Former Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), has criticized the proposed tax reform bills, describing them as discriminatory and tailored to benefit a select few states, particularly Lagos State.
Ningi, speaking exclusively to Sunday Vanguard, accused the Federal Government of pushing an agenda that undermines national inclusiveness.
He warned President Bola Tinubu against exploiting people’s silence or fear to impose policies against their will.
According to Ningi, the tax reform bills are skewed in favour of Lagos State and two other states, to the detriment of others.
The senator argued that the lack of inclusiveness in the bills makes them fundamentally flawed and urged lawmakers to reject them outright.
Ningi likened the current situation to the Third Term agenda under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, when federal lawmakers rejected a constitution review despite its numerous benefits because of the overarching agenda to extend Obasanjo’s tenure.
Ningi said, “First of all, I’m against the tax bills for two fundamental reasons. One, it is discriminatory in nature because it gives some states more advantage over others.
“And there is no logic, no explanation as to why some states will benefit more than others and that is the crux of the bills.
“Secondly, I thought the National Economic Council, chaired by the Vice President of the country, is constitutional, strategic enough to be able to guide the President or the executive in running the country from economic perspective.
“You will recall that the National Economic Council unanimously rejected the tax reform bills and I find it really strange that the only person who is elected and he insists in flexing muscle with the bills is the President because the National Economic Council is headed by the Vice President and elected governors and as such these people represent Nigerians and I cannot see how Mr President will love this country more than the amalgam of those elected at the executive level.
“I find it really strange that after his failure to convince the National Economic Council to accede to his demand, he is now trying to flex muscles and put it in the parliament.
“I find it strikingly disturbing that he is bringing this thing to the National Assembly thinking he can have his way because he had his way all through from the beginning to this time.”
Ningi, who noted that there are aspects of the bills that are good for the country, said, “Yes I admit that there are some aspects of the bills that look positive in my opinion, but remember the Third Term constitutional amendment; just because of the Third Term, there were numerous clauses that were fantastic at that time, but because of the controversy surrounding the bill, the National Assembly threw it away.”
Calling on lawmakers to stand in unison in the interest of the country, the ranking lawmaker said, “I call on the members of the National Assembly to stand united, this is not about North and South.
“There is no difference in the pains of Bauchi and the pains of Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo or Cross River or Benue or Katsina, the pain just runs across.
“These bills are substantively made to benefit Lagos in particular and then two other states. It goes to show the kind of…
“So I think it is important that the President should recognise the pains, it is important that the President recognises that we are a very complex country and he should not try to take advantage of people’s view or people’s silence or people’s fear to impose something against the will of the people.
“We represent our people and we are going to stand with then, we are going to stand united, we are going to make sure that these bills do not see the light of day.
“It is unfortunate that the consuming population of the country is being sidelined. We consume both the processed.
“Let me give you an example. You come to Kaduna State and you buy maize; while you are buying maize nobody collects VAT from you.
“You take this maize to Lagos and process it into Semovita.
“You bring the same Semovita to Kaduna state and you sell this Semovita and then this Semovita attracts VAT and the VAT goes back to where, it goes back to Lagos. “So where is the sense of fairness? Where is the sense of inclusiveness? Where is the sense of ethics and morality? I think it begets the question.
“If you go all over the country, you pay for PMS in various filling stations, you pay for airtime and so on and so forth and, at the end of the day, the money goes back to the headquarters where these multinationals are located.
“I think it is imperative, if you want to make sure that this thing will happen, then why don’t you just go the while hog?
“Unless you structure this country in such a way that the oil communities will take their oil and they pay tax, I don’t see the sense of what the President is trying to do and I think he is not well advised.
“I think people should not take the silence of Nigerians for granted.
“A lot of people call us rubber stamp, maybe we are, maybe we are not, but these particular bills should not pass through the National Assembly.
“If they do, then there will be repercussions, a lot of people will pay for their indolence, nonchalance and outright unpatriotism.”
