Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State said he initially opposed the tax reforms initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu because his position as Governor gave him vantage position to understand the suffering people are going through in the country.
Governor Sule stated this while hosting the national president and members of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), on a courtesy call at the Government House on Wednesday.
According to the Governor, he swore by the Islamic holy book on his inauguration to protect the interest of the people and therefore found it necessary to add his voice in order to address observed shortfall regarding the new tax bills.
He added that he has nothing against President Tinubu when he opposed the tax bills but that his concern for the suffering of the people that would have worsened if the bills had been upheld in their original forms.
“The President wants to make an impact, he wants to bring solutions to some of our difficulties. For some of us, we had to go back and say no Sir, it is not at the right time, not when inflation is at 34 percent, the highest ever. You don’t make that kind of change like that. I swore with the Holy Quran that I would defend the interest of the people and then I see this is happening and I keep quiet,” he stated.
He said as a Governor, it would have been to his advantage to further tax the people as more money would come into government coffers but that his experience in the past six years has exposed him to the level of suffering amongst the people.
“Being a Governor, I now understand the other part of it, the suffering of the people. As I was explaining to some people as the MD of Dangote Sugar if you tell me VAT is now 15 percent and not 5 percent, do I lose any money at Dangote? All I will do is that my sugar is going to be N90, 000 and customer, you have a different bill. Your tax is going to be 15 percent. What is my own role? I will remit it to FIRS. The more I remit it to FIRS, the more FIRS is happy with me. I’m achieving. But who is suffering? That is the point we are making,” he said.
Governor Sule commended President Tinubu for being a listening leader after it became obvious that the original bills were drafted without wide consultations in order to address grey areas.
“The problem is that you have to be able to speak the truth on what you swore by at the right time. It is not that you are against anybody. In fact, I am not even against either Zack or Oyedele, they are my friends and they remain my friends. But I felt, we should have consulted properly and I should have told you my concerns for you to consider. But my best day ever, during the debate, that is why I stopped talking about it. We pointed out the issue to the President during a meeting involving Governors and the tax reforms committee. I stood by my earlier position. The President said, you know what Sule, you people go, look at it, make the changes in order for it to be better for Nigeria. I was done. For me, that was the end of the discussion right there,” he said.
He faulted the initial bills that allocated Lagos State 60 percent of the entire Value Added Tax (VAT) collected from across the country, stressing that provision was to the disadvantage of particularly the North.
“Companies whose goods are consumed in the North pay VAT at their headquarters in Lagos or Abuja. Who benefits? Lagos State and you said Lagos State takes 60 percent of the total VAT? That would not be fair to Adamawa. In Nasarawa you have several of these small companies mining lithium and tantalite. Where are the headquarters of these companies? In Lagos and Abuja. When the time to pay VAT they pay in Abuja. FCT benefits. Is that fair to Nasarawa?,” he explained.
Governor Sule thanked the CITN for finding it worthy to open its Lafia District Society Office.
Earlier, 16th President/Chairman of the CITN, Samuel Agbeluyi, said the council was in Nasarawa State to inaugurate the 9th district of the institute.
Agbeluyi said the council is desirous of enhancing tax collection in the state through capacity building, awareness and training.
“Like Ogun and Lagos, Nasarawa and Abuja have joint residency. When the district office comes up with their capacity building, awareness and training that is the place to start from. So that the big people in Abuja who reside here can make their return in Nasarawa and pay their money in Nasarawa. The natural consequence of that is that the revenue of the state will grow up. And we will take you up Sir. The more you collect, the more we will be looking at you. Are you using this money for the people of Nasarawa State. For you, we don’t have any doubt that you will use the money to the benefit of the people of Nasarawa State,” he said.
While noting the efforts of the council to reform the country’s obsolete tax laws through the years, he commended the Governor for his intervention during the tax reforms debate which he said technically assisted the country.
Agbeluyi equally commended Governor Sule for his strides in delivering good governance, particularly in the areas of industrialization, health and education.
On his part, Executive Chairman, Nasarawa State Board of Internal Revenue Services, Alhaji Ahmed Yakubu Mohammed, said opening the Lafia District Society Office would enhance revenue collection in the state.
“I told His Excellency that sometimes you leave the best for the last. This is the last one being opened in the country. In order to see how we can enhance and increase the revenue of the state in order to support His Excellency do the work he set out to do for the state and indigenes of Nasarawa State,” he said.
Posted by Mr. Ali Abare on his Facebook timeline this Thursday, 13th March, 2025
