Zulum
Why Northern govs want more consultation on Tinubu’s new tax bills – Zulum
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, on Sunday, gave reason why the northern governors are not supporting President Bola Tinubu’s new tax, advising him to allow more discussions on the new bill.
The governor, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said the Northern Governors Forum is seeking grounds for more consultation.
According to Zulum, “On this tax issue, there are a lot of misconceptions. We felt that the VAT provision in the tax law. Based on the calculations that we did, only Lagos and Rivers States will benefit from this scheme. We did our own research and concluded that we would lose.
“Why are we in a rush? We advised the Federal Government to take a pause and expunge some of the clauses that are inimical to Northern Nigeria.
“What we are saying is that give more time, let us do a deeper consultation to understand the nitty-gritty of this tax regime before passing it into law.”
The governor said if the bill scales through the National Assembly, states would be shortchanged as only Lagos State would be the main beneficiary of the policy.
He, however, clarified some insinuations in some quarters that the northern governors are not against President Tinubu’s administration.
He said before the 2023 general election, he was one of the few governors who insisted that power must be rotated to the south.
He said the north cannot be against Tinubu as over 60 per cent of his votes in the 2023 general elections came from the region.
“I am a strong member of APC. If you can count two governors before 2019 and 2023 who were in support of Tinubu, you can mention Governor Zulum. I was the first governor to come out publicly and say that power must go to the South.
“Unfortunately, the President was told by many that the North was against him. 60.2 per cent of his votes came from the north,” he said.