Youths from Northern Nigeria extraction have explained that they are angry with the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, because of his alleged anti-north stance on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s tax reform bills.
The President and the Secretary of the Northern Youth Assembly, Mohammed Idris, and Abdulhafiz Garba made this known in an open letter on Saturday.
Recall that Jibrin came under fire by Northern youths when he said in an interview with BBC Hausa that the Senate allowed passage of the bill to second reading last week because the lawmakers wanted to give room for broader conversion from experts and Nigerians.
However, the leaders of the Northern Youth Assembly, Idris and Garba, said that Jibrin’s position was insensitive to the region by backing the bills.
According to the Northern Youths, Jibrin’s position does not represent the north and its interests.
“The Northern Youth Assembly (Majalisar Matasan Arewa), on behalf of the 19 northern states leadership of the assembly, wishes to express our unequivocal disappointment and dismay in you, following your action towards the scaling for the second reading of an evil tax reform bill, which would certainly undermine the North and further relegate the region economically and commercially.
‘’Your support for the passage of the proposed evil tax reform bill put forth by the Tinubu administration is the highest order of your insensitivity to the economic and commercial plight of your constituency, Kano State, and the entire Northern Nigeria,” NYA stated.
The Northern Youths stated that the bills in their current form would clearly place the region in an economically disadvantageous position.
“As representatives of the Northern Nigerian youths, we believe the proposed tax reform bill, in its current form, would surely disproportionately affect the economic livelihoods and aspirations of our people, and it is of course without taking into cognisance of the current economic reality in the country,” the group stated.
There has been a wide range of rejection, especially from elites in Northern Nigeria, since early October 2024, when Tinubu sent the four tax reform bills to the National Assembly.
The Northern Governors Forum, the Northern Elders Forum, the National Economic Council, and Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, among others, have openly called for the withdrawal of the bills.
The latest was last week, when Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, said the tax reform bills will cause backwardness in the North and Nigeria in general.
However, Tinubu has insisted on the passage of the bills.
Tinubu is not alone, as a former senator who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, had in several fora backed the bills, noting that it is not against the North.
The Northern Youth Association, Arewa Grassroots Network (AGN), also supported the bill on the basis that it meant well for the generality of Nigerians.
The bills gained momentum last week when they secured second reading at the Senate.
DAILY POST reports that economic experts have also backed the tax reform bill on the ground that it will boost Nigeria’s revenue.
Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, provided an explanation on why the tax bills were generating controversy.