A member of the National Assembly, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has expressed confidence that the controversial tax reform bills presented by President Bola Tinubu will be passed into law.
The bills have generated a lot of controversies, meeting some resistance from the Northern part of the country, with the National Executive Council also advising the president to withdraw the bills.
The Senator representing Borno South in the National Assembly, Senator Ali Ndume, had also said that the bills are dead on arrival.
But speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Jibrin, who represents Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State in the House of Representatives, insisted that the bills are not dead on arrival, saying that the North is not against the bill.
“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,” Jibrin said on the programme.
“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.”
Jibrin said that after the passage of the bills, Nigerians will be able to know that they are not inimical to the interest of the country, neither are they inimical to the northern part of the country.
Meanwhile, amid the controversy trailing the tax reform bills, President Tinubu, last week, said the document would not be withdrawn from the National Assembly.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu rather explained that the bills should go through the legislative process.
President Bola Tinubu “received the National Economic Council’s recommendation that the tax reform bills already sent to the National Assembly be withdrawn for further consultation.”
The Nigerian leader also commended the National Economic Council members, especially Vice President Kashim Shettima and the 36 state governors, for their advice.
“He believes that the legislative process, which has already begun, provides an opportunity for inputs and necessary changes without withdrawing the bills from the National Assembly.
“While urging the NEC to allow the process to take its full course, President Tinubu welcomes further consultations and engagement with key stakeholders to address any reservations about the bills while the National Assembly considers them for passage.
“When President Tinubu set up the Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy Reform in August 2023, he had only one objective: to reposition the economy for better productivity and efficiency and make the operating environment for investment and businesses more conducive. This objective remains more critical even today than ever before,” the statement read.