NEC Calls For Withdrawal Of Tax Reform Bill

The National Economic Council (NEC) has expressed reservations over the Tax Reform Bill forwarded by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly.

The bill was forwarded to NASS based on the report and recommendations of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal and Tax Reforms set up by the President to help boost revenue generation in the country.

NEC unanimously called for the withdrawal of the bill.

This was part of the resolutions reached during the National Economic Council meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Briefing State House Correspondents after the meeting, the governors noted the need for sufficient alignment between and amongst the stakeholders for the proposed reforms.

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State who briefed journalists said NEC observed that adequate consultations needed to be made to get the views of stakeholders including the state governors to ensure that the law is favourable to all Nigerians

In another development

The Court of Appeal, Abuja division, on Thursday, reserved judgment in an appeal instituted by the Indigenous People of Biafra, challenging its proscription as a terrorist organisation by the Federal Government.

IPOB in its appeal, is praying the appellate court to nullify in its entirety, the ruling of the late former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati, which, on September 15, 2017, outlawed its activities in Nigeria.

The trial court proscribed IPOB following an ex parte motion filed by the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN), on behalf of the Federal Government.

Justice Abdu-Kafarati, in a ruling, declared all IPOB activities as illegal, specifically the group’s activities in the South East and South-South regions of the country.

He restrained any person or group of persons from participating in any of the group’s activities.

He further held that IPOB constituted a threat to national security while he dismissed the argument that the group, not being a registered entity in Nigeria, could not be validly sued by the Federal Government.

Justice Abdu-Kafarati held that the fact that IPOB claimed that it was registered in over 40 countries in the world aside from Nigeria did not exculpate it from legal liabilities if it was found to have, by its activities, violated any law in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the detained leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, had earlier applied to be joined as an interested party in the suit.