Finance Bill: FIRS, NNPC, Customs, Others Must ‘Sit Up’ – Senate
The Senate has asked agencies of the Federal Government saddled with the responsibility of generating revenues to be more efficient in discharging their duties.
Such agencies include the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the Nigeria Customs Services among others.
President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, stated this during plenary on Thursday shortly after lawmakers in the upper chamber of the National Assembly passed the Finance Bill.
“The revenue-generating agencies will have to sit up; the Senate will be mounting a lot of oversight on the revenue agencies,” he said.
READ ALSO: Senate Passes Finance Bill Proposing VAT Increase, Others
The bill seeks to amend six tax provisions and make them more responsive to tax reform policies and the Customs and Excise Tariff Act to encourage local manufacturers.
The legislations under it include Companies Income Tax, Value Added Tax, Customs and Excise Tariff, Capital Gains Tax Act, Petroleum Profit Tax, Personal Income Tax, and Stamp Duties Act.
The billed was passed after it was read for the third time on the floor of the Senate, following the presentation of the report of the Senate Committee on Finance by Senator Adeola Solomon.
Addressing his colleagues after they shared their various perspectives on the effects of the bill on the nation and its people, the Senate President explained that the bill aims to help Nigeria generate more revenues.
He said, “Let me thank all of us for passing the seven Acts in the Finance Bill to ensure that we streamline the tax system in Nigeria and ensure that we get revenue for the government to provide infrastructure for this country.
“What we have done is very significant because this is to ensure that we not only have sources of funding for the 2020 Budget but also for subsequent activities of the government.”
“We must ensure that any agency that is charged with generating revenue must discharge its function judiciously.
“What we have done is to create more revenue to provide infrastructure for the Nigerian people,” Senate President Lawan stated.
