The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Monday, signed the 2020 Finance Bill into law.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, confirmed this development in a statement in Abuja.
According to the presidential aide, this is sequel to its passage by the National Assembly and subsequent forwarding by the legislature to the President for assent.
It would be recalled that the retired general, while presenting the 2020 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly, had also presented the Finance Bill.
He said, “This Finance Bill has five strategic objectives, in terms of achieving incremental, but necessary, changes to our fiscal laws.
“The draft Finance Bill proposes an increase of the VAT rate from five per cent to 7.5 per cent , as such, the 2020 Appropriation Bill is based on this new VAT rate,” he said.
” Buhari said: “I am pleased to announce that this morning I signed into law the Finance Bill, 2019. “We introduced the Bill alongside the 2020 Budget, to -Reform Nigeria’s tax laws to align with global best practices; -Support MSMEs in line with our Ease of Doing Business Reforms; -Incentivize investments in infrastructure and capital markets; -Raise Government revenues.
“This is the first time, since the return of democracy in 1999, that a Federal Budget is being accompanied by the passage of a Finance Bill specially designed to support its implementation and to create a truly enabling environment for business and investment by the private sector. “I thank the leadership and members of the Ninth National Assembly for the hard work and support that have gone into the passage of the landmark Deep Offshore and Inland Basin PSC Amendment Bill, and the Finance Bill; both vital to the successful implementation of the 2020 Budget,” Buhari tweeted.
