The House of Representatives has fixed February 28 to hold a public hearing on the four Tax Reform Bills recently passed for second reading in the House.

Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, who announced this during yesterday’s plenary, said the House decided to constitute a special committee to handle the public hearing in view of its sensitive nature.

The public hearing would have been handled by the House Committee on Finance, but the Speaker said a 36-man committee had been constituted to handle the assignment.

The committee, to be headed by the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, James Abiodun Faleke, will have the Deputy Chairman of the Finance Committee as the deputy.

Leader of the Northern Caucus, Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano), Leader of the Southern Caucus, Nicholas Mutu (PDP, Delta), as well as the six zonal caucus leaders – Sada Solo (Northwest), Ahmed Idris Wase (Northcentral), Mukthar Aliyu Betara (Northeast), Babajimi Benson (Southwest), Fred Agbedi (Southsouth) and Igariwey Iduma Enwo (Southeast) – are on the committee.

The Tax Reform Bills include the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, which aims to provide the fiscal framework for taxation in the country, and the Tax Administration Bill, which will provide a clear and concise legal framework for all taxes in the country and reduce disputes.

Others are: the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, which is expected to repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act and establish the Nigeria Revenue Service, as well as the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, which will create a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman.

The committee is expected to engage stakeholders in the nation’s tax system, including officials of the Presidential Committee on Tax Reform, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (BGF), civil society organisations (CSOs), among others.