The Senate has vowed to ensure that Nigeria takes advantage of its position as the most advanced economy in Africa.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger North), told journalists on Wednesday, after the committee`s meeting with the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), that “We want to see more improvement than it is today. We are more advanced than any other economy in Africa. And we should be able to get our tracts right.
We should be able to do things that will give us that stride. And what we have done is before even the public hearing, every member that you have seen here has gone through that tax bill.”
The meeting took place at the Senate Wing of the National Assembly in Abuja.
Senator Musa also commended the MOFI team led by the MD/CEO, Dr Armstrong Takang for what he described as the initiative to “change the dynamics of the economy,” pointing out the need to improve on the operations of the company.
MOFI is the investment arm of the federal government, and it is mandated to hold and husband Nigerian assets, and to optimize those assets, while doing the best it can.
This includes, firstly, to enumerate those assets, physical and otherwise, that have been built up over time and also to maximize returns on them.
According to the Chairman of the Senate Committee, “We are fully convinced that they are doing very well and there are areas that we felt he should improve. We have highlighted those areas and he has promised to do so, and the engagement will continue and after that we went into a closed session with distinguished members of the finance committee.
“…Whatever we have discussed we’ve all agreed first is that we are going for a public hearing on Monday.”
This is as the Committee disclosed that it has invited the ministries of Finance, Trade & Investments, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Ministry of Justice (AGF), the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), as well as MOFI, to a two-day public hearing aimed at clearing grey areas in the various finance bills submitted to the Red Chamber by President Tinubu.
“We’re starting the public hearing on Monday the 24th of February and the second day will be the 25th and we intend to take on two of the bills each day of this session,” he added.
The two days public hearing, according to Senator Musa, would deliberate on the following tax reform bills : The joint revenue board establishment fund bill, Nigerian revenue services bill, Nigerian tax administration bill, and the Nigerian tax bills.
“If you recall, Mr. President submitted these four bills last year 2024, and as it is today both Houses have done the second reading and all are ready for the public hearing.And these bills are aimed at reforming the tax – both the tax administration, collection and operations of tax in Nigeria; and the main purpose of this is to see how government will generate more revenue so that we’ll be able to put our country on the pedestal of advanced economies
“This way, infrastructure, education, the agricultural sector – virtually every sector that revolves around the ecosystem of economy will be adequately taken care of with enough funds and we want to align ourselves with Mr President.
“Looking at the bills, we have studied it very well, both as a committee, we have had an engagement with a lot of stakeholders before arriving at where we are today. And I believe that the public hearing is going to go on smoothly, and wherever the grey areas are, Mr. President has said it, times without number, that he’s not going to interfere. It is our duty as legislators to do the needful for the good of this country.
“We are all representatives of different tribes, religion, geographic history, but we are Nigerians. And we will work towards giving Nigeria laws, legislation that will put us on track economically, and by the grace of God, I think we will succeed.
“We have invited a lot of agencies, just to mention a few of those agencies that we believe are key to this – like the Federal Minister of Finance, the Coordinating Minister of Economy. We invited the Federal Minister of Trade and Investment. We have invited the Attorney General of the Federation. We have also invited the Minister of Petroleum, because you know there’s this issue of cash calls, like the revenues, the royalties coming from the oil and gas sectors.
“We are inviting the Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Services. We are also inviting the Statistician General of Nigeria, that’s the Nigerian National Bureau for Statistics, so that he will be able to come and give us his own submission.
We need it. We need it because we need to know how, generally the economy, not just reading or getting it from the news, what is happening practically out there. You can recall that the NBS said by the CPI, a revised data of how our economy looks like.
And we are communicating also with our constituents, so that at the end of the day, we give Nigeria the desired legislation that will take care of our revenue and tax administration,” Senator Musa explained.
