Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, has warned that passing the controversial tax reform bill currently before the National Assembly into law will have its consequences.
Speaking on Channels Television Politics Today on Sunday, Zulum said the only states that will benefit from the new tax law are Lagos and Rivers states.
According to him, the Governors Forum had earlier advised that there should be more consultations before the bill is considered for passage but wondered the reason for the rush to pass it into law hurriedly.
Emphasizing his support for President Bola Tinubu, he said, ”I am one of the strong supporters of the President. I was the first governor to state publicly that power should shift to the South. I know the President is very powerful. He has the power to get the bill passed into law. But passing this bill into law will have its consequences,” he said.
Recall that Tinubu in October asked the National Assembly to pass the bills on tax reforms into law.
The 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 – SB.586.
Besides, the tax reform bills passed a second reading in the Senate on November 28.
However, Zulum said all the Northern Region was asking for is more consultations on the bill.
He said that it was wrong to present a narrative that the North is against the bill because it would not benefit from it and stated that the only states that would benefit from the law are Rivers and Lagos.
“The northern governors are not against President Tinubu’s administration. The north cannot be against Tinubu, over 60 percent of his votes in the 2023 general elections came from the north.
“The South East will not benefit, the South-South will not benefit, even in the South West, only Lagos will benefit from it. All the money will go to Lagos and Rivers,” he further noted.
Zulum further stated that part of the provision of the new bill is that the TET Fund would be scrapped in 2029 as well as NASENI, and said that as a lecturer, he could state that TET fund is the single largest agency that has supported education in Nigeria.
“We are pleading with the president to look into this. It’s not about the north. It’s about the North, South South, South East. Expunge some of the clauses and some of the portions.
“We are in a democracy. Consultation is part of democracy and we should be able to express ourselves in a democracy. That does not mean that I am against the President,” he said.
