The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, has commended the Chairman of Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola and his committee for support on major financial legislations that are yielding results in reforming the financial system of Nigeria.
The Minister, who gave the commendation at the public hearing for the Finance Bill 2022, stated that the committee chaired by Senator Adeola has not only expeditiously considered and passed various Finance Acts since 2019 but has also worked on major landmark legislative instruments like the Medium Term Expenditure Framework MTEF and Fiscal Strategy papers that had significantly impacted on increased revenue for the nation.
She said that with the current state of the polity, the Finance Bill 2022, the fourth since 2019, is focused on macro-economic and fiscal reforms to spur vital investment in climate change and discourage polluting practices, sustain fiscal reforms to spur job creation for Youths, women and SMEs adding that the bill also aim to raise revenue by implementing critical tax equity and tax administration reforms.
In a welcome address to the hearing, Senator Adeola noted that the present bill is the fourth since 2019 with proposed 34 amendments in 10 principal Acts adding that the passage of the bill is expected to propel the nation towards a better economic outlook from the present situation.
In his contribution, Mr. Matthew Gbojubola, Group Lead Special (Tax Operation Group of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), who represented the FIRS Chairman, Mr. Mohammed Nami, stated that since the passage of a similar bill 2 years ago, FIRS has been able to collect taxes on online Offshore business including Amazon, Twitter, Facebook adding that the proposed legislation encompassed in the Finance Bill 2022 will further remove areas of ambiguities and duplication of burden of tax in some sectors.
The President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, in his contribution to the bill said it is progressive in nature in area of equity in taxation and in introduction of fiscal policies to address climate change and promote green growth by disincentivizing gas flaring.
The one-day public hearing was declared open by Senator Orji Kalu, the Chief Whip of the Senate, who represented the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan.