Amid criticism against the tax reform bills before the national assembly, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has asked
Nigerians particularly northerners to be fair in their assessment of the bills sent by President Bola Tinubu to the lawmakers.
Dogara said that the governors and other elites faulting these bills were doing so from an uninformed perspective, saying the critics should examine their benefits particularly as it’s helps to address major issues across the country.
Since the introduction of the bills before the National Assembly, prominent figures in the northern region have faulted them. Millions of others in the region have called for a review of the bills which most of them described as against the north.
The former speaker responded to this while addressing stakeholders at a tax reform public hearing held on Monday in Abuja which was also attended by Taiwo Oyedele, the chairman of the tax reform committee setup by President Bola Tinubu.
Tax Reforms Bills.
has called for calm over the northern region’s criticism of the Tax Reform Bills before the National Assembly.
Since the introduction of the bills before the National Assembly, prominent figures in the northern region have faulted them.
Some critics argue that the bills are skewed against the northern region while others claim they should be stepped down for further review.
Millions of others in the region have called for a review of the bills which most of them described as against the north.
They have accused Tinubu of being against the northern region, an argument Dogara does not buy, describing their criticism as irrelevant.
He said: “And lastly, I want to talk to my brothers in the North. I don’t think this is the time for us to begin to condemn the president and to begin to say that on account of these bills, he is anti-north because I want to remind us that the president has done something that is significant.
“If he can pursue this to the end, it would be that there is no northern leader of my lifetime that has done what the president has done for the north. And I will tell you [what he has achieved] is the creation of the livestock ministry. There is a global business around that. The global market size of dairies, of beef in the next three years will rise to about $2.5 trillion. You can Google it. So if in the north, we are able to organize ourselves in such a way that we can corner just 5%, just 5% of this global market size of dairies and beef, I tell you that gives us $250 billion.
“We don’t need VAT from any state in Nigeria to survive. The North can survive on its own. We are the most endowed part of Nigeria.”
He believes there is no right time for reforms and called on Nigerians to support the President.
“I don’t even care if it was part of the president’s agenda,” he said. “All I am bothered with as a leader is: is it the right thing? We should remove the cap of regionalism, the cap of sectionalism, the cap of religion and put on the cup of leadership because that is what will resolve the quarrel that we have,” he said on Channels Television’s Special Town Hall on the Tax Reform Bills which aired on Monday.
With inflation over 30 per cent and millions of Nigerians battling to buy basic commodities, critics believe the Tax Reform Bills are coming at the wrong time.
Others say the is inadequate consultations over the bills. These arguments, according to Dogara, are insufficient to throw the bills away.
“I think one of the major objections is related to the issue of timing. I’ve heard this from leaders that I respect.
“But in leadership, when you talk about timing, the way I have heard them talk about is a tragic misconception of the notion of time itself because there’s nothing like the future, there’s nothing like the past,” he said.
“All we have is now. It is what you are doing now that will become your past. It is what you are doing now that will affect your future”.
“I don’t even care if it was part of the president’s agenda. All I am bothered with as a leader is: is it the right thing?”
“Secondly, I have heard about insufficient consultation. I had heard even legislators speaking as if they were spokespersons for some governors’ forum or others instead of looking at what is right and proffering solutions.
“Now, I don’t know why he [Taiwo Oyedele who leads the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee and a panelist for the event] didn’t address some of these issues. But I believe in the course of our interface, he will address whether there was enough consultation with the governors.
“But I want to say this: at the state level, how many people do governors consult when they are making laws? I’m not challenging them. As a matter of fact, in some cases, state laws are written from the living rooms of governors.”
