The Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala, has said that discussions about the Tax Reform Bills should remain within the National Assembly.
He also said that only second-term governors are opposing the bills, while first-term governors have not raised concerns.
While expressing disappointment over some governors who opposed the bills, Bwala said on a Channels TV programme that the governors should address their issues with the bills to National Assembly members from their states, rather than making public statements.
Daily Trust reports that the tax reform bills have generated heated debates across the country, with the majority of the pushback coming from the North.
Our correspondent also reports that President Tinubu on October 3, 2024, forwarded a tax reform bill to the Senate and House of Representatives for approval.
Part of the bill provides reforms in the sector, including changing the name of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
However, in the early stage of the bills, a joint meeting of the Northern Governors Forum and the Northern Traditional Rulers Council rejected the Tax Reform Bills as anti-North.
Many governors and some leaders from the region contested that the tax reform bills, which also led to open confrontations in both chambers of the National Assembly, was meant to favour Lagos State and other narrow interests, as well as to shortchange the North.
The bills were equally rejected by the National Economic Council (NEC), led by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Bwala, however, said it was untrue that the North as a region is against the bills.
“It is not out to be ordinary. The politics side of it is the sad part, because if you look at those who are criticising this bill, they are second-term governors, the first-time governments are not talking in the same area where you think that people will cry against the bill, that is how you will know that there is politics to this whole thing.
“I choose to make my argument completely out of this prism of regionality. Because that is where it is inflaming the passion. The tax reform bills have come to stay, and they will be passed.
“Let us forget that it is the North vs the South. It is the governors who are going to be impacted. It is the governors from states where their income will reduce if the derivation is applied. This set of governors are in the majority of the states and not limited to the North.
“Maybe the governors from the North have decided to be vocal about it. But in the midst of this cacophony of positions between the governors and the federal government, remember, even in the case of local government autonomy, it wasn’t a case of region. It was still the governors because local government autonomy from the beginning was considered an initiative that would weaken their powers,” he said.
On the governors who believed their revenues would go down, he said, “Tell them that if our focus is the Nigerian people, then it should be more about the generality of Nigerians who are more than 36 anyway.
“Because the governors are 36, plus the minister of the FCT which makes it 37. But those who will be impacted positively by the implementation of this tax are 200 plus million people in Nigeria. Because if you look at the content, you will see a lot of initiatives that will benefit the Nigerian people,” Bwala said.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
