As the controversy over the Tax Reform Bills continues to rage, participants at Channels Television Special Town Hall have called for restraint and patriotism among Nigerians, but they stressed that the bill is not anti-north or skewed against any part of the country.

The consensus was that the bill also favours the poor.

Since their introduction  – they have been sent to the National Assembly –  the bills have attracted criticism in several parts of the country.

Some claim they are targeted against the northern region with millions arguing they will overburden Nigerians.

But the experts who were featured on ChannelsTown Hall over the Tax Reform Bills beamed the searchlight on the bills, clarifying some knotty issues and providing solutions to others.

Some of the persons featured on the show included the Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee Taiwo Oyedele, and a former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara; the Group CEO of Global Investment and Trade Company, Baba Yusuf; Public Affairs Analyst/ Writer, Micheal Chibuzor and a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

The governor of Nasarawa State Abdullahi Sule phoned into the programme and said governors are not against the bills but only want clarification.

“The issue of increasing the VAT from 20 per cent to 60 per cent at the point of generation, and I am happy that Taiwo said it has now changed not just at the point of generation but also consumption, that is fine.

“Those were some of the issues mentioned by the governors. The governors said, you know what, why don’t you withdraw the bills, let us discuss it, let us understand it,” Governor Sule said.

Oyedele, who midwifed the bills has asked Nigerians not to allow a few grey areas in the proposed tax reform bills to obstruct the passage of the bills.

“These Bills Have More than 200 transformative provisions to fix our country and set us on the right path to prosperity,” Oyedele said.

“We should not allow one or two provisions that we can easily discuss and agree on to become the pain or the bottleneck.”

He admitted that the bills are imperfect, and withdrawal is not ideal.

There are claims that the President is trying to empower a consultant to collect revenues like he did in Lagos State with Alpha Beta. But Oyedele said that is not true.

“So, I can confirm to you 100 per cent, that there is no plan whatsoever in using consultants to do any of these. The FIRS had a tax pro max that they had implemented, all that we need to do when we pass these bills, is  go to that system and amend the algorithm. So, we have the capacity already, we do not need consultants,” he said.

The northern region has been one of the most vocal in its criticism of the bills but Dogara on the show called for restraint, saying Tinubu should not be condemned for introducing the bills.

“And lastly, I want to talk to my brothers in the North. I don’t think this is the time for us to begin to condemn the president and to begin to say that on account of these bills, he is anti-north because I want to remind us that the president has done something that is significant,” Dogara said.

For Yusuf, Tinubu’s move is one of the best efforts by the current administration.

”This is one of the best reforms undertaken by President Bola Tinubu,” he said, adding that “Northern Nigeria will be one of the best beneficiaries of these reforms”.

A public affairs analyst Micheal Chibuzor says the bills are transformative but is calling for a review of the country’s revenue model.

Another panelist who was featured at the Town Hall was an economist Paul Alaje who scored the proposed reform tax bills a pass mark.

Alaje, however, raised concerns about certain areas of the bills.

–Courtesy: Channels TV