By Peter Omopo
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has dismissed reports suggesting that Nigeria’s newly implemented tax laws were altered after legislative approval, insisting that the laws signed by President Bola Tinubu remain intact and unadulterated.
Akpabio made the clarification on Wednesday during plenary, amid speculations that multiple versions of the tax laws were in circulation. He explained that any document outside the officially certified copies should be disregarded.
According to him, the National Assembly had passed four separate tax-related Acts, all of which have been duly gazetted, signed into law by the President, and certified by the Clerk to the National Assembly to eliminate any form of confusion.
“I understand that there is another version circulating that does not comply with what was contained in our votes and proceedings,” Akpabio said. “There is no adulteration. You can feel confident enough to discard anything that is contrary to the certified version.”
The Senate President subsequently directed the Clerk of the Senate to distribute certified copies of the Acts to all senators, stressing that the documents must not be released to unauthorised persons. He added that each senator would receive a copy, while those absent would be issued theirs directly.
Akpabio emphasised that the certified Acts reflect the outcomes of deliberations in both chambers of the National Assembly, the harmonisation committee, and final presidential assent.
Meanwhile, the Senate deferred consideration of the report of its Committee on Electoral Matters to give lawmakers more time to study the document.
Explaining the decision, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, said the committee chairman, Senator Simon Lalong, was not immediately available, although copies of the report had been circulated among senators.
He noted that lawmakers would take the report home for further study, after which the Senate would reconvene for a brief closed-door session to deliberate on critical provisions of the bill.
In his response, Akpabio assured that the Senate would not rush the process, stressing that lawmakers would take the necessary time to ensure fairness and due process in reaching a final decision.
