Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has stated that Northerners are opposing the controversial Tax Reform Bill because it is a monster.
News360 Info reports that Lawal in an interview with Punch, frowned at those describing Northerners as lazy over the bill.
The former SGF pointed out that the products produced in the North feed the breweries, flour mills and other food processing factories in the South, and questioned what products are sold to them.
He argued further that his home state, Adamawa, has the capacity to generate its revenue internally and take care of its financial needs.
According to the ex-SGF, Southerners saying Northerners are lazy are displaying crass ignorance and ingratitude to their benefactor.
Lawal added that the Tax Reform Bill will further lead to the escalation of food prices.
He said, “In particular, the provisions as regards VAT collection and distribution have been most contentious.
“The South on its part, arguably with few exceptions, has come out vociferously in support of the bill, not minding the fact that most of their states are in the same basket with the Northern states.
“The Southerners’ argument is that Northerners are lazy, blood sucking parasites. But this Southern position is driven by a lazy mindset and an intense hatred of everything North that has no basis in facts or political history.
“Every week, over 30,000 cattle are sold in the various international cattle markets in the state.
“These cattle are transported out of the state to the South where they are processed into gala, sausages, raw beef, etc, to be sold in the supermarkets that subsequently charge VAT.
“The VAT earned is then attributed to the Southern states of value-addition rather than Adamawa State, where the raw material (the cows) originate from. Were Adamawa to charge a levy of N5,000.00 per cow, it will earn at least N7.8 billion per annum from such a levy.
“Similarly, over 90 per cent of the nearly one million metric tons of paddy rice produced by farmers in Fufore, Numan, Demsa, Lamurde, Shelleng, Yola North, Yola South, Girei, etc, end up in rice mills located outside the state, where they are milled and sold, VAT inclusive, which VAT is then attributed to the Southern state of value-addition or company headquarters which then aggregates the VAT from the nationwide branch offices and then remits it to the Federal Inland Revenue Service as if the VAT was generated in state of location of the headquarters alone.
“A levy of N50,000 per ton of rice paddy would result in a revenue of N50 billion per annum. Similar computations can be made for maize, beans, and sorghum, which, based on 2023 farm yield data would yield the state an estimated annual revenue of over N100 billion, N20 billion, and N10 billion respectively.
“The reason why the Adamawa State government refuses to levy agricultural produce is the argument that it will result in double taxation and high cost of foodstuff.
“It is driven by the mindset of a humane leadership that has the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens at heart as opposed to the mercantilism of this President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government.
“So, when Southerners say Northerners are lazy and unproductive, they are only displaying crass ignorance and ingratitude to their benefactors.
“I wonder where the VAT-grabbing Lagos State would be if its factories are rendered dormant due to the lack of Northern raw materials.
“So my dear ‘hard-working’ Southern brothers and sisters, get ready for prices of food items and raw materials that puncture the ceiling.
“We have ‘hardworking’ Tinubu’s petroleum price and currency exchange rate to look up to.”
