President Tinubu has ordered the Ministry Of Justice And the National Assembly To fix the problems that has rained concerned across regions in the country with mostly the northern governors and lawmakers opposing the passage over the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024 the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill.
However,some critics argued over the tax reforms bills that could be against northern regions, while others believe that they would further impoverish Nigerians.
Following the above situations,in a move to address the various argument over the reform bills, Tinubu ordered the Federal Ministry of Justice and the National Assembly including the relevant officials who worked on the draft to work together and address all relevant concerns rained and work out the rough edges in the bill .
In a statement signed by the Minister of information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, he said:
“It is pertinent to state that the government has nothing sinister to warrant the suggestion that the process is being rushed. In line with the established legislative procedure, the Federal General welcomes meaningful inputs that can address whatever grey areas there may be in the bill,” the Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris yesterday in statement said ,
“In this vein, President Tinubu has already directed the Federal Ministry of Justice and relevant officials who worked on the drafts to work closely with the National Assembly to ensure that all genuine concerns have been addressed before the bills are passed.”
“In the spirit of democratic engagement President Tinubu is committed to accountability to the Nigerian people and described the debates generated by the bills as “welcomed, and commendable”.
“It is very inspiring to see Nigerians from all walks of life coming out to express their views and opinions on these matters of critical national importance,” he said. “This is the very essence and meaning of democracy”.
“In the spirit of democratic engagement, there should be no room for name-calling or the injection of unnecessary ethnic and regional slurs into this important national conversation,” the minister said.
Although some of the arguments against the bills are that they were targeted at impoverishing some states, especially in the north, the minister has dismissed the claim which he labeled as “fake news” and “ misinformation”.
“The fiscal reforms will not impoverish any state or region of the country, neither will they lead to the scrapping or weakening of any federal agencies,” .
When passed, the minister said, these bills are expected to “bring relief to tens of millions of hardworking Nigerians” and equally “empower and position our states and the 774 local governments for sustainable growth and development”.
