Coronavirus: Reps Pass Emergency Economy Stimulus Bill, Adjourn For 14 Days

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed an emergency economic stimulus bill to support the effect of the coronavirus outbreak.

The bill which was sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Rep, 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 aim of passing the bill was to provide temporary relief to companies and individuals to alleviate the adverse effect of Covid-19 on the economic activities in Nigeria.

The bill will also protect the employment status of Nigerians who might lose their job as a consequence of management decision to retrench personnel in response to downtime in the economy.

The bill if passed 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.

The Speaker who lead the bill said: “desperate times requires a desperate response.”

The bill has been sent to the Senate for concurrence.