The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, has said areas Northern Governors and traditional rulers raised concerns on the Tax Reform Bills were been looked into.
OsunDailyNG reported that Northern governors, legislators and traditional rulers, on several occasions demanded a withdrawal of the tax reform bill from the National Assembly.
In an interview on Monday with Arise News, Governor Sule disclosed that a meeting held in Kaduna where the bill was objected to was as a result of document made available to the northern region’s stakeholders.
He stated that the first document that made them call for the withdrawal had a bias of 60 Value Added Tax (VAT).
Sule explained that the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform, Taiwo Oyedele, had already clarified the 60% VAT clause.
He noted that continued demand for withdrawal of the bill may be misplaced since all concerns by Nigerians are being addressed.
“During the meeting in Kaduna, what we were told during that period was that it (VAT) was only going to be at the point of generating the revenue that 60 percent was going to be given.
“Mr. Oyedele confirmed that no, it is going to be different. The 60 percent that they are talking about is going to be shared, both by the point of generation as well as the point of consumption.
“So, we see that we have added something different from when we asked for the withdrawal of this bill. The bottom line is that this thing is being discussed. What we wanted to happen is happening. It is being discussed.
“The areas are being amended to accommodate the concerns of Nigerians. So, by our own request of withdrawal, if they say they don’t have to withdraw it, they can actually amend this bill in line with our request. Then you don’t have to withdraw anything,” he said.
Paid Critics Are Criticizing The Bill
The Chairman of the North Central Governors Forum, Sule, said most of the people condemning the bill have not read the document, neither do they have much information about VAT.
According to him, some of the critics of the bill were paid for the criticism. He added the Northern stakeholders were satisfied that the VAT did not affect the region.
“It’s not just me. And unfortunately, the debate about this tax reform has gone to wrong hands and a lot of people who have zero knowledge about how VAT is even generated have entered into the debate and made it actually uninteresting.
“And that is why people like me now are mute. We are not even saying anything about it anymore because I believe we have achieved our own goal. When the Northern Governors sat down in Kaduna together with our traditional rulers and we were briefed about the bills, we now noticed the area of VAT that was affected,” Sule said.
The Nasarawa State Governor reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s assurance he would address all concerns against some sections of the bill.
“The unfortunate part of the debate is that there are a lot of people who have zero knowledge about either the bills or VAT that have joined the debate, and they are making it uninteresting. Some of them are doing it to save their jobs. Some of them are doing it to get more jobs. Some of them are doing it for all kinds of things. But the brain behind all this, when the Northern Governor sat down, it was an area that was of concern and we wanted to address it.
“In the last meeting we had with Mr. President, he confirmed to us that he is willing to look into the bill and to see the areas of concerns and to address those areas, and the same thing actually with the initiators of this bill, both Taiwo Oyedele as well as Zach Adedeji, have said it openly during the town hall meeting that they are more than willing to sit down and review some of these areas,” he added.
