The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to provide economic relief to cushion the effect of the outbreak of coronavirus.
The bill sponsored by the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila and other principal officers of the House-passed through 1st, 2nd, and was subsequently passed as the rules of the House was suspended to allow passage.
The objectives of the bill include to provide temporary relief to companies and individuals to alleviate the adverse financial consequences of a slowdown in economic activities brought on by the outbreak of the Covid–19 Disease in Nigeria;
To protect the employment status of Nigerians who might otherwise become unemployed as a consequence of management decision to
retrench personnel in response to the prevailing economic realities.
The bill if concurred by the senate will give employers who did not retrench staff in the course of the virus a 50% income tax rebate.
The bill also seeks to defer all payment of mortgage obligations on residential mortgages obtained by individual contributors to the National Housing Fund for a period of 180 days.
The other part of the bill is a waiver on importation of medical equipment for the control of the epidemic.
Leading the debate on the bill, the Speaker said that “desperate times requires desperate response.”
The bill has been sent to the Senate for concurrence.
