Oyedele: We’ll Not Withdraw Tax Reform Bills, Committee Ready to Re-engage Stakeholders

•Dogara: Nigerians should remove cap of regionalism, religion

James Emejo in Abuja, Mary Nnah and Funmi Ogundare in Lagos

Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, yesterday, said the federal government did not intend to withdraw the controversial tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly.

Speaking at a town hall meeting on “Tax Reform Bills: Charting the Way Forward”, which was hosted by a national television, Oyedele said the committee was rather ready to repeat engagements with stakeholders.

There had been growing calls by some northern politicians that the bills be withdrawn to allow for further engagements following the controversies they had generated since their introduction.

However, Oyedele explained that contrary to speculations, there were no provisions in the bills that allowed for tax consultants to take over tax collection responsibilities. He added that those duties will still be undertaken by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Oyedele also denied allegations that the tax reform committee did not consult the state governors during its engagement process. He said while he agreed that more consultation might be required, it was not correct that they were not engaged during the process.

But Governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Abdullahi Sule, said the position of state governors on the tax reform bills was totally misunderstood.

Sule said while the governors believed the bills would address issues of multiple taxes, as well as waive duties on agricultural equipment imports, the increase of VAT from 20 per cent to 60 per cent at point of generation and consumption were rather confusing.

He said all the governors were agitating was for the bill to be withdrawn to allow for further discussion.

Sule also emphasised that the reported disagreement did not amount to a regional controversy.

Nonetheless, Oyedele said now that the bills appeared to have generated renewed interests from stakeholders, who hitherto showed no interest, the committee was prepared to repeat the engagement process.

He said consultation will also continue even after the bills had been passed into law.

Commenting on allegations that the presidential tax reform committee did not consult the state governors, Oyedele said, “No, they won’t say we didn’t consult them. They are saying we need to consult more, which we agree with because consultation will never end. Even after passing the bills, we must continue to consult.

“We had two sessions with the National Economic Council. We had almost a whole day with the finance commissioners from all over Nigeria.

“We’ve had at least four sessions with the heads of the internal revenue services from all the 36 states plus the FCT. To six geopolitical zones, we identified one governor per zone and wrote to them to go and meet them where they are with their cabinet and discuss. We did some of that.

“Some of them did not have time for us. For those who had, who appreciate the government of Nigeria, they say, no, let’s even set up a committee between my cabinet and your team to work through the details.”

Oyedele stated further, “We worked for more than six months. We always welcome opportunities to engage. But it is not correct to say that we did not consult.”

He also refuted claims that the federal government appeared to be in a rush to get the bills passed into law.

He explained, “And we are not in a hurry, sorry because when you find yourself in a situation where we are now, where people are starving, there’s poverty in the land, some people can’t make ends meet. The time to cut their taxes.

“The time to provide relief. The time to create opportunity for them. The time to make our businesses thrive is now, not tomorrow. In fact, we should have done it yesterday, but now is the next best time.”

On assumptions that the tax reform might cost President Bola Tinubu a second term, Oyedele said, “I feel really very sorry for Mr. President. Even though he says nobody should feel sorry for him. I have to be honest with you, in this role, Mr. President has never for once asked my committee to make sure that we do something when we are done.”

The tax reform committee chairman said Tinubu had given them a free hand to do their job without interference.

He said it was “Nigerians from all over Nigeria, who came up with this analysis using data to make those recommendations.

“But they blame everything on him. He’s taking all of it in good faith. I hope that the reason why, if anything happens in 2027, will not be because of this bill.

“Because that way, we’ll be doing an injustice, not only to him, but to the whole of this country, Nigeria.”

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, called on Nigerians to be fair in their assessment of the tax reforms bills.

Dogara faulted the criticisms of the bills and said Nigerians should critically examine their benefits.

He said, “We should remove the cap of regionalism, the cap of sectionalism, the cap of religion and put on the cup of leadership because that is what will resolve the quarrel that we have.”

