Reps set to transmit harmonised tax reform bills for Tinubu’s assent

…approve 50% for TetFund, 15% for education loan fund, 8% for Nigeria Information Technology Development Fund

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed through third reading the harmonised tax reform bills, which provide for 50 per cent of revenues accrued tax for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, 15 per cent to the Education Loan Fund and 8 per cent to dose Nigeria Information Technology Development Fund.

The lawmakers had during the Committee of the Whole adopted the recommendations of the House and Senate Conference Committee co-chaired by Hon. Abiodun James Faleke.

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Recall that the tax reform bills were transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in October 2024 for further legislative consideration.

Leading debate on the Conference Committee’s recommendations, Faleke explained that there were 45 areas of difference in the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 12 areas of difference in the Nigeria Revenue Service Bill, 9 areas of difference in the Joint Revenue Board Bill and 46 areas of difference in the Nigeria Tax Bill, adding that all grey areas were resolved ahead of the passage.

During the voting on the clauses, the lawmakers unanimously adopted the imposition of four per cent development levy on the assessable profit of all companies chargeable to tax under chapters 2 and 3, except small companies and non-resident companies.

The lawmakers also agreed that the levy shall be collected by the Nigeria Revenue Service and paid into a special account created for the same purpose.

In the sharing formula, the House adopted 50 percent of the tax would go to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, 15 percent to the Education Loan Fund (up from 3 percent agreed by the House), and 8 percent to the Nigeria Information Technology Development Fund.

Similarly, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) is to get 8 percent (down from 10 percent earlier agreed by both chambers), the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) is to get 4 percent from the fund, defence and security infrastructure is to get 10 per cent while cyber security fund will get 5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Social Security Fund, Nigeria Police Trust Fund, and National Sports Development Fund were excluded from the list of beneficiaries passed by the House of Representatives.

The House also adopted a new clause 158 which imposes a 5 per cent surcharge on chargeable fossil fuel products provided or produced in Nigeria and shall be collected at the time a chargeable transaction occurs.

However, the controversial Value Added Tax (VAT) sharing formula was not part of the areas of disagreement between the two legislative chambers.

In his intervention, Chairman, House Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters, Hon. Ahmed Jaha who commended the House leadership for making the tax reform bills a success.

He, however, warned against unethical legislative practice after the passage of the tax reform bills.

He said: “Because I know what actually transpired from day one to date, the pressure you have accommodated, the diplomatic approach you have employed to make this bill a reality.

“And after this I want to equally commend the Chairman of the Finance Committee. He has proved to us that he is not only an elder, but a very responsible elder on the floor of this House. Very, very responsible.

“Because we know he could have done a lot of pressure from people like us. And he gave us the opportunity to air out our views about the position of Nigerians on this bill. And we thank you for that.

“And I equally want to thank our Caucus leaders, especially Honourable Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Honourable Betara, Honourable Wase, Sada Soli, Fred Agbedi and all other Caucus leaders. Honourable Igariwe from the South East for providing the required leadership too. Nicholas Mutu for the Southern part.

“They have contributed immensely, sir, in making this bill a reality. Before I sit down, I want to throw a warning to the people that are crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s in a clean-up process as part of our resolution. We have resolved that while cleaning these documents, if T is not crossed as far as this bill is concerned, do not cross it.

“If I is not dotted, do not dot it. Because we have the content of what is passed, not only in the conference committee, but what was passed by the two chambers before we come to a conference committee level. Please and please, we beg you, you do the needful by transpiring exactly what was passed to the principal officers for onward transmission to the executive for assent.

“Thank you. Sir, we have a resolution on this floor of the House that each and every page of a sensitive bill of this nature should be signed by the presiding officers before transmitting to the executive. Because we had situations in the past where a bill had a very good intention and members have done the due diligence.

“Before you realize what is happening, before transmitting to the president, they will amend one or two things and at the end of the day, the president will withhold assent because it was not the position of the House as well as that of the Senate. So we beg you, please, we have suffered a lot about it,” Jaha noted.

In his remarks, Kalu acknowledged that: “It’s been a long journey and all this while he held the ground firmly without losing his cool, carrying everybody along. He deserved to be the chairman of that committee and even more, you have really persevered through diplomacy, through every, you have employed every leadership tool to make sure that Nigeria received the best and we are proud of you, to be honest, I think from the leadership we are proud of you and also the leader of the house and the minority leaders.

“The truth is that on the part of the leadership of the majority, the leader also played a major role in making sure that stabilisation was there in the mind of those who were agitating and those who were supporting to get more information to support with the right information.

“The Minority also was very conscious of making sure that the bill will not, you know, be only for the people, a certain group of people, but for all persons in Nigeria, for the benefit of all. It is this balanced opinion that has taken us, and that is what the parliament is supposed to be. We debate, we disagree, it doesn’t mean that we are enemies, we disagree until we get the best for the people we represent.

“So this is congratulations to you, congratulations to Nigerians and I agree with Honourable Jaha, that this bill, that copy presented here by the chairman is a copy the Presiding Officers would like to see as it progresses to Mr. President. Nothing should be added to it, nothing should be removed. We are happy with what we have adopted.”

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