‘He’s not anti-north’ — Dogara tells northerners to stop condemning Tinubu over tax bills

Yakubu Dogara, former speaker of the house of representatives, has urged northerners not to condemn President Bola Tinubu over the proposed tax reform bills.

Speaking on Monday during Channels Television’s town hall on tax reform bills, Dogara said Tinubu has done something significant with the proposed bills, adding that he is not anti-north.

“I want to talk to my brothers in the north; I don’t think this is the time for us to begin to condemn the president and to begin to say that on account of these bills, he is anti-north,” he said.

“I want to remind us that the president has done something that is significant and if he can pursue this to the end, it will be that there is no northern leader of my lifetime that has done what the president has done for the north.”

‘NORTH CAN SURVIVE ON ITS OWN WITHOUT VAT’

Dogara advised that they view the reforms as an opportunity rather than a disadvantage, particularly the creation of the ministry of livestock development.

He highlighted the ministry’s potential to unlock vast economic opportunities for the region, adding that the north can survive on its own without value-added tax (VAT).

“The creation of the livestock ministry is the global business around that; the global market size of dairies, of beef. In the next three years, we will rise to about $2.5 trillion,” Dogara said.

“So if in the north, we are able to organise ourselves in such a way that we can honour just 5 percent of this global market size of diaries and beef, I tell you, that gives us $250 billion.

“We don’t need VAT from any state in Nigeria to survive. The North can survive on its own. We are the most endowed part of Nigeria and don’t joke about it.

“If you are in doubt, find out from Australia how much they are raking from just mining minerals. There’s gold everywhere in the north. We have all the resources. We can survive.”

On October 3, Tinubu asked the national assembly to consider and pass four tax reform bills.

The proposed laws include the Nigeria tax bill, tax administration bill, and the joint revenue board establishment bill.

The president is also seeking to repeal the law establishing the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and replace it with the Nigeria Revenue Service.

Reacting to the development, the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF), representing 19 northern states, collectively opposed the proposed bills, following a joint meeting with the northern traditional rulers council at the Kaduna government house on October 28.

The governors asked the national assembly to reject any legislation that may harm the region’s interests, calling for equitable and fair implementation of national policies and programmes to prevent marginalisation of any geopolitical zone.

On October 31, the presidency assured the Northern governors that the proposed laws were not recommended by Tinubu to disadvantage any part of the country as they were designed to improve lives of Nigerians and optimise existing tax frameworks.