From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The National Economic Council has urged President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the Tax Reforms Bill from the National Assembly to allow for wider consultations.
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, said this formed part of the resolutions reached at the 144th meeting of the National Economic Council at the State House, Abuja.
Makinde told State House Correspondents that the council members agreed it was necessary to allow for consensus building and understanding of the bill among Nigerians.
He said: “NEC today took a presentation from the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms. Their main focus is fair taxation, responsible borrowing and sustainable spending.
“The Council acknowledged that the country is underperforming on all indices as regards huge major revenue sources, also tax to GDP ratio and so on.
“So, after extensive deliberation, NEC noted the need for sufficient alignment between and among the stakeholders for the proposed reforms.
“So, Council therefore recommended the need to withdraw the bill currently before the National Assembly on tax reforms so that we can have wider consultations and also build consensus around these reforms for the benefit of the entire country, and also to give people room to know the vision and where we are moving the country in terms of a tax reform, because there’s really a lot of miscommunication and misinformation.
“So, the bill will be withdrawn from the National Assembly and then there will be consultations afterwards,” he said.
NEC’s decision comes days after the Northern Governors kicked against the reform bill and countered explanation by the presidency that the bill was not against the North.
At a meeting on October 28, 2024, Governors of the 19 northern states, under the platform of the Northern Governors’ Forum, rejected the new derivation-based model for Value-Added Tax distribution in the new tax reform bills before the National Assembly.