Senate President Akpabio yesterday urged state governors opposed to the Tax Reform Bills to attend and present their concerns at the public hearing on the bills rather than appearing on television stations to criticise the provisions.
He emphasized that the Senate, under his leadership, will not yield to bullying, as lawmakers are performing their constitutional duties in the interest of the country.
Akpabio made the remarks in response to an issue raised by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, who noted that some media stations, particularly Arise Television, misquoted the Senate’s resolution at Wednesday’s plenary.
Bamidele referred to a program on Arise Television where the presenter asked Nasarawa Governor Abdullahi Sule if he was “happy with the way the Senate withdrew the tax reform bills,” to which the governor responded affirmatively.
During the plenary, Akpabio reiterated that any governor or religious leader with concerns about the bills should attend the public hearing.
Akpabio said: “If the state governors or any state governor in Nigeria, no matter whether the person is a religious leader or a businessman that has problems with the bill, you know where to go, to the 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,” he said.
The Senate Committee on Finance to organize the public hearing has not fixed a date for the hearing.
Akpabio said the National Assembly will approve any reform proposed by the presidency if it is in the interest of the country.
“And not only that, 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, but we will not also shy away from deleting or abrogating or stopping whatever we feel is not in the public interest.”
Akpabio said provisions of the tax bills would help many Nigerians.
He said: “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 a 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 bills,” he added.
The Senate President urged Senators to desist from relying on conversations on social media.
“So let’s not listen to social media. Let’s not listen to Arise television. I hope they are well guided with the explanation of the Senate Leader.”
The Senate President also said that the National Assembly is not in a rush to pass the tax reform bills.
He said the Senate will extend the period to conduct public hearings on the bills if the six weeks earlier given to the Senate Committee on Finance is not enough.
“The government has nothing sinister to warrant the suggestion that the process is being rushed, and you can see 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,” he said.
Akpabio said the Senate is working in line with the directive of President Bola Tinubu.
He said: “So what was done yesterday was in line with even the directive of Mr. President. The ad hoc committee is working in line with the directive of the President and it also shows that this Senate is composed of men of wisdom and foresight, before even the President gave this directive, we had already, passed our second reading, set up an ad hoc committee in the event of any grey area.”