The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) says the proposed tax reforms by President Bola Tinubu are not in the best interest of the northern region.
The forum said the Tax Reform Bill by President Tinubu, which is currently before the National Assembly, is poorly packaged and was conceived in bad faith.
The position of NEF was made known in a communique signed by its convener, Professor Ango Abdullahi, and released to newsmen on Saturday.
According to him, the position was adopted during the second bi-annual meeting of the NEF Board of Trustees held on Wednesday, November 20th, 2024, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Center, Abuja.
The forum submitted that the bill, in its present form, is a palpable threat to their unity and national cohesion. It added that those promoting the bill have sinister intentions.
It also condemned the silence of the National Assembly lawmakers from the north on the bill, stating that they should have rejected it as well.
The communique partly reads; “The meeting unanimously endorsed the patriotic stand taken on the raging national debate about the Tax Reform Bill by the Northern States Governors’ Forum in conjunction with the Northern Nigeria Council of Traditional Rulers, just as it reaffirmed the NEF’s strong opposition to this pernicious policy.
“In addition, the meeting seriously maintained, that, in its present form, the Tax Reform Bill is conceived in bad faith, poorly packaged and it is a palpable threat to our unity and national cohesion. The Meeting proceeded by drawing attention to the brazen cavalier way and suspicious manner in which the Tax Reform Bill was imposed on the nation, without allowing the inputs of critical stakeholders, even as it kept members of the National Economic Council in the dark, thus; confirming the sinister intentions of those promoting this outrageous Bill.
“The Board-in-session, condemned in very strong terms, the conspicuous loss of voice on this burning issue by the overwhelming number of elected politicians in the National Assembly from the region, and fiercely warned, that indeed, the days are fast gone, when such conspiratorial connivance against the vital and strategic interest of the region, either by those within or outside the region, would be condoned or even tolerated.”
The NEF, by their stand, endorsed the position of the Northern States Governors’ Forum in conjunction with the Northern Nigeria Council of Traditional Rulers, in rejecting the proposed Tax Reform Bill by President Bola Tinubu.