Borno State Lead Representative, Professor Babagana Zulum has asserted that only Lagos and Rivers states have the possibility of profiting from President Bola Tinubu’s tax reform bills.
The Lead Representative, said this was based on research and calculations by northern governors.
He likewise explained why the northern Lead Representative encouraged President Tinubu to hang on prior pushing the dubious bills.
“On this tax issue, there are a ton of misguided judgments. We felt that the VAT provision in the tax law. In view of the computations that we did, just Lagos and Rivers States will profit from this scheme. We did our own research and concluded that we would lose,” Zulum stated.
“For what reason would we say we are in a hurry? We advised the Federal Government to take a pause and cancel some of the clauses that are unfriendly to Northern Nigeria.
“What we are talking about is that give more time, let us do a more profound discussion to comprehend the nitty-gritty of this tax regime before passing it into law.”
Zulum explained that if the bill scales through the National Assembly, states would be bamboozled as just Lagos State would be the main recipient of the policy.
In October, President Tinubu requested the National Assembly to consent to pass the bills into law.
The bills are the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024 -SB.583; The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) BILL, 2024- SB.584; The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 2024-SB.585; and the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024 – SB.586.
Be that as it may on November 28, the tax reform bills passed a second reading in the Red Chamber.
He contended that in spite of certain hints in certain quarters, the Northern Lead Representatives are not against President Tinubu’s administration.
Zulum reviewed that before the 2023 general political race, he was one of a handful Lead Representatives who demanded that power must be pivoted toward the south.
The Lead Representative explained that as a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he supported Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
He noted that, the north can’t be against Tinubu as over 60% of his votes in the 2023 general elections came from the region.
He lamented that certain people were passing a negative story that the north is against Tinubu’s government.
“I am a strong member of APC. If you can count two governors before 2019 and 2023 who were in support of Tinubu, you can mention Governor Zulum. I was the first governor to come out publicly and say that power must go to the South.
“Tragically, the President was told by numerous that the North was against him. 60.2 percent of his votes came from the north.
“In any case, later on, people have flipped around it. I want you to believe that our consultation is vital to democracy, and in a democratic setting, we are asking for the right to be consulted. This is only what has occurred, he added.
