The 36 governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) have been reportedly divided over the tax reform bills President Bola Tinubu forwarded to the National Assembly in October 2024. This is because the meeting of the governors on Wednesday, December 11, ended in deadlock, and none of them addressed journalists after the meeting.
President Tinubu’s tax reform bills have been controversial, criticized, and opposed from various quarters. The Northern 19 governors had earlier rejected sections of the bills, calling for their withdrawal from the National Assembly to allow for further consultations.
Nigerian governors’ meeting ended in deadlock
The meeting lasted only an hour and ended without a communiqué or any address from the governors to the waiting journalists. This unusual outcome was a clear indication that the governors could not reach an official agreement on the tax reform bills. The failure to agree was reportedly due to the governors towing their regional positions on the bill.
Vanguard reported that the tax reform bills have been a topic of discussion in Nigeria, with some groups expressing their support for the reforms. For instance, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has spoken vociferously in support of the bills, asking northern leaders to drop their opposition to them and embrace them for the North’s prosperity.
The bills, which include the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, aim to provide a fiscal framework for taxation in the country, reduce disputes, and establish a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman. However, the governors’ failure to agree on the bills has raised concerns about the future of the tax reform bills.
Tax reform bills: Sani blasts northern senators
Legit earlier reported that Shehu Sani, a former Senator from Kaduna state, has sent a message to northern elites over President Bola Tinubu’s tax reform bills.
The former senator said that the president’s economic reform was an opportunity for the country to reset, reconfigure and restructure.
Sani stressed that emotional outbursts and uninformed opinions would not lead to meaningful discussions around the tax reform bills.