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Senate plans review of waivers, others to generate extra funds for govt

By John Akubo, Abuja
13 January 2023   |   4:03 am
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has hinted that the Ninth Senate would expend the remaining six months of its lifespan to review or renegotiate some waivers, tax holidays and concessions granted to investors and businesses by the Federal Government.

Ahmad Lawan

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has hinted that the Ninth Senate would expend the remaining six months of its lifespan to review or renegotiate some waivers, tax holidays and concessions granted to investors and businesses by the Federal Government.

Dropping the indication yesterday at an occasion to mark his 64 birthday in Abuja, Lawan stressed that the review was to generate extra funds for government and minimise borrowing.

He said the move has become expedient and instructive due to leakages in tax collection and remittances amid revenue shortfalls and high debt profile.

“The government cannot continue to go borrowing because it is not sustainable. We have to look inward and generate more money to execute landmark projects and fund infrastructure,” he stated.

Lawan, who deplored the recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, which showed that there are more poverty-ravaged Nigerians in North East and North West, stated that the people in the two zones needed not to be poor if government had invested in livestock business.

He queried: “Some critics are quick at kicking against the idea of livestock development, some of them say it’s a private business and they (farmers) shouldn’t be supported.

“There is nothing more private than someone setting up a bank. Kill the bank and then the obnoxious loans are taken over by AMCON (Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria).

“AMCON today has about N6 trillion of toxic loans on our head.

“The livestock industry in Nigeria, especially between Borno, Sokoto and of course Yobe, is an economy that is worth N33 trillion.

“Incidentally, the most poor states are in this zone. Where you have a potential of N33 trillion economy, we have no reason to be poor.”

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