..House C’ttee orders IGP to arrest FCDA officials over alleged breach of building code
Jonas Ezieke, Abuja
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance
Hon.James Faleke has assured that the new laws in the tax reform bills considered and passed by the House will be acceptable to all Nigerians.
Faleke gave the assurance in a brief interview with journalists on Thursday after the House considered and adopted the report on the four tax reform bills in Abuja on Thursday.
The bills are, Nigerian Tax Bill, the Tax Administration Bill, the Revenue Tax Board and the Nigerian Revenue Service establishment Bill.
“These bills took three full days of public hearing, we took memoranda from more than 80 critical stakeholders and after the three days, we resorted to a retreat for eight days, debating all the clauses for each of the bills.
“I am glad that members of the house saw that we had done a thorough job and they have approved all our recommendation.
“We want to appreciate our members and all Nigerians who showed interest in this bills and we assure that the laws that will come after these bills acceptable by all Nigerians,’ he said.
Faleke appreciated the leadership of the house for entrusting the committee with the responsibility of processing the tax bills and to lay them before the house.
He also commended President Bola Tinubu for considering it worthy to amend tax laws saying that some of our tax laws are as old as 1959.
According to the lawmaker, we cannot continue to operate with those tax laws that are archaic to meet our demands for survival, business and for the revenue target that we seek to achieve.
The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Hon. Saidu Abdullahi (Niger,APC) said that no bill in the 10th Assembly had generated such controversies as the tax reforms bills.
He said that the house, under the leadership of Speaker Rt Hon.Tajudeen Abbas was able to build consensus among all the stakeholders.
Abdullahi said that interest groups from each geo political zone and regional thought leaders were drafted into the committee which allayed the fears of the people.
He said that the recommendations of the committee was an offshoot of all the inputs of the various stakeholders.
“There were never seen as a perfect document, there were proposals from the Executive and the puli hearing provided Nigerians the platform to make the better and from what we have seen today, the whole country represented by the lawmakers have assented to it,’’ he said.
Also speaking, Hon. Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere (Imo,PDP) said that the process was transparent as the consultants and the executive all made adjustments to reflect the will of the people.
“Èven though we are from the opposition, we are so proud of this historic moment that is going to bring more people in the tax net, create more revenue for effective running of government.
“There is going to be efficiency in tax collecting system and even small businesses are well protected; for me this is very historic and that is why all of us worked with the government and our colleague to ensure it sailed through today,”’ he said.
On his part, Hon. Benson Babajimi (Lagos,APC) said that the issues raised by all the relevant stakeholders ranging from inheritance tax, derivation, VAT etc were considered by the house.
“It is a good day for Nigeria, the injection that Nigeria needs to move into the comity of nations had been applied and the House of Reps have sanctioned it so we wait on the Senate to do the same,’’ he said
Meanwhile, The House of Representatives has ordered the arrest of the Executive Secretary, the Federal capital development Authority (FCDA), Mr. Richard Dauda over alleged breach of building code in the federal capital territory (FCT).
The House through the Committee on Public Petition on Thursday also ordered the arrest of Director, Department of Development Control (FCTA), Mr. Muktar Galadima and the Director of Regional Planning of the FCT.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Mike Etaba during proceedings explained that the decision to issue the warrant of arrest on the aforementioned officials was in tandem with the extant provision of the Legislative Houses powers and privileges Act 2017.
The committee has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Kayode Egbetekun to not only ensure the arrest of the aforementioned officials but compel them to appear before the committee on the 28th of this month to explain their role on the committal of the alleged infraction.
Etaba explained that he was left with no option but to summon the FCDA officials after they deliberately shunned the summon of the committee on Tuesday and Thursday this week.
Etaba who later led members of the committee to conduct on the spot assessment of the building site in Guzape disclosed that the FCDA officials would surely be compelled to produce documents required to ascertain the veracity of the claim of the petitioner.
Said he: “We had a petition that was brought before us by a Nigerian citizen in the course of investigation FCDA has refused to come and tender documents necessary for us to proceed with this investigation. But for today we have come to the site where the petition is referring to.
“We have looked at the building plans and the engineer in site who we met known as Mr. Emmanuel who we met told the committee that there is no approved building plan with him right now. We have looked at the structure, the land mark, the cantilever that the complainant who is a Nigerian that has a right to his security and safety.
“We have looked at it and we would go back to the committee and ask for more documents most especially the approved plan so that the FCDA would be able to explain to us the guideline they gave for this building to be able to determine what is actually good for this site and let Nigerians living around here have their peace.we are here to do justice to everybody.
Recall that the Committee had at its proceedings on Tuesday adopted the petition on the issue regarding plot AO9399 cadastral zone filed by the chairman of the House committee on Custom, Elder Leke Abejide.
Counsel to Abejide, Mr. Samuel Ajayi had explained that the petition before the House committee was in respect of the development on a property at AO9399 Cadestral zone, allegedly contravening the building code of the FCT.
“We have a complain in respect to a building going on there in Guzape which trespassed into the rights of my client. We are urging the appropriate authority to take appropriate step address the issue,” he said.