With inflation over 30 per cent and millions of Nigerians battling to afford basic commodities, critics believe the tax reform bills are coming at the wrong time.

Others say there is inadequate consultation over the bills.

But Dogara said the arguments were insufficient to throw the bills away.

He said, “I think one of the major objections is related to the issue of timing. I’ve heard this from leaders that I respect.

“But in leadership, when you talk about timing, the way I have heard them talk about is a tragic misconception of the notion of time itself because there’s nothing like the future, there’s nothing like the past.”

According to Dogara, “All we have is now. It is what you are doing now that will become your past. It is what you are doing now that will affect your future.

“I don’t even care if it was part of the president’s agenda. All I am bothered with as a leader is: is it the right thing?

“Secondly, I have heard about insufficient consultation. I had heard even legislators speaking as if they were spokespersons for some governors’ forum or others instead of looking at what is right and proffering solutions.

“Now, I don’t know why he (Taiwo Oyedele, who leads the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee and a panellist for the event) didn’t address some of these issues. But I believe in the course of our interface, he will address whether there was enough consultation with the governors.

“But I want to say this, at the state level, how many people do governors consult when they are making laws? I’m not challenging them. As a matter of fact, in some cases, state laws are written from the living rooms of governors.”

An Economist with SPM Professionals, Dr Paul Alaje, called for the harmonisation of how the country collected taxes, integrated them using intelligence, and ensured that everyone focused on their primary mandate, saying Nigeria would be better for it.

Alaje explained that over 60 government revenue agencies seemed distracted from their primary markets.

“They are chasing revenue to the detriment of the economy,” he said.

He recalled that agencies like Ghana Revenue Authority, Kenya Revenue Service, South Africa Revenue Service, and HMRC, collected social security.

According to Alaje, “If you go to Rwanda and you want to do your driver’s license, it is the revenue authority that collects it. Why? Because they have been set up to collect revenue. So they have the system, they have the structure, they have the training, they have the experience, they have the capacity. What we are doing in Nigeria is at the federal government level.”

Chief Executive Officer, Global Investment and Trade Company, Mr. Baba Yusuf, described the tax reform as one of the best policies undertaken by the Tinubu administration. Yusuf commended the presidential committee on tax reform for doing an excellent job.

He stated, “This reform is that which speaks to equity , speaks to data and has provided a platform for improvement going forward. Over 90 per cent of the vulnerable would be exempted from this tax. As a northerner, where about 70 per cent of the multi-dimensionally poor north are struggling under the vagaries of socio-economic headwinds, it should be pleasing to our leaders that where we have failed as subnational, there is federal intervention to provide that which has not been provided by state governors.”

Yusuf, however, noted the contentious issue of VAT in the bills, saying as a proponent of allocation by derivation, allocation by consumption, the rent-seeking transaction style of leadership will continue making people lazy and complacent.

He stated that leadership should be able to create value, innovate and protect, adding that the reform will reduce the inflow of the monthly allocation whereby governors go cap in hand.

“Some states in Nigeria are thriving because they created the value and added value,” Yusuf said.

Public analyst and writer, Micheal Chibuzor, described the tax reform exercise is an opportunity for the country to remove the loopholes militating against its wheel of progress.

“The VAT has been a major controversy because once you see people oppose the bill, they always turn to the VAT,” Chibuzor stated.

He said the country was about to realise N6 trillion in VAT collection, adding that states get most of their revenue from the bulk of what has been realised.

“That is why some states will feel very emotional about it,” he said, adding, “As a country, we should be ashamed that we are having a revenue that is less than $4 billion.”

Chibuzor listed the amount of revenue generated by some countries, saying Nigeria is using about $88 million to provide social services and infrastructure that will require money.

“Where do you get the money from? People will not want us to borrow because once we start doing that, we have to start funding the particular services,” he said.

He stressed the need for the country to reorganise its revenue streams through ensuring that individuals and businesses paid tax.