Tax Bills: Northern Group Slams Ndume

The Northern Redemption Coalition (NRC) has slammed the lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Ali Ndume, for attempting to force his views on the nation regarding the tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly.

President Bola Tinubu sent four bills to the National Assembly, including the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Tax Administration Bill, and the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, meant to repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Act and create the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and, the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.

The Northern Governors Forum (NGF) had opposed the VAT bill, claiming it would impoverish the North, a position that drew widespread condemnation from northern youth groups and professionals.

Senator Ndume sailed into the storm when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday, and said the bills are dead on arrival and should be thrown out.

But the Northern Redemption Coalition (NRC) president, Comrade Adamu Bashir, cautioned Ndume against overinflating his political worth and following, as his position does not reflect the acceptance of the tax bills among the discerning population of Nigerians.

Bashir said, “It is the failure of leaders like Ndume to develop the North that has left them with the phobia. They have for the tax bills, which President Tinubu have demonstrated, can turn the economy around.

“While he claimed to be speaking for the poor in the country, it turned out he cannot even speak for the North, and certainly, he appears disconnected from his constituency because all Ndume’s years in the Senate have been wasted as he has refused to uplift his constituents.

“Instead of his tenuous attempt at cheap populism, Ndume should reassess his position relative to the reality of the time by reviewing his errant stance to refocus his activity in a way that justifies his supposed love for the North.”

Bashir lamented that Ndume, through his take on the tax bills, was perpetrating the wrong notion of a lazy and entitled North, when this part of the country is not known for being resistant to taxes.

He stated, “For the avoidance of doubt, the North is not afraid of the new tax bills. The North rather fears leaders like Ndume and our governors, who have refused to distribute wealth evenly, build schools for our teeming population of young people out of school, and empower our vulnerable women.

“We envisage that the people of Borno South Senatorial District would eventually realise that it is time to recall Ndume as he has proven that he would always sabotage their interest in the pursuit of his populist posturing.,” he noted.