Abdulmumin Jibrin, the representative for Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency in Kano State, has voiced strong optimism that President Bola Tinubu’s controversial tax reform bills will secure approval in the House of Representatives.
The proposed legislation has sparked significant debate, particularly facing opposition from Northern regions, and the National Executive Council has even advised the president to retract the bills.
Meanwhile, Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South, remarked that the bills were “dead on arrival.”
However, Jibrin, speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, maintained that he believes the bills still have a viable path forward.
“It is not a consensus in the North that this bill should be shut down. And talking for myself and also how I know the National Assembly operates in terms of following procedures of the passage of the bill, I can be able to tell you authoritatively that the bill is not dead on arrival.
“I can explain to you that hundreds of clauses in these bills are things we have been pursuing for ages and I will be able to tell you this; the work that we are going to do for Nigerians to see all the clauses in detail and everything, I can confidently tell you that bill will go through the processes in the National Assembly and it will be passed,” he said.
He stated that once the bills are passed, Nigerians will see that they do not pose any threat to the nation’s interests or to the interests of the northern region.
Amid the ongoing debate surrounding the tax reform bills, President Tinubu announced last week that he would not retract the document from the National Assembly.
In a statement from the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu clarified that the bills should instead proceed through the legislative process.