Tax reform: APC govs may meet N’Assemby, ACF raises panel

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.

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 PUNCH, 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 PUNCH, 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.

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