Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A bill to amend the recently signed Finance Act on Wednesday passed second reading at the Senate a day after it was presented to the red chamber of the National Assembly.
On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari addressed a letter to the Senate, seeking its approval to amend a few portions of the Finance Act.
“Pursuant to Sections 58 and 59 of Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I formally request that the Finance Act, 2019 (Amendment) Bill be considered by the Senate for passage into law.
“This bill seeks to amend the Finance Act, 2019 recently passed by the National Assembly.
“That the administrative effective date for the increase in Value Added Tax from 5% to 7.5% is the 1st of February 2020;
“(ii) That ‘Animal Feeds’ are included in the list of Basic Food Items that are exempt from Value Added Tax; and
“(iii) Aspects of the tax holiday incentive for agriculture by targeting this incentive to small and medium sized companies that invest in primary crop, livestock, forestry and fishing agricultural production. This incentive is also to be administered by Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission pursuant to the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act.
“While I trust that this Bill will be favourably considered for passage Into law by the National Assembly to as to support the implementation of the 2020 federal budget, please accept, Distinguished Senate President, the assurance of my highest consideration,” the letter from Mr Buhari, which was read by the Senate President, Mr Ahmad Lawan, yesterday, stated.
At the plenary today, one of the lawmakers, Mr Abdullahi Yahaya, presented the amendment bill to the Senate. It was thereafter, considered immediately for second reading and was put for debate by the parliament.
Mr Yahaya informed his colleagues that the bill aims to provide clarifications regarding the tax incentives for agricultural production, the administrative effective date for the commencement of the increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) to 7.5 percent and certain basic items exempt from VAT and for other connected matters.
Though the Senate Minority Leader, Mr Enyinnaya Abaribe argued that, “We have not seen the clarifications this amendment is seeking,” his other colleague, Mr Solomon Adeola, emphasised that, “This is a very straightforward amendment we are seeking for and I believe it is not controversial.”
While contributing to the debate, Senator James Manager said, “Basically it is all about clarifications and if it is about that, there is nothing new and the Committee will bring the details. The amendment is for the good of all of us and I support it.”
The Senate President, who referred the bill to the Committee on Finance to report within a week, stated that, “We passed this Bill last year November and Mr President signed it in December.
“I think we have something to celebrate here. I believe that this is a very straightforward Bill and our Committee on Finance will do a lot of nitty gritty.”
