles, the legislator reminded the governors that the 10th Assembly congressmen are a different breed of Nigerians.

He said, “The difference between the new crop of politicians in the House of Representatives is that we are intellectually sound, progressive-minded and pro-Nigeria.

“We were not elected by the governors but our constituents and as far as the legislation (bills) will work for those that elected us, we will support them unequivocally, wholeheartedly and powerfully to see the light of the day.”

Meanwhile, the House, according to Agbese, will on Monday interface with the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal and Tax Reforms, Oyedele, and other renowned tax experts, ahead of Tuesday’s resumption of plenary.

He added that the leadership of the House, in a bid to enable lawmakers to make contributions from a position of informed knowledge, had distributed copies of the bills to members for their independent study.

“We are engaging Taiwo Oyedele and other tax experts on Monday.

“We have made copies of the bills available to every lawmaker to study, dissect and make inputs when we bring them up for debate,” he stated, adding that the proposed legislation was likely to scale through but with some amendments where necessary.

He continued, “I see the 10th House Congressmen passing the bills with minor adjustments to polish them with a touch of patriotism and intellectualism. That’s the trademark when you have a teacher leading a parliament anywhere in the world.”

The bills are expected to dominate debate in both chambers of the National Assembly when the lawmakers reconvene for plenary duties, on Tuesday, November 19.

Also, in a telephone interview with The PUNCH, the member representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency, Anambra State, Mr Afam Ogene, said the interface with tax experts billed for Monday (today) would reveal the merits and demerits of the tax, urging Nigerians to be patient with their representatives as they brainstorm to take a position on the bills.

Ogene said, “For starters, the legislature, anywhere in the world, is a deliberative assembly of men and women charged with the responsibility of making laws for the good governance of that given society. Flowing from the above, it is only wise that the legislature and legislators should never shut the doors to dialogue, even with perceived opponents.

“As a National Assembly, my take is that the overall good of our country, and its component units should be uppermost in arriving at any decision.”

While noting that there were genuine fears over the motives of the proposed tax laws, the Labour Party legislators said Monday’s interface would avail both parties the opportunity to hear each other.

He continued, “Fears have been expressed regarding what the real ‘motives’ of the tax bills could be, but therein lies the real essence of the technical session of tomorrow (today) by the promoters of the bills.

“I expect that during the session, everyone who has misgivings about particular clauses and sections of any of the bills would be allowed to express such, so that at the end of the day, suggestions and recommendations for possible amendment would be attended to, before the public hearing stage.”

On his part, Odianosen Okojie representing Esan North East/Esan South East, Edo State, urged his colleagues to waste no time in passing the bills when they come up for debate on the floor during plenary.

He said, “I will urge the House to speedily pass the tax reform bills in support of Mr President. The President means well for the country, looking at the bold steps he is taking, in terms of positive policy making. The governors should embrace the tax reform bills because it’s going to be a win-win situation for all.

On his part, a Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, Osun State, Oluwole Oke, pledged his readiness to work with the Green Chamber in arriving at a position on the matter.

“I will work with the committee at the public hearing and in the committee of the whole,” Oke told our correspondent.

Efforts to get comment from the spokesperson for the Senate, Yemi Adaramodu, proved abortive as he could not be reached via phone calls and did not reply to the text and WhatsApp messages sent to him by our correspondent.

Credit: PUNCH

News

INEC announces date, activities for FCT Area Councils election

Published

13 seconds ago

January 23, 2025

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Independent National Electoral Commission has stated that the federal capital territory area council elections will be held on February 21, 2026.

The INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, stated this on Wednesday during a consultative meeting with political parties in Abuja.

According to Yakubu, the last area council election in the FCT was held on February 12, 2022, adding that the tenure of the current chairmen and councillors will end next year.

“Consequently, the commission has approved that the 2026 area council election in FCT will be held on Saturday 21st February 2026.

“Voting will take place in all the designated Polling Units across the 68 constituencies to elect the six Area Council Chairmen and 62 Councilors.

“In compliance with the mandatory legal requirements, the notice for the election will be published next month i.e. 26th February 2025. Party primaries will be held from 9th – 30th June 2025. The candidate nomination portal will open from 9.00am on 21st July 2025 to 6.00pm on 11th August 2025,” he said.

Yakubu said the final list of candidates will be published on September 22, 2025, adding that campaigns will commence on September 24 and end at midnight on February 19, 2026.

“The detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the election as well as the list of constituencies and type of elections in the FCT will be uploaded to our website before the end of this meeting.

“Hard copies of the two documents have been included in your folders for this meeting. For your guidance, we are also including the hard copies of the regulation and guidelines for political parties 2022 in your folders while the softcopy is already available from our website www.inecnigeria.org.

“In due course, the commission will come up with plans for other routine activities such as the resumption of nationwide Continuous Voter registration and the conduct of outstanding bye-elections,” he added.

The INEC chairman said regarding the Anambra State governorship election to be held on November 8, 2025, the next activity is the conduct of primaries by political parties.

