The Governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Abdullahi Sule, on Monday indicated that calls by some northern governors for the withdrawal of the tax amendment bills before the National Assembly may no longer be necessary.
Speaking on Arise Television, the governor noted that recent clarifications and assurances from President Bola Tinubu and Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, over some contentious aspects of the proposed legislations had offered some relief for the aggrieved parties.
Sule further explained that recent engagements between Oyedele’s committee and state governors as well as traditional rulers, had provided clarifications on the controversial Value Added Tax (VAT) amendments to the tax bills.
He said before now, the understanding was that VAT was to be administered at the point of generation alone, adding that it has now been clarified that sharing would take place both at the point of generation and consumption.
The governor said since some of the grey areas of the bills were currently being looked into, there was no need to continue to request for their withdrawal.
Sule however, said he remained open for dialogue between Oyedele’s committee to further address other contentious areas of the bills.
He expressed regrets that the debate over the tax reform bills had been hijacked by different people who do not seem to understand the documents.
The governor said, “During the meeting in Kaduna, what we were told during that period was that it (VAT) was only going to be at the point of generating the revenue that 60 per cent was going to be given.
“Mr. Oyedele confirmed that no, it is going to be different. The 60 per cent that they are talking about is going to be shared, both by the point of generation as well as the point of consumption.
“So, we see that we have added something different from when we asked for the withdrawal of this bill. The bottom line is that this thing is being discussed. What we wanted to happen is happening. It is being discussed.”
He said, “The areas are being amended to accommodate the concerns of Nigerians. So, by our own request of withdrawal, if they say they don’t have to withdraw it, they can actually amend this bill in line with our request. Then you don’t have to withdraw anything.”
The governor also noted that Tinubu had already indicated that rather than withdraw the bills, amendments could be made to address areas of concerns.
Sule, who is also Chairman of the North Central Governors Forum, said, “It’s not just me. And unfortunately, the debate about this tax reform has gone to wrong hands and a lot of people who have zero knowledge about how VAT is even generated have entered into the debate and made it actually uninteresting.
“And that is why people like me now are mute. We are not even saying anything about it anymore because I believe we have achieved our own goal. When the Northern Governors sat down in Kaduna together with our traditional rulers and we were brief about the bills, we now noticed the area of VAT that was affected.
“And we said, you know what, let us go ahead and advise Mr. President to withdraw the bill for further discussion, further negotiation, further debate, so that we can understand this better.
“The unfortunate part of the debate is that there are a lot of people who have zero knowledge about either the bills or VAT that have joined the debate, and they are making it uninteresting. Some of them are doing it to save their jobs. Some of them are doing it to get more jobs. Some of them are doing it for all kinds of things. But the brain behind all this, when the Northern Governor sat down, it was an area that was of concern and we wanted to address it.
“In the last meeting we had with Mr. President, he confirmed to us that he is willing to look into the bill and to see the areas of concerns and to address those areas, and the same thing actually with the initiators of this bill, both Taiwo Oyedele as well as Zach Adedeji, have said it openly during the town hall meeting that they are more than willing to sit down and review some of these areas.”
Among other things, the governor also said that the recent dissolution of his cabinet was a strategic decision aimed at strengthening his team to drive development, and focus on areas of competitiveness in the state.
He however, assured that a new cabinet will soon be formed, adding that there’s currently no vacuum as permanent secretaries and directors from the state civil service are effectively holding forth pending the constitution of a new cabinet.
James Emejo
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