The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, yesterday pushed back on allegations that the panel did not consult with Nigerian governors, disclosing that the heads of the sub-national governments canceled four scheduled meetings.

Oyedele, who appeared on Arise Television, also disclosed that in the course of consultations, the committee met physically with at least 120 Muslim clerics, mostly from the north as well as the League of Democrats, to break down the implications of the ongoing tax reforms.

Earlier, an elder statesman and northern politician, Buba Galadima had while appearing on the same programme anchored by Dr Reuben Abati, insisted that the bills were only fair to Ogun and Lagos states, maintaining that the Oyedele-led group failed to meet with any governor except that of Lagos state.

Galadima also alleged that members of the panel were disowning the report behind the chairman, observing that some members of the committee said they were not carried along before the decisions on the bills were taken.

The introduction of the bills had sparked widespread debates, especially in the north, which has said that the Value Added Tax (VAT) will cut its accruals from the federation account. But the bills had been taken before the National Executive Council (NEC) and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) before they were sent to the National Assembly.

The proposed legislation aims to overhaul the country?s tax collection and administration systems, presenting an opportunity to create a more equitable and efficient taxation model. They include: The Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Tax Administration Bill, Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.

However, one of the bills, especially the one which proposes a derivation-based model for VAT distribution, has been rejected by the 19 northern governors and traditional rulers and many northern leaders.

But Oyedele, who faulted Galadima?s allegations, stated that the committee set up on August 8, 2023, has widespread membership, at a time hitting over 120 members, from all the geopolitical zones.

?We have more than 20 government institutions represented. We have the private sector, whether it?s manufacturers, whether it?s women in business. We have 45 students from 22 universities across Nigeria.

?In addition to that, we had extensive engagement with the governors. I went to the governors? forum. We wrote and wanted to meet with six governors, one from each of the six geopolitical zones. Up until this moment, it?s only the governor of Lagos state we were able to see.

?The other governor who was willing to welcome us was the governor of Kaduna state. And after all the logistics, we agreed on the date, on that day he wasn?t able to attend. It was the deputy governor that hosted us. I will not name the other governors, but I can actually if I need to. They didn?t have time for us.

?The governors? forum themselves invited us four times and canceled four times. The fifth time, we were kept waiting until 1.30 a.m., in the middle of the night. By the time they had time for us, they said we had 15 minutes.

?And I said, your excellencies, we have a lot to talk about. They said, tell us how our revenues will go up. Even that, we couldn?t say in 15 minutes. We had a half a day engagement with the finance commissioners from across Nigeria. We?ve had more than four engagements with the heads of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from all over Nigeria.

?We?ve had engagements with different groups, more than 40 sectors, from manufacturers to SMEs to FinTech. And these things were published,? Oyedele stressed, while defending the work of the committee.

According to him, the panel accelerated the compilation of the reforms because aside from the fact that Nigeria does not have the luxury of time, as it needs to relieve the ?pain? very quickly, the nation also needs to be set on the right path to development.

He added: ?The other important factor is, a government is for four years. If you don?t get things done in the first two and a half years, the rest of it is politicking. So what we did was, we said the only way we can get this job done is to break out into work groups,? the tax expert stated.

Aside from the fact that everything was debated line by line, Oyedele stressed that on the few areas of differences, committee members even voted, pointing out that the insinuation that he ignored the reports of committees, and then wrote his own was not true.

?And so it?s unfortunate that he claimed that some members of our committee did that (disowned the work). And I?m sure he can?t mention their names, because there?s nobody. Unless on their own, they just made up the story. Nothing like that happened,? Oyedele insisted.

Besides, he stated that there was serious consultation with the Senate and members of the House of Representatives, stressing that some persons were bent on misunderstanding the content of the bills.

He explained that if the move by Rivers and Lagos states before the courts succeed that VAT should be collected by states because they feel that they are not getting enough for the contribution, it would be the equivalent of 100 per cent derivation for those states which will be disastrous for others.

?We said, if we get states to start collecting VAT in Nigeria, it will be chaotic for business?The biggest loser will be Lagos because you are changing what is benefiting Lagos today to benefit everyone else,? he argued.

He noted that the committee was expecting commendation from those he said were currently criticising it, observing that the only state it was expecting some push back from was Lagos which would have its VAT revenue reduced.

With more than 100 provisions in the bills, he expressed surprise that some persons in the country were calling for the withdrawal of the bills because of one or two provisions they disagree with.

?What they are disagreeing with is about one or two. How on earth would the solution to disagreeing with two sections of the law be to withdraw four bills that are transformative? Why don?t we discuss those things and then present it to the lawmakers and then they will make a call as to what the final position should be.

?So sometimes it appears people are using this as a proxy fight to do something else. Otherwise, the problem they identified and the solution that they prefer are totally at variance,? he stated, adding that withdrawing the bill will not solve any problem.

Oyedele said that President Bola Tinubu understands the issues and that he was giving the committee his full backing even though he never interfered with its work.

?We?ve not, in my adult time in Nigeria, had a president that I say that you can sit with in 10 to 15 minutes and he gets it. That is this president,? he asserted, noting that the committee will continue to explain the bills to Nigerians.

?I?ll tell you that we had an interesting meeting with the Ulamas. They are the clerics mostly from the north. There were over 120. We had to explain everything to them. And many of them, when we were done, were praying for the work we had done because there was a lot of misinformation previously.

?We had meetings also with some sections of the north. I was with the League of Northern Democrats. So if they call me today, most times I get less than a 24-hour notice. I have to fly around to go to different places. So we are happy to discuss. We are willing to discuss,? he stated. (THISDAY)

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