Author: Ibrahim Abusadiq

The bills are a set of four legislative proposals to increase Value-Added Tax (VAT) distributable to the sub national governments to 55 per cent while reducing the federal government’s share to 10 per cent.

These far-reaching initiatives were contained in the lead debate of the Leader of the Senate, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele on the Tax Reform Bills presented during plenary.

Bamidele said that the new legislative regimes also proposed zero VAT on exports and essential consumptions by the masses.

Leading the debate, Bamidele reeled out far-reaching proposals contained in the Tax Reform Bills.

According to him, the proposals aims at simplifying the tax landscape, reducing the burden on small business and streamlining how taxes are collected.

In the area of tax exemptions, he pointed out that those, whose salaries are not more than the minimum wage from Pay As You Earn (PAYE) deductions, would be exempted from the tax regime.

He also said small businesses with annual turnover of N50 million or less “are equally exempted from payment of taxes,” a key pro-business initiative that encourages job creation; deepens ease of doing business and incentivises more investments.

Similarly, the senate leader explained that there was a proposed huge reduction in company income tax from the current 30 per cent to 25 per cent that would last for at least two years.

He said: “As part of deliberate attempt to curtail the incidence of double taxation and multiplicity of taxes and levies.

“And multiple taxes hitherto paid by companies under various tax heads namely, 2.5 per cent education tax, 0.25 per cent NASENI tax have been harmonised.

“They have been harmonised into a development level of 2 per cent which by 2030, will be applied to fund the newly established student loan scheme which will benefit many Nigerian youths.

“Unlike what is obtainable under the existing tax regime whereby the Federal Government takes a lion share of VAT revenues…

“It is proposed that the sharing formula should allow the State Government share 55 per cent of VAT revenue from the current 15 per cent to 10 per cent sharing formula.

“However, Local Governments share of VAT revenue remains unaffected. Relatedly, basic items consumed by Nigerian households such as food items, medical services and pharmaceuticals, educational fees, electricity etc. are exempted from VAT”.

In his contribution, former Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume (APC-Borno) claimed that his problem with the bills was about timing and the issue of derivation.

He added that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) must be amended before the Tax Reform Bills should take effect, therefore calling for its immediate withdrawal.

Ndume said: “I am not against the reform, my problem is timing and the issue of derivation make the reform contagious. The 1999 Constitution has to be amended before the bills can be effective.”

However, the Chief Whip of the Senate, Sen. Mohammed Monguno expressed strong objection to Ndume’s submissions, asking the Senate to disregard it and pass the bills for second reading.

Monguno urged the Senate to pass the bill into second reading, advocating that all areas of concern would be addressed at the public hearing stage.

After the debate that featured Sen. Sani Musa (APC-Niger) and Sen. Seriake Dickson (PDP-Bayelsa), the Senate unanimously passed the bills into second reading following Monguno’s final position.

In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, referred the bills to the Senate Committee on Finance, advising the committee to invite all the stakeholders to the public hearing to address all areas of concern.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had proposed the Tax Reform Bills comprising the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024.

Others are Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024; Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024 and Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024.

NAN

The House of Representatives Special Committee on Restructuring of Federal Government Agencies has commended the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for its professionalism and high standards in news reporting.

The committee gave the commendation in Abuja on Wednesday at the hearing on the need to scrap outdated agencies and merge some government agencies with similar mandates.

Rep. Ademorin Kuye (APC-Lagos) said that in spite of the current challenges, NAN had remained impressive in its news reporting.

He also said that NAN had been patriotic and optimistic in its news gathering and dissemination, saying this was good for the country.

“Even the presentation of the managing director was very impressive and what they are doing must be commended.

“They have been patriotic and optimistic about the achievements and where the country is heading to, and that is really helping us, except for areas of digital reporting where some outlets seem to be taking advantage.

“One will expect that when we talk of intelligence gathering, NAN should be playing a pivotal role in view of the spread of your editorial staff.

“In situations when we see infiltration of militants from neighbouring countries and security agencies in the country are saying they are not getting information, NAN should improve on that,” he said.

Rep. Kabiru Admadu (APC-Zamfara), who presided over the hearing, stressed the need to update the Act that established NAN to meet current realities.

He said that the law establishing NAN was enacted in 1976 and could no longer serve the current realities in the country.

According to him, so many ships have sailed since NAN was established, maintaining that the law is outdated.

Also, Rep. Blessing Onuh (APGA-Benue) urged the management of NAN to employ young hands who would match the current trend.

Onuh said that the country could not afford to lose NAN, saying that only youthful minds and hands were needed to keep the agency from going into extinction, given the growing competition.

The committee ruled that the management of NAN should furnish the committee with areas of the Act that required amendment to enable the agency improve on its standard and perform better.

Earlier, the Managing Director of NAN, Mr Ali M. Ali, described NAN as the biggest news content provider in Africa, with its slogans as: “Talk to NAN, Talk to All” and “No One Knows Nigeria like NAN.”

The slogans, according to Ali, reflect the NAN operations, as other media organisations come to NAN to get news because of its speed, reliability, professionalism and authenticity, devoid of sensationalism.

He said that NAN is in the business of collecting and distributing news, with offices in the United States of America, South Africa and Côte d’Ivoire, among others.

The managing director said that NAN also had strong partnership with news agencies of Russia, China, Italy, Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Moroccan News Agency, among others.

He said that the partnerships were aimed at striking a balance in the news flow between Africa and other continents of the world.

Ali said that the agency’s mandate explained why it had the largest editorial workforce in the continent, spread across the country.

According to him, NAN has the skills, the professionalism and manpower to get the news which other media outlets will ordinarily miss out because of their limited resources and spread.

“In all of the 109 senatorial districts, we have representatives; we are the only resident news agency in the United Nations.

“NAN has risen up to the occasion to bridge the gap in news flow between Africa and the rest of the world.

“We have come to be recognised over time as a reputable and respected brand in news gathering and dissemination; if it is not in NAN, then it cannot be trusted, people say,” he said.

Ali said that the coming of digital media and the democratisation of information had made NAN even more reliable, as people usually make cross-reference on whatever they see on social media with NAN reports.

He said that by law, NAN did not have the luxury of other media organisations that thought they were in competition with NAN, especially the digital media.

“NAN is not given to sensationalism. While others see the cup as half empty, NAN sees it as half full, because the agency is on the side of optimism,” he said.

Ali, however, said that a lot had happened since the NAN Establishment Act was enacted, saying that there was the need to amend it to meet current realities.

He said that NAN should not be merged with sister agencies like Voice of Nigeria (VON), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

Rather, he said that NAN should remain an independent agency.

“NAN is a wire service and globally, such services are regarded as national assets and are part of the larger interest of their various countries,” he said.

Ali said that on Oct. 3, for the first time in its near 50 years of existence, NAN held its maiden international lecture on the nexus between news gathering and national security, dwelling on insecurity in the Sahel.

He said that since his assumption of office as managing director, he had made efforts to bring all the vested interests in national security, such as the National Intelligence Agency and Foreign Affairs Ministry, among others, to appreciate and see NAN as collaborators in the national security protocol.

He said that in other climes, intelligence gathering was mostly vested in reporters because of their wide access, adding however that in Nigeria, efforts were still being to appreciate such.

The managing director said that there were documented evidence to show that NAN reporters in the districts usually report the strange influx of foreigners and alert security agencies to such developments.

NAN