Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, has clarified why northern governors advised President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the controversial tax reform bills, specifically focusing on the Value Added Tax (VAT) provisions.
Appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Governor Zulum explained that the Northern Governors Forum sought more time for consultation before the bill is passed into law. He stated that the VAT provisions in the proposed tax law would disproportionately benefit only Lagos and Rivers States, leaving northern states at a disadvantage.
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“On this tax issue, there are a lot of misconceptions. We felt that the VAT provision in the tax law, based on the calculations we did, would only benefit Lagos and Rivers States. We did our own research and concluded that we would lose,” Zulum said.
The governor further emphasized that the northern governors do not oppose President Tinubu’s administration, but instead, they believe that further consultation is needed. He said, “Why are we in a rush? We advised the Federal Government to take a pause, and expunge some of the clauses that are inimical to not only Northern Nigeria.”
Zulum expressed that if the bill passes through the National Assembly as it stands, it would lead to a situation where only Lagos would be the major beneficiary, which would not be fair to other states.
He also addressed concerns that the northern governors were somehow opposed to Tinubu’s government, emphasizing that such claims were untrue. “I am a strong member of APC. If you can count two governors before 2019 and 2023 that were in support of Tinubu, you can mention Governor Zulum. I was the first governor to come out publicly and say that power must go to the South,” he said.
Zulum clarified that over 60 percent of President Tinubu’s votes in the 2023 general elections came from the north, and any narrative suggesting the north was against him was misleading. He added, “60.2 percent of his votes came from the north.”