“May I remind leaders of political parties that primaries for the nomination of candidates for the Anambra State Governorship election begin in the next two months, that is, 20th March to 10th April 2025.

“You may similarly recall that at our last regular meeting, we agreed that you would forward your schedule of activities for the election to the commission to enable us to work together and plan better for the deployment of personnel and resources for the monitoring of your party primaries and campaign activities, to avoid the last-minute rush with the attendant inability to meet deadlines and unnecessarily dissipate our energy and lean resources.

“So far, only a few parties are in compliance. I urge those that have not done so to submit the details by the end of this week,” he said.

News

$30,000: EFCC on trail of officer who allegedly looted exhibit room in Kaduna

Published

18 minutes ago

January 23, 2025

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Unidentified EFCC Operative Takes Own life

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is on the trail of one of its staff who allegedly disappeared due to his inability to explain the whereabouts of over $30,000 from exhibit room in Kaduna.

Although the leadership of the commission, including Mr Ola Olukoyede and the Head of the Media and Publicity, Mr Dele Oyewale, were yet-to comment on the development, a source said the commission was determined to get to the bottom of the issue.

An online news platform raised the red flag on Tuesday night that EFCC was enmeshed in another internal scandal as an officer in charge of Kaduna Zonal Office’s exhibit room, identified as Polycarp, allegedly absconded with over $30,000 and other valuable exhibits in his custody.

This development is seen as counterproductive for an anti-corruption agency like EFCC, especially with its recent demonstration of zero tolerance for indiscipline within the commission.

In recent times, the commission had dismissed 27 staff who were investigated and confirmed to have been involved in similar scandalous acts as the commission’s officials.

The commission had also detained 10 staff for similar offences while other investigations are ongoing in its zonal offices across the country.

The online news platform revealed that the Zonal Director of EFCC, Benedict Ubi, had a couple of weeks ago ordered an audit of the directorate’s exhibit room following the internal heist that occurred in Lagos, which led to the disappearance of the said staff.

“Immediately after the order for the audit was given, he took an excuse to ease himself. Efforts were made to contact him but all his telephone lines were switched off.

“This is only what the preliminary audit on foreign currency shows. There are chances that more could be uncovered after a thorough audit of the exhibit room”, the platform quoted its source.

News

NASS queries minister for allocating over 70% projects to Edo

Published

31 minutes ago

January 23, 2025

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Members of the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Regional Development were forced to go into a closed-door session on Tuesday over alleged lopsidedness in the Ministry of Regional Development’s budget.

The lawmakers queried the Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, for alleged lopsidedness in the Ministry’s budget, indicating that 70 per cent of projects in the ministry were allocated to Edo State.

The Minister was queried when he appeared before the Committee alongside the Minister of State, Uba Maigari, to defend the 2024 budget performance and the 2025 proposal.

The lawmakers noted that the Ministry’s budget favoured Edo State over other states that were supposed to have benefitted from its projects.

The Ministry was also queried for nonadherence to the federal character principle in situating projects of the defunct Ministry of Niger Delta.

According to them, 70 percent of the Ministry’s projects for 2024 were domiciled in Edo state.

The lawmakers said this should not be so as the Ministry is expected to cover the interest of the entire Niger Delta region.

A member of the House of Representatives, Hon Matthew Nwogu questioned the minister on why 70 percent of the projects for 2024 were located in Edo State.

Nwogu said, “Mr Minister, tell us why most of these 2024 budgets (projects) are situated in Edo State?”

The lawmaker wondered why other states under the Ministry were excluded while the bulk of the projects went to Edo State.

Another member of the Committee, Rep Chinedu Ogar, also asked the Minister to explain to the committee on why 70 percent of the 2025 proposed projects of the ministry are also located in Edo State.

“Honorable Minister, I am happy that you are a product of the National Assembly. My constituents are not happy with this your budget because it negates the constitutional principle of federal character. About 70 percent of your projects are located in Edo state. Why?” Ogar questioned.

Chairman, House Committee on Regional Development, Eugene Okechukwu, urged the questions to be discussed in an executive session. The committee thereafter dissolved into an executive session to interface with the minister on the matter.

Earlier, while presenting the 2024 budget performance, the Minister had told the members that out of the N20 billion allocated to the Ministry in 2024 for capital budget, N2 billion was provided for zonal intervention in the Ministry’s budget by the House Leader, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, who is from Edo State.

The Minister told the Committee that the Ministry’s total budget proposal for 2025 was N28.9 billion comprising N24 billion for capital projects; N2.7 billion for personnel cost and N1.6 billion for recurrent.

He said of the amount, a total sum of N2 billion was reserved as a zonal intervention project for the Leader of the House of Representatives.

The Minister lamented that the amount earmarked for the Ministry of Regional Development to address the development needs of the five regional development commissions is inadequate.

He appealed to the joint committee to increase the budget of the ministry to enable it to address the development issues of the regions through the commissions.

The minister lamented that due to inadequate budgetary allocation, the ministry had been facing the challenges of a litany of abandoned and uncompleted projects; delay in project completion and poor performance.