The Benue State House of Assembly has amended 2007 Local Government (LG) and approved a three-year tenure for LG elected officials.The amendment of the 2007 LG law took place on Friday, few hours before local government elections slated for Saturday. The house, presided over by its Speaker, Hyacinth Dajoh, unanimously agreed that the LG law be amended after clause-to-clause in consideration of the bill.

The house therefore expunged the two-year tenure, which was in the former law in sections 13(2) and 27(3), and substituted it with three-year tenure. Ruling after the legislative processes, Dajoh agreed that the amendment was necessary to allow the chairmen enough time to develop their areas.The bill has been sent to the governor for his assent.In a separate development, the assembly confirmed the appointment of Mr Halem Ikyo of Zone B and Mr David Ochapa of Zone C as deputy clerks of the house. (NAN)

By Eze Okechukwu, Abuja

Both Chambers of the National Assembly Thursday received four different executive bills fromPresident Bola Tinubu yesterday forwarded four different Executive Bills to both chambers of the National Assembly, for far reaching tax reforms; one of which was the one seeking the renaming of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).

The name changing bill for FIRS as contained in the letter read on the floor of the Senate by Godswill Akpabio, the Sena President was titled: ” The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill which according to President Tinubu, seeks to repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, No. 13, 2007 and establishes the Nigeria Revenue Service, to assess, collect and account for revenue accruable to the government of the federation.Other reforms bill in the letter titled: “Transmission of Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Bills to the National Assembly”, were; the Nigeria Tax Bill which seeks to provide a consolidated fiscal framework for taxation in Nigeria; the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, which seeks to provide a clear and concise legal framework for the fair, consistent and efficient administration of all the tax laws to facilitate ease of tax compliance, reduce tax disputes and optimize revenue, the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill which aims at establishing the Joint Revenue Board, the Tax Appeal Tribunal and the Office of The Tax Ombudsman for the harmonization, coordination and settlement of disputes arising from revenue administration in Nigeria.According to the President, the proposed tax bill presents substantial benefits to a library, government connectives and economic growth by enhancing tax payers compliance, strengthening fiscal institutions, and fostering a more effective and transparent fiscal regime.”I am confident that the bill when passed will encourage investment, boost consumer spending and stimulate Nigeria’s economic growth”, he stressed.

From Dan Amasingha, Minna

Niger state governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago has submitted a supplementary budget of N213, 737, 470, 338.00 to the State House of Assembly.The proposed Supplementary budget captures provisions for the new N70, 000 National Minimum Wage for civil servants in the state.

Announcing the receipt of the Governor’s correspondence on the floor of the House at plenary session on Thursday, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Abdulmalik Sarkin Daji said the supplementary budget came along with three other correspondences to the legislators.The Speaker emphasised the importance of the proposed 2024 Supplementary Budget, highlighting its potential to stimulate economic activities in the state due to the anticipated increase in funds. He stated that the budget would be considered by the House and subsequently passed into law.The recurrent expenditure is set at N36, 859,819,029.12, while the capital expenditure stands at N176, 877,651,108.88.In addition to the supplementary budget, the House also received the 2024 proposed revised budget, submitted by Governor Bago for review and approval. The governor highlighted the necessity of revising the budget to align with current economic realitiess, citing factors such as the removal of fuel subsidies, inflation, and the devaluation of the naira.The revised budget aims to support the government’s development initiatives and provide essential social services to the citizens.Bago also submitted the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF and FSP) 2025-2027 for the House’s deliberation and approval, in accordance with the State Fiscal Responsibility Law (FRL) 2010 Section 13(i) b.In addition to the request, the governor nominated Alh Ahmed Abubakar for the position of Auditor-General for Niger State, subject to the House’s screening and confirmation.