The House of Representatives has instructed its board of committees to probe the non-remittance of about N5 trillion to the Federal Government by some businesses operating in Nigeria.
The resolution to go after tax non-payers followed the motion moved by Hon. Esosa Iyawe on Thursday during the House meeting in Abuja.
The House has resolved to mandate the Committees on Public Account and Finance to probe organizations’ non-remittances and recover the owed government funds.
Iyawe, moving the motion, stated that between 2015 and 2019, 5,000 companies owe the Federal Government about N5.2 trillion.
He also stated that according to another report, in 2021, some companies owed about N17 billion.
He added that some of the culprits are multinational corporations that the Federal Government is treating leniently, while small businesses are burdened with multiple taxes.
The motion was taken unanimously without opposition and the House directed the committees to report back in four weeks.
Still on legislative matters……..
The House of Representatives has begun investigation of the N200 billion allocated for the suspended 2023 Population and Housing Census.
The House on Thursday mandated its Population Committee to invite the Director-General of the National Population Commission (NPC) to account for the expenditure of the N200 billion.
This decision followed the adoption of a motion on the Need to Investigate the N200 Billion Spent on the Suspended 2023 Population and Housing Census, moved by Hon. Clement Akanni during the House plenary in Abuja.
Adopting the motion, the House noted that a census is a systematic process of collecting, compiling, and analyzing demographic, social, and economic data of a population within a specific region.
The lawmakers also noted that governments conduct censuses to gather accurate and comprehensive information such as age, sex, marital status, education, occupation, housing, and other relevant demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of a country.
The House acknowledged that the last census conducted in 2006 by the National Population Commission gave a population figure of 140 million.