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In a volte face, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Yakubu Dogara and one-time critic of President Bola Tinubu, has thrown his support for the tax reform bills now before the National Assembly, urging northerners to refrain from criticizing and rejecting the bills.
According to him, the governors and other elite from the North who are criticizing the tax bills are doing so from an “uninformed perspective,” highlighting the benefits of the reforms in addressing key national issues.
“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 because I want to remind us that the president has done something that is significant.
“If he can pursue this to the end, it would be that there is no northern leader of my lifetime that has done what the president has done for the north. And I will tell you [what he has achieved] is the creation of the livestock ministry. There is a global business around that.
“The global market size of dairies of beef in the next three years will rise to about $2.5 trillion. You can Google it. So if in the north, we are able to organize ourselves in such a way that we can corner just 5%, just 5% of this global market size of dairies 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,’’ Dogara said on Monday during Channels Television’s Town Hall meeting on the tax reform bills.
Dismissing concerns over insufficient consultations and timing of the tax reform bills, the former speaker insisted that what matters is whether the reforms are right, not the political agenda or past discussions.
Northern leaders, including governors, had rejected the bills, claiming that the bills unfairly target the North.
Persecondnews recalls that on October 29, 19 northern state governors strongly opposed the bills, specifically the proposed shift to a derivation-based model for Value Added Tax distribution.
The Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF), in a communique issued after a strategic meeting in Kaduna, argued that the proposed derivation-based model for Value Added Tax distribution would unfairly disadvantage northern states and other less industrialized regions.
The communique was presented by the NSGF Chairman and Governor of Gombe State, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya.
The meeting, which aimed to address pressing regional issues, brought together esteemed attendees, including northern traditional rulers, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, and other influential stakeholders.
Also, before passing the first reading, the bills faced opposition from some senators, with Sen. Ali Ndume being a notable voice of dissent.
Ndume called for the stepping down of the contentious bills for further consultation.
He said: “Generally, the bill is good, but I have issues with the timing and, most importantly, issues surrounding derivation and VAT.”
Persecondnews recalls that Dogara, just before the 2023 presidential poll, had stridently criticized the Muslim-Muslim ticket of APC (Tinubu/Shettima), describing it as ungodly and anti-Nigeria’s unity.
Dogara had declared in July 2022 that political permutations that do not reflect religious balance in the country are against the unity and stability of the country.
Speaking at the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)’s 12th General Assembly and Leadership Transition Ceremony, he commended CAN’s position on the matter, describing it as “Godly.”
“I want to say emphatically that CAN’s position on the Muslim/Muslim ticket in this country, at this moment of national peril, is not CAN’s only position; I believe that is God’s position.
“We serve a God of justice; our God is righteous; our God is the author of diversity, and he wants us, as diverse as we are, to come together. So, CAN’s position, as much as it is a righteous position, is the position of all of us who live righteousness, justice, and diversity and are working to harness it for the advancement of this country,” Dogara said.
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