Zulum: Only Lagos, Rivers will benefit from tax reform bills | Northern governors not against Tinubu
Zulum noted that the northern governors are asking for a dialogue and adequate consultations about the proposed legislations so as not to be short-changed.
By Idris Temidayo
Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno, says only Lagos and Rivers states would benefit if the four tax reform bills before the national assembly are passed into laws.
Zulum spoke on Sunday when he appeared on ‘Sunday Politics,’ a Channels Television programme.
The contentious tax reform bills are the joint revenue board of Nigeria (establishment) bill, 2024 -SB.583; the Nigeria revenue service (establishment) bill, 2024- SB.584; the Nigeria tax administration bill, 2024-SB.585; and the Nigeria tax bill, 2024.
Zulum noted that the northern governors are asking for a dialogue and adequate consultations about the proposed legislations so as not to be short-changed.
The Borno governor said he and his colleagues in the north are not against the proposed tax reform bills being spearheaded by President Bola Tinubu.
“I am a strong member of APC. If you can count two governors before 2019 and 2023 who were in support of Tinubu, you can mention Governor Zulum. I was the first governor to come out publicly and say that power must go to the south,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the president was told by many that the north was against him; 60.2 per cent of his votes came from the north.”
He expressed concerns over some of the provisions of the bills, which include the status and nomenclature of the current Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) upon passage of the proposed legislations into law, to assume the power of being the only tax collection agency in Nigeria, questioning whether the agency has the structures in place to execute such mandate.
Zulum added that if the bills are passed, 34 states of the federation would be shortchanged, noting that only Lagos and Rivers states would be the main beneficiaries.
“On this tax issue, there are a lot of misconceptions. We felt that the VAT provision in the tax law, based on the calculations that we did, only Lagos and Rivers states will benefit from this scheme. We did our own research and concluded that we would lose,” Zulum said.
“Why are we in a rush? We advised the Federal Government to take a pause and expunge some of the clauses that are inimical to Northern Nigeria.
“What we are saying is that give more time, let us do a deeper consultation to understand the nitty-gritty of this tax regime before passing it into law.”
Tinubu had in October forwarded the four executive bills to the national assembly for passage into laws.
On November 28, the tax reform bills passed the second reading stage in the senate, while the house of representatives has fixed Tuesday for debate on the proposed legislations.
