Determined to block financial leakages to ultimately boost federal government revenue, the Senate has recommended to the Bola Tinubu administration to halt grant of tax waivers except those directly linked to nongovernmental / profit organisations.
Nigerian Tribune checks revealed that last week at its session with the federal government revenue generating agency, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Senate Committee on Finance frowned at the loss of over N1.3 trillion to waivers and concessions in 2023 by the federal government.
It equally resolved to investigate tax waivers granted to companies since 2015 to date.
These formed part of the recommendations of the Senate Committee on Finance report on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper ( FSP) which was adopted on Wednesday.
In the Federal Government’s 2024 N26 trillion budget, the Senate also approved N7.8 trillion in new borrowings( including borrowings from foreign and domestic sources) aside the estimated N8.2 trillion for debt service.
Reinforcing its view to cut costs and block financial leakages, the Senate also recommended to the federal government the deregistration of certain subsidiaries of the NIPOST.
The recommendations read in part: “Having discovered that the subsidiaries of NIPOST so created are irregular and illegal, we therefore recommend for them to be wound up and deregistered immediately.
“That the sum of N10 billion released by the Ministry of Finance for the proposed NIPOST restructuring and recapitalisation be investigated and the funds fully recovered if established to be injudiciously utilised by the relevant Committee of the assembly charged with the responsibility of fiscal prudency.
The document which recommended ” that the daily crude oil production of 1.78mbpd, 1.80mbpd, and 1.81mbpd, for 2024,2025, 2026, respectively be approved, subject to NNPCL confirmation of actual and verifiable deliveries” however expressed strong reservations about cost of crude oil production and operational costs by the NNPC.
The Senate recommended ” that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, ( NNPCL) should work towards reducing its cost of production and operational costs with the view of increasing available government revenue.”
Speaking with journalists after plenary, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Sani Musa justified the move to cancel waiver.
He said:” Why do we give waiver? We give to enable companies that want to establish tax holidays because we know that they will give employment.
“But we have realised that most of these waivers, the people that benefit from it have continued to benefit, year in and year out. Tax waivers should be given for a timeline, it shouldn’t be perpetual.
“Look at the sugar industry, if we continue to sustain the waiver, you will see what will happen to that sector. The Customs told us we lost N1.3 trillion. Does it make sense to us. That’s why the Senate agreed that all waivers should be removed!”
On NIPOST, Senator Musa said the “agency has become ineffective and we aren’t convinced that those affiliated subsidiaries are working. From our investigation, some of these subsidiaries were registered with some private individuals as shareholders. For me, NIPOST isn’t up and doing and they haven’t showed us that they have capacity. On that basis, we said those subsidiaries shouldn’t be allowed to exist.”
. TheWitness
