FG taxing poverty, says Makinde

Insists govt withholding NLNG N250bn dividend

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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Allied Peoples Movement (APM) presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, has accused the Federal Government of allegedly taxing poverty.

Makinde, who is also the Oyo State governor, stated this at the South-South Town Hall meeting, organised by the Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO), on Tuesday, in Uyo.

The presidential hopeful, while referencing the senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Ireti Kingibe, said the federal legislature recently passed a tax that does not support productivity.

The Oyo governor accused the Federal Government of allegedly complicating the lives of citizens, stating that nothing concrete comes from the government’s grandiose pronouncements.

He promised that if elected President, his administration would encourage entrepreneurship, noting that “we will ensure that people have tax breaks. And if you ask me whether we have done it before, yes, I did it in Oyo State. We increased Oyo State’s IGR without raising taxes on anybody. The records are there.”

“But just as Senator Ireti Kingibe said a few days ago, they have passed a tax law that is not consistent with productivity. You are supposed to tax wealth. You are not supposed to tax poverty. But, they are only interested in taxing poverty.”

Furthermore, Makinde insisted that the Federal Government is withholding Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) N250 billion dividend due to each state.

According to him, “I said the Federal Government has withheld almost N250bn due to each state from Nigeria LNG dividend payments. Rather than come out and tell us what has been happening to dividends paid by Nigeria LNG, they said, ‘No, Governor Makinde, you be careful. You should not say things that are not true.'”

“I stand by what I have said. The records are there. The papers are there. I did not say it was a one-off payment that is due to the states. They should listen, and listen very carefully. What I said is that, over the years, including during this administration, the Federal Government has been spending alone the dividends paid by Nigeria LNG into the Federation Account.”

“Anything that goes into the Federation Account, according to our Constitution, should be shared between the Federal Government, state governments and local governments. Let them provide the amounts meant for the states and local governments in Nigeria.”

“I have also told them that you cannot keep complicating the lives of Nigerians. Everything is mega. They want to build a superhighway from where to where? They want to do mega this and mega that. There is the Presidential Initiative on CNG. It came to nothing. Naira-for-crude came to nothing. Has it translated into lower transportation costs for millions of Nigerians?”

“Now, they say they want to modulate the prices of petroleum products. They want to modulate the lives of millions of Nigerians. They want to modulate the destiny of the most populous black nation on the face of the earth.”

Makinde challenged the government to provide its pricing template for petroleum products, stating that “we have Nigerians who can tell us how to make it work for millions of Nigerians.”

“So, do not complicate things by talking about this policy or that policy. You want to modulate prices? Give us the pricing template. Once we have the template, we can point out the real figures and tell you how to make this thing work for millions of Nigerians.”