The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala, has submitted that ordinarily, there should not be any conversation outside the National Assembly at the moment on the Tax Reform Bills submitted by President Bola Tinubu.
He noted that only second-term Governors are criticizing the bills while the first-term governors are silent.
The presidential media aide, however, submitted that the Governors should not be making public comments or openly expressing grievances against the bills but instead, make their positions known to National Assembly members from their states in both the Senate and House of Representatives, who would then take up such matters at legislative levels.
He added that it is sad that some Governors have chosen to play politics with the bill.
Henzodaily reports that Bwala made the submission during an interview with TVC in which he spoke about the grievances expressed by Governors against the Tax Reform Bills.
He said President Tinubu has made wide consultations regarding the bills, and this is because Tinubu is a collaborative President.
In his words, “Under a normal democratic and governance procedure, the President sponsored a bill, an executive bill and that bill is in the National Assembly.
“Ordinarily, there shouldn’t be any conversation outside of that prism but to have the delibration in the National Assembly.
“Every Governor has at least three senators and not less than nine House of Representatives members. Some have eighteen and more. What that means is that whatever your concern is, you will speak to the National Assembly representatives of your state to take it to the National Assembly in the delibration.
“But the President, being a negotiation and collaborative President, decided to stretch it further by ensuring that the tax team engage with all the critical stakeholders in Nigeria. This is what ordinarily, the National Assembly will do because when you sponsor a bill, and they read the bill in the first reading, they will later commit it to public hearing and they will do all those things that are necessary.
“But the President went beyond that and ensured there is a robust stakeholders engagement where Governors, private sector, students, everybody was involved and infact, this tax reform bill is one of those initiative in this government that has had the widest coverage in terms of consultation. And all the Governors have agreed that this bill is very very good.
“Some of the Governors are only quarrelling on a section in one of the bills. And I said I know what politics is. Sometimes, like I gave example in another TV station, even if you look at it in America, the Republicans and the Democrats, if you bring bi-partisan bill, it passes without problem. If you bring a bill that they feel like Democrats will benefit more than Republicans, then you will see real politics in it because everybody wants concession since you need this very urgently, we need this, and if you want us to support this, you also have to concede here, that is what is happening. It’s not out of the ordinary.
“The politics side of it is the sad part because if you look at those who are criticizing this bill (tax reform bills) are second-term governors; the first-term governors are not talking. In the same area where you think that people are going to cry against the bill, that is how you will know there is a politics to this whole thing.”