The debate on the Tax Reform Bills raged on yesterday with supporters and opponents expressing their views.
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, said the bills were unfair to the Northerners. But he was countered by a former presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe, and an Afenifere chieftain Ayo Opadokun.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on October 3, 2024, requested the National Assembly to pass four tax reform proposals — Nigeria Tax Bill, Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.
Receiving the Christian community in Bauchi State at the Government House in Bauchi, Governor Mohammed argued that the tax reforms appear designed to benefit certain parts of the country while leaving the North at a disadvantage.
He urged the Federal Government to review its policies and ensure they reflected the interests of all Nigerians.
“These tax reforms are not only anti-North but also a threat to the unity of our country. The government must listen to the people. This is a democracy not a dictatorship or oligarchy. Policies should never be imposed on the people without considering their welfare,’’ said the governor.
He warned that the Federal Government’s approach could lead to chaos.
“If you ignore the cries of the people, you are inviting anarchy. These reforms are not helping northern Nigeria. How do you expect us to pay salaries and build roads when you are taking away our revenue sources? This is unacceptable,” Mohammed said.
He stressed that leadership was about listening and being sensitive to the needs of the masses.
“No leader should feel too proud or arrogant to admit when a policy is not working. If something is not popular with the people, change it! This is not about religion or tribe; it is about fairness, justice, and the unity of Nigeria,” the governor said.
But Okupe said no right-thinking person would stand against the tax reforms because they are designed to protect the poor and tackle corruption.
Opadokun, who is a former secretary of the defunct National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) described opposition to the tax reforms as unthinkable.
Describing those against the bill as enemies of the country, Okupe, who also served as the director- general of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, added that the North had no justification to oppose the proposals.
He said: “Any right-thinking human being who had the opportunity in these last two months or so to listen and to read what the tax reforms are all about and goes against it, is an enemy of the country.
“We are saying that the majority of poor people should not pay tax, how can anybody be against that?
“These reform bills are saying that companies that are not making money cannot be taxed arbitrarily. Their taxation will be based on the revenue that they have generated and the profit they made, not on turnover.
“And if your turnover is below N50 million, you are exempted, should anyone oppose this?
“If these tax bills can be passed, they will also help reduce corruption.”
He said that Nigeria’s democracy had been based on oil and not on taxation and hence the need for reform.
“Go and look at all countries in the world, the major source of revenue for government is taxation, but we don’t consider tax as an issue because we just take the oil, and then look at what are we going to get in the next 12 months for budget,” Okupe added.
“Our tax to GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world, and here is a country that requires an immense amount of money and revenue for development. The population is high, land mass is huge. Therefore, we need money, and this tax reform is saying, ‘Yes, we need money, but we cannot tax people who are already strangulated.
“There are young people who are making money, who go to clubs and spend N3 million, N4 million, and so on in a night. Those are the people that need to be taxed, not the man at the door earning N70,000 monthly,” Okupe said.
Okupe faulted the concerns raised about the timing and the speed of the bills, noting that whatever is causing economic and financial hemorrhage of the country, must be given the speed it required.
He pointed out that the bills would make more states’ internally generated revenue to improve.
The former presidential spokesman, however, called on President Tinubu to monitor all revenue-generating agencies to remove corruption and other practices capable of shortchanging the nation.
Opadokun said that by proposing the tax reform bills, the President was “taking a shot at fiscal federalism.”
He said: “Some people rather than accept the fact about the necessity for our restoration to federal constitutional governance keep on hypocritically telling us that the problem of Nigeria is leadership. When you say you have a number the tax you pay ordinarily does not amount to anything.
“What the president is trying to do in this instance of tax reform bills should be commended by any right-thinking person. For the first time, he wants to use the bills to take a shot at fiscal federalism”.
Opadokun spoke with reporters in Offa, Kwara State on the sidelines of his yearly Christmas carol-themed ‘Rejoice.’
He noted that the government and proponents of the tax reforms have gone to the extent of making sufficient clarification so that well-meaning people will not oppose the bill.
Opadokun said: “When I listen to some of those claiming to be talking for the north on the matter, I wonder which north they are talking about. I know that by the circumstances of the moment, those opposed to the bills are not likely going to succeed. Most parts of the country are ready for the bills to succeed.
“Those grandstanding as if the bills will not favour them are doing so because they cannot continue to do what they have been doing, falsifying figures to enrich themselves taking cognizant of their culture and tradition,” Opadokun said.
He urged President Tinubu to return Nigeria to true federal constitutional governance, saying “it is the foundation upon which Nigeria gained independence.”
The former NADECO chief also charged the President to correct historical wrongs and restore the nation to its original federal structure.
“The nation must return to federal constitutional governance; that is upon which we secured our independence. All that we are doing is chasing shadows,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges, Opadokun attributed the nation’s struggles to years of mismanagement, particularly during military regimes.
