Daniel Bwala, the president’s special adviser on policy communication, says the proposed tax reform bills will favour the poor in northern Nigeria.
Bwala spoke on Tuesday when he appeared on Prime Time, an
Arise Television programme.
There have been criticisms against the tax reform bills
since President Bola Tinubu dispatched them to the national assembly.
BACKGROUND
The legislations comprise the Nigeria tax bill, Nigeria tax
administration bill, Nigeria Revenue Service establishment bill, and the Joint
Revenue Board establishment bill.
The president is also seeking to repeal the law establishing
the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and replace it with the Nigeria
Revenue Service.
However, the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) has
kicked against the bills after a joint meeting with the northern traditional
rulers’ council at the Kaduna government house on October 28.
The governors asked the national assembly to reject any legislation
that may harm the region’s interests, calling for equitable and fair
implementation of policies and programmes to prevent marginalisation of any
geopolitical zone.
On October 31, the presidency assured the northern governors
that the tax reform bills were not recommended by Tinubu to shortchange any
part of the country.
On Monday, Yakubu Dogara, a former speaker of the house of
representatives, asked northerners not to condemn Tinubu over the bills.
Dogara advised that they should view the reforms as an
opportunity rather than a disadvantage, noting that the north can survive on
its own without value-added tax (VAT).
‘TAX REFORM BILLS NOT DESIGNED TO AFFLICT THE NORTH’
However, Bwala, who hails from Borno, said contrary to the
widespread fear, the bills would not impoverish the north.
“I am from the north, and I am really saddened by the notion
generated in the media that it is a north versus the south thing and not from
the media in the sense of media people but people creating the narrative and
that the tax reform bills are built or designed to afflict the north,” he said.
“I have seen lots of northerners who supported the bill,
lots of them from different parts of the north, north-central and north-west.
“The very opposite is the point of the bill, because if you
say that the bill is going to impoverish the north or is going to afflict poor
people, it is actually this proposed bill that is addressing the problem that
the poor people encounter.
“But the reason why I’m very emphatic about this issue of
poverty is because I come from the north and the conversation in the north is
that this will bring poverty to you, or this one will impoverish you. The tax
is in favour of the poor.
“I have a feeling that this whole opposition thing, I see it
even more of playing the politics for negotiation.
“They want to bargain. They want to have a bargaining stand
with the president on whatever issue. I don’t know.”
The presidential spokesperson also dismissed a purported
report claiming that Tinubu has signed a contract with French President
Emmanuel Macron for recolonisation of the north.
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