Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has criticised the process surrounding the new tax bill before the National Assembly, saying state governors are largely unaware of its contents and were not consulted before it was transmitted by the Presidency.

Speaking on the controversy surrounding the proposed legislation, Makinde said governors were unable to take a definitive position on the bill because they had not been given the opportunity to review or discuss it collectively.

“In this dispensation on the tax bill, we are saying: bring the tax bill back home,” the governor said. “Look, let us all have an opportunity to look at it, but we cannot speak to it.”

He stressed that meaningful engagement was impossible without access to the details of the bill, insisting that wider consultations were necessary before any legislative progress could be made.

“Bring it back. Let us all have an opportunity to discuss it,” Makinde added.

Responding to a suggestion during the discussion, the governor acknowledged the limitations facing state governments in commenting on the legislation at this stage.

“We cannot speak to it in this discussion,” he said.

Makinde described the manner in which the bill was forwarded to the National Assembly as

concerning, arguing that the process itself undermined transparency and inclusiveness.

“So, the tax bill is an affront,” he said. “But the only goal of what we are saying, and what the Presidency has done by sending the tax bill to the National Assembly, is to bring it back, and we know where we are.”

He further noted that governors remain in the dark about both the final content of the bill and the legislative actions already taken.

“We don’t know what was passed at the National Assembly, and we don’t know what happened there,” Makinde said. (Arise News)

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