Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress may meet with the National Assembly members in furtherance of consultation on the tax bills.
The planned meeting is on the heels of a parley with President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday night.
This comes as the Arewa Consultative Congress raised a panel to review the tax reform bills.
The tax reform bills comprise the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024; Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024; Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, 2024 and Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024.
Sources in the Presidency and the Progressives Governors Forum said the APC governors’ session with the President, which touched on the tax bills, was attended by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas and some cabinet members.
The governors who reportedly attended the meeting included the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Hope Uzodimma (Imo); Mohammed Bago (Niger), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Usman Ododo (Kogi), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), among others.
Also present were the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji; the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu and the Minister of Information, Idris Mohammed.
“The meeting had to do with this issue of President Tinubu’s tax reform bills and how to make governors, elected officials and stakeholders understand their benefits and address the grey areas they are still having doubts about,” the source said.
Addressing journalists after the meeting, Uzodimma said the session centred on the APC mid-term congress and ways to solidify the party structure.
“We had a caucus meeting with our party to discuss how to manage our mid-term congress and strengthen our party to support Mr President to succeed,” he stated.
The tax reform bills, according to the Federal Government, will shield small companies from paying taxes and put in place a system for addressing cases of tax avoidance and evasion.
However, the bills have been met with stiff opposition from northern governors and lawmakers who insisted the reforms were against the region.
The 19 northern governors rejected certain provisions of the VAT contained in the bills, insisting on their withdrawal from the National Assembly.
The TheNigerian learnt that the APC governors would seek to secure the buy-in of the lawmakers and other political stakeholders in another round of meetings scheduled for Thursday night.
Sources said the move aimed to address the opposition to the bills and ensure they were given a smooth passage at the National Assembly.
In a move to deepen public discourse and understanding of the proposed tax reform, the ACF, on Thursday, constituted a committee of experts to study the proposed bills.
The experts are expected to come up with appropriate recommendations to be forwarded to the relevant organs of government.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof Tukur Muhammad-Baba, in Kaduna, on Thursday, the ACF noted with regrets that the debates on the proposed bills had become acrimonious, pitting sections of the country against one another.
The forum expressed concern that opinions on the proposed bills tended to involve unsavoury and often abusive words meant to denigrate, blackmail, or intimidate anyone perceived as standing in support of or opposing the bills.
This development, it noted, was uncalled for and most unfortunate.
“The proposed bills’ impact will have ramifications on every citizen and every part of the country.
“Debates over bills are part and parcel of the public policy process, especially in democratic settings. Reforms meant to correct policy shortcomings or inadequacies must necessarily address all areas of concern that citizens may wish to raise,” the ACF said.
The group noted that the current debates suggested that not enough consultations went into the preparations of the bills, as obvious in concerns raised by critical stakeholders and various interest groups across Nigeria, including the National Economic Council, headed by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
It commended the Senate for deciding to tarry and conduct wider consultations with relevant stakeholders to address the areas of concern.
“We encourage all concerned to cooperate with the relevant Senate Committee tasked with the assignment while urging every interest group to see the debates for or against any provisions in the bills as essential inputs into the policy process,” the ACF said.
In the meantime, the ACF urged restraint, decorum, and mutual respect in any discussions of provisions in the proposed bills.
“No one has a monopoly of knowledge and/or wisdom. We must tolerate dissenting views and engage in constructive debates to ensure that the outcome of the legislative process serves the interests of the whole country and not specific sections or interests to the detriment of others,” the northern apex body said.
Meanwhile, the North-East region is missing in the Senate Committee constituted to interface with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, The TheNigerian reports.
Sequel to the constitutional objections raised by northern lawmakers, governors and leaders, Tinubu instructed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, to liaise with the National Assembly members to address their concerns.
In response, the Senate set up a special committee to interface with the AGF.
The Senate, at a plenary presided over by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, on Wednesday, December 4, constituted a 10-member panel to liaise with a delegation of the Federal Government.
Barau named the chief whip, Tahir Mongunu, a principal officer, as a member of the committee and the minority leader, Abba Moro, another principal officer, as the chairman of the committee.
Mongunu, however, wrote to the Senate the next day, stating that he was supposed to chair the committee as the highest-ranking senator among the committee members.
