Senate
Majority Whip, Olusola Adeyeye has demanded that allowances of lawmakers
should be taxed just as he warned his colleagues that God will judge
and deal with them if they fail to live up to the responsibilities
placed on them by Nigerians.
The lawmaker, who spoke extensively
during consideration of the N6.08 trillion 2016 national budget at
yesterday’s plenary, said: “Under your leadership (addressing Senate
President, Dr Bukola Saraki), whatever is brought must be considered
otherwise God will judge all of us beginning from you.
“If we are going to move this country
forward, we must go back to what we did in the days of Obafemi Awolowo,
Ahmadu Bello and Nnamdi Azikiwe. Nobody in my village will go to his
farm until he can produce his tax receipt. We need ingenuity to bring
this to pass.
“We must begin to tax our allowances as
lawmakers. Nigeria is the only country that shelters the bulk of the
earnings of its workers and call them allowances.
Across the aisle, in the House of
Representatives, investigation into the crude oil-for-refined-products
exchange (oil swap) arrangement took a dramatic turn when one of the
trading companies involved in the deals, AITEO Nigeria Limited refused
to appear before the Zakari Mohammed-led ad hoc committee.
Angered by the actions of the company,
which said the investigation was a subject of litigation, Mohammed
warned that his committee will not allow its assignment to be frustrated
by the time-wasting gimmicks of some of the organisations involved in
the deals being probed.
Counsel to AITEO and another company,
Ontario Nigeria Limited, Chika Onyebuchi Uko said a non-governmental
organisation (NGO), Centre for Rule of Law had instituted a legal
proceeding against the investigative hearing which makes the
continuation of the hearing prejudiced.
She said her clients, AITEO Nigeria Ltd
and Ontario Nigeria Limited would not appear before the committee until
the case was dispensed with. On the fate of the third trading firm, Taleveras Nigeria Ltd, Mohammed said the company complied with invitations.
He added: “Taleveras has been coming since the
commencement of the hearing. They were here today as well but went to
the former hearing room but, before we left the new hearing room, their
representatives met us.They will be taken on Tuesday.
“We were supposed to have taken them today but
unfortunately they didn’t turn up and a summon has gone out to Ontario
and Aiteo to appear before the committee.
“Failure of which by next Wednesday, the Inspector General of Police would be directed to effect their arrest and produce them before us.”