By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The South East Caucus in the Senate, which had earlier given the Senate the go-ahead with considering the tax reform bills yesterday, opted for wider consultations.
The caucus leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA Abia South), disclosed this to journalists after a closed-door meeting of senators from the five southern states held in his office.
Abaribe, at the media briefing, clarified that senators from the South East are not against the bills.
He said they only wanted wider consultations on them before full consideration and possible passage at both chambers of the federal parliament.
Abaribe, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, said, “As far as the entire Senators from the South East geopolitical zone are concerned, we are not against the Tax Reform Bills currently pending before both chambers of the National Assembly for consideration.
“We only want wider consultations to be carried out on them. Specifically, we must consult our constituents across the 15 Senatorial Districts in the Zone with our state governments and other critical stakeholders.
“We have read through the bills and want to share our knowledge with other stakeholders from the South East Zone for a much more equitable framework in the bills that would eventually be passed.
“We are not against the bills but need to consult with our people,” he stressed.
The South East senators should have given a timeframe for their consultations.
Suppose the matter is raised as a point of order and voted on at plenary today (Tuesday), and the Southeast proposal has the support of the majority in the red chamber. In that case, it will affect the mandate of the Committee on Finance, which has four weeks left to submit its report.
Members of the House of Representatives have already dropped further consideration of the bill pending after extensive consultations and robust engagement were sufficiently carried out on it.
The Tax Reform Bills contain the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill 2024, the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill 2024, and the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill 2024.
The landmark fiscal legislation has generated controversies in the polity since October 3, 2024, when President Bola Tinubu transmitted them to both the Senate and the House of Representatives for consideration.
At the moment, only the executive arm of the federal government, the South-South and South-West caucuses in the Senate, are calling for the bills’ immediate consideration.
The Southeast senators have joined other stakeholders, such as the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, the Northern Senators Forum, and the Arewa Consultative Forum, in demanding wider consultations.