The chief whip also called for more representation of the North-East in the committee.
He told the Senate to include an additional North-East senator in the committee membership.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced at the plenary on Thursday, December 5, that Monguno had been removed from the committee and replaced with Kaka Shehu, the senator representing Borno Central Senatorial District.
Akpabio raised concerns that principal officers should not be a part of the meeting because that was not the senators’ agreement at a closed-door session held last week before the bills passed the second reading.
“Kaka will represent the interest of the North-East during the meeting.
“Replace Mohammed Tahir Monguno with the name of Senator Kaka Shehu, to represent the North-East interest, and then we should delete page 11, including principal officers,” he said.
The committee was thereafter re-constituted to include Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South) as the head, and Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central), Orji Uzor Kalu (APC, Abia North), Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West), Titus Zam (APC, Benue South), Abdullahi Yahaya (PDP, Kebbi North), Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Ogun West), Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East) and Kaka Shehu (APC, Borno Central) as members.
Akpabio, however, did not oblige to the request to add one more senator from the North East to the committee.
In an interview with The TheNigerian, Shehu disclosed he had declined membership of the committee.
“I am no longer a member of the committee. I immediately declined to be a member of the committee. I have no idea or clue about what they do there.
“I will be waiting for their report. The day they bring it, call me; I will make my position on the bills known and I will bear my father’s name,” he stated.
Following Shehi’s exit, the North East no longer has a representative in the committee.
The states in the Northeast are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe.
However, the Senate has yet to reconstitute the committee to allow for a North East representation.
When contacted, the senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, said he had no intention of joining the committee.
He added that the committee and its activities were against legislative practices.
He said, “I have my mind made up that the timing is wrong, they should withdraw it. I am not opposed to the bill, but the timing is wrong.
“The bill should be withdrawn for wider consultation. RMAFC has come out to say that the bill contradicts sections of the constitution.
“Talking about how revenue will be shared is wrong; it’s totally out of the purview of the agency. There is an issue with the VAT section amongst all.
“I can’t be a part of the committee because what they are doing in that committee is even against the legislative process.
“If they withdraw the bill and call for consultation, then I can be a part of that, but for this committee, I can never be a part of it.”
Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) lamented the lack of a North East representative in the committee.
He noted the caucus had submitted Binos Yaroe’s name to the committee but he had yet to be adopted.
Ningi said, “We in the North East do not have a representation in the Tax Reform Bills special committee.
“Following the exit of Senator Kaka Shehu, we agreed amongst ourselves and nominated Senator Binos Yaroe from Adamawa to represent the interest of the North East in the committee.
“But his name has not been announced, neither has he been adopted as a member of the committee. Technically, the North East doesn’t have a representative and that means that our interests will not be captured,” he stressed.
Political economist and founder of the Centre of Values in Leadership, Prof Pat Utomi, described agitations over the tax reform bills as misplaced, arguing that the focus should be on how taxes stimulate production.
Speaking with The TheNigerian, Utomi bemoaned that the conversation on the tax reform bills had been on equity in collecting and sharing revenues in an economy that was not producing.
Drawing from history, he said reforms that allowed the increased flow of revenues to certain Nigerian groups rarely improved the lives or welfare of the average person.
This, he said, deepened corruption and desperation for political power.
Rather than “tax to kill to get money from Nigerians,” Utomi advocated for the specific use of taxation and tax reform, which would be supply-side economics driven, thereby boosting production.
He explained, “Specific use tax is where the tax goes to a specific use and the users must monitor the use of that tax. For example, in the US, there is a gasoline tax, that is, tax paid on petrol.
“Every litre of petrol you buy has a tax. That tax is dedicated to highway maintenance. It goes directly to a highway maintenance fund.
“Whoever are the major stakeholders in road use it. And this, of course, Nigerian Society of Engineers or whoever, this committee, or whatever it is called, will now look at what has been raised in taxes, how it’s being deployed, and ensure accountability for that.
“That is the kind of taxation I will favour more in today’s Nigeria where the government is totally, incredibly unaccountable,” Utomi said.
He added that a tax reform that is supply-side-economics driven was what the nation needed.
