The Senate through its Committee on Appropriations, Wednesday, called for a review of tax waiver policies in Nigeria, that will either cut it down by half or cancel it outright.
The committee also called for a review that would ensure that all ‘waivers’ are appropriated for in the proposed budget for 2024 fiscal year just as it summoned the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari to appear before it within 24 hours.
Members of the committee chaired by Senator Solomon Adeola (APC Ogun West) at interactive session with heads of relevant government agencies, expressed worry about the current manner tax waivers are arbitrarily granted in the country without recourse to the National Assembly.
The lawmakers believed the arrangement has created huge loopholes in the system and left the country financially drained.
To close the gap, chairman of the committee, Solomon Olamilekan requested the federal government to as a matter of urgency, slice the waiver provisions by half as against calls for it to be outrightly cancelled.
Nigeria’s Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, confirmed that the country lost approximately N3 trillion to ‘waivers’ in 2023.
To further block leakages in the system, the Senate committee advised the federal government to ensure that all monies belonging to it be remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund even as it gave the minister three days to come forward with the comprehensive payroll performance for 2023.
The next was the chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Zacch Adedeji, who called for a radical change in government spending pattern that will eliminate MDAs and make it possible for the federal government to pay directly to contractors and deduct its taxes.
The FIRS boss however insisted that his tax target of N19 trillion for 2024 is achievable.
The Senate however was disappointed at the failure of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari to appear before it and indeed before any other committee.
The committee thus gave Kyari and the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Upstream Regulatory Commission, NUPRC 24 hours to appear before it with all the list of individuals and companies with operating OML licenses.
