Northern elders call for suspension, dialogue, inclusive policies

From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja

The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) has raised concern over the Federal Government’s proposed Tax Reform Bills, urging immediate suspension of the implementation to allow for extensive dialogue with stakeholders.

The forum criticized the government for failing to engage critical stakeholders and experts before drafting the reforms.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of the management Board, Al-Amin Daggash, the group highlighted the potential adverse effects of the reform on Northern Nigeria and the nation as a whole.

Daggash said: “The Northern Elders’ Forum, make bold to say, that, the recently proposed Tax Reform Bills by the Federal Government, were clearly in the breach, with regards to adhering to common characteristics of reforms and public policy-making process, all over the world and in conformity with the global best practice.”

“The Federal Government should immediately suspend the rush to implement the proposed Tax Reform Bills, so as to more wisely use the medium of dialogue to allay all concerns, collect all quality contributions and critical inputs from cross sections of Nigerian stakeholders, and then finally proceed to accommodate and redesign the sequencing of the implementation strategy.

“As a consumption tax which drastically reduces the purchasing power of citizens, fuels inflation and hikes in interest rates, no increase in VAT should be imposed, pending the emergence into the national horizon, of clear evidence of the promised economic recovery by the government.

“The proposed formula contained in the NTAB is not fair to the states where VAT revenue is generated, as the consuming states are denied credit for what has been generated from them. Since VAT is a General Consumption Tax (GCT), the rule of attribution based on the location of consumption should be uniformly applied.

 “That, given our diversity and the importance the government attaches to promoting financial inclusion, the use of contentious terms like “ecclesiastical,” in the original proposed Tax Reform Bills, should be seamlessly replaced with “religious.”