The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, on Saturday chided critics of the Tax Reform Bills, saying a majority of the people, including some lawmakers, do not understand the content of the bills transmitted to the National Assembly in September by President Bola Tinubu.
This is coming as a northern socio-economic group, Arewa Think Tank (ATT), has backed the tax reforms initiatives by President Tinubu’s administration.
Barau argued that the bills were quickly passed for a second reading to allow the public to make comments and inputs.
The bills had sparked reactions, especially among northerners, who alleged that the legislation would further plunge the region into more economic hardship.
Northern governors, traditional leaders and other different groups had rejected the bills, insisting that they were inimical to the region and the nation at large.
In an interview with BBC Hausa service last Friday, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State had claimed that governors would not be able to pay salaries if the bills were passed into law.
He expressed concerns about how the bills had received urgent attention at the National Assembly.
But speaking with BBC Hausa on Saturday, Senator Jibrin, who supported the bills during the passage for a second reading, said the speedy passage was to give Nigerians the opportunity to comment on the legislation before considering the next line of action.
He said: “Because of the contents of the bills, we decided to invite experts or the people who developed them on behalf of the President to explain to us the provisions of the bills and also advise us so that Nigerians will know about it.
“The bills have to scale the second reading before they can be taken to the committee for a review. And while we could ask (the committee) questions, Nigerians who might have only watched it on the television could not have room to ask questions. That was why it was resolved that the bills would be passed for the second reading so that Nigerians would have the chance to comment, give their contributions and also ask questions.”
Asked why the bills were not first presented to the committee before passing them for the second reading, Barau said, “No, it is not done that way. It has to pass the second reading before it can be taken to the committee. The second reading is done so that the public can have room to pass their comments on it. That is why the bills were presented to the committee now so that they will review, X-ray it and tell us the contents therein.
“The second reading is not the end of the process. No, that is even where the process begins. And it was done to enable the public (youth, children, women, clerics and everyone) to comment and register their complaints about it,” he stated.
Responding to whether lawmakers were aware of the hardship the bills could subject Nigerians to, Barau remarked: “Nobody will do something that will harm his people. The issue now is to first know the provisions of the bills. The majority of people don’t even know the contents therein, even some of our lawmakers.
“We have to first have a grasp of the bills before they would be understood; that was why it was sent to the committee for them to review so that we know the situation. We will also invite experts to go through it, but we have not gotten to that level now.”
Meanwhile, northern socio-economic group, Arewa Think Tank (ATT), has backed the tax reform bills.
The group argued that rather than reject the Tax Amendment Bill, Northern rulers should dialogue with the federal government and lawmakers to seek constitutional changes that would allow the states to exploit their mineral potential for the development of the region and its people.
The group, which made its position known in a statement signed by its Convener, Muhammad Yakubu, added that the current tax reform initiatives offered immense opportunity for the north to become creative and innovative in addressing the economic challenges in the region.
ATT also differed with the position of the Borno State Governor, Prof. Zulum, that the “tax reform will drag the northern part of the country backward”.
The group insisted that: “Based on our understanding, tax reform is something that will develop the north in its entirety. Therefore, we call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others to go ahead in signing into law the bills.
It said the reforms presented a great opportunity for the North to be “creative, innovative, wake up and engage the federal government and the National Assembly for a constitutional amendment and canvass for states to exploit their mineral resources for the benefit of development and their people”.
Yakubu said: “For us at Arewa Think Tank, we are enjoying the speedy and smooth passage to the current phase when other bills had to spend several years to scale through. This shows that there are big fortunes and prospects in the tax reform bills.
“We disagreed in totality with some quarters that these bills transmitted to the National Assembly will drag the north backwards, and some parts of the country will have problems with these bills.”
John Shiklam
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