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Some politicians are opposed to tax bills because they prefer poor constituents- Umohinyang, rights lawyer

Convener of Centre for Leadership and Justice, Mr Emmanuel Umohinyang, speaks on the debate that has trailed the proposed tax reform bill before the National Assembly and other policies of President Bola Tinubu aimed at alleviating people with low incomes. In this interview with ThisNigeria, the rights activist and lawyer also talked about the prolonged political crisis in Rivers State and other sundry issues

  

 

There has been intense debate over the tax reform bills before the National Assembly. Some have called for their withdrawal, while others have said they meant well for the country. What are your views on them?

Unfortunately, some of those persons calling for the withdrawal of the bills have not read the content of the bills. Others have decided to stick to their initial position even when some issues have been explicitly explained. Every government policy that touches the lives of ordinary Nigerians must be pushed to a logical conclusion. The fear in the tax reform bill, especially by some northern governors, has to do with the fear of the unknown. Over the years, these people have benefitted from free and cheap money. The bill challenges the governors to be serious about their responsibilities; it asks them to be thinkers focused on generating revenues in their various states. I have come to understand that underperforming governors have used the proposed tax reform bills as a platform to either attack President Bola Tinubu or blackmail him. Governors who have not been able to account for the billions they have received are hiding under the proposed tax bills to create an impression that they are working. However, that should not deter people from those states from asking critical questions regarding the allocations they have received over the years and what they have done with them. My understanding of the proposed tax bills is that they target the Nigerian people. For instance, the bill asks for a tax exemption for people experiencing poverty. I do not see why a governor would resist tax exemption for low-income people. Unfortunately, we have a chunk of these poor Nigerians in the northern part of the country. The bill said that people earning X amount of money should not be taxed, and wealthy governors opposed it. The governors are also saying that tax collected by federal institutions should be shared equally and evenly, regardless of whether you have any role to play in revenue generation, and they were clever in using the word ‘equity.’ I do not know what equity they were citing. You cannot, for instance, say alcohol should not be sold in your state and you want a share of the tax revenue that comes from it in other states. We cannot continue to run these kind of systems. So, the Federal Government is saying with the bill that the governors should put on their thinking caps by generating revenues from their states. Whatever they develop, they will have a large chunk of it. Governors should be creative in administering their states and not just wait for federal allocations. Most governors come to Abuja to share this money and stay away from their states. Every weekend, you see a governor who should remain and fix his state, running to Lagos, Abuja, or overseas for holidays. Another advantage of the proposed tax bill is that companies like MTN, Dangote, and many others pay their taxes in Lagos because that is where the headquarters are situated. They will no longer pay to Lagos alone. The tax will be shared evenly based on the usage in other states. If I decide to stay in Kano, for instance, and make calls in that state, the bill says that the money paid in Lagos must be shared in line with the number of calls made in Kano through an MTN line. I think this is a glorious proposal. All they need to do is to create business activities to boom in their states. It is no longer a period where governors sit aloof and wait for federal allocations at the end of each month. This is the time for them to put on their thinking caps and do things to better the lives of their people. Why do we always have a situation where the rich sometimes resist anything that benefits the poor? Are they saying that people experiencing poverty are not also entitled to the country called Nigeria? This bill should be concluded logically. The National Assembly, vested with the responsibility to make laws, should be allowed to see this bill through after exhausting all areas of consultations. These tax reform bills are targeted at elevating the poor people, and I stand with them because they conform to our laws.

 

 

Why do you think some lawmakers and governors are vehemently against it?

It has always been the situation in Nigeria. The rich are always against any policy that will alleviate the poor. Some politicians because the more the poor people are relieved, the more their political ambition is threatened. So, they always want to have their constituency in poverty so that they can manipulate them during elections. The politicians want a situation where, from giving you N20,000, they can reduce you to a tuber of yam or ‘derica’ of garri; this is what they want. A poor country is a beneficial index for the politician. This President wants to address the issue of people experiencing poverty in the country, but some politicians do not want that and do not take it lightly. It, therefore, behooves Nigerians to rise in defence of this proposed tax reform bill by President Tinubu.

 

 

Six months after the Supreme Court ruled on local government financial autonomy, the leadership of NULGE recently lamented that there are still implementation issues. What do you think should be done?

I do not think that insinuation is true. After getting the Supreme Court judgment, the Federal Government, in her wisdom, decided to create room for proper transition. That room makes the NULGE boss say the ruling has not been fully implemented. The federal government said, “Look, these people have been operating over the years on joint accounts, but that window has recently closed, and the council areas are now getting funds directly from the federal allocation account.”

 

 

Despite efforts to address rising inflation, the poverty level has continued to increase; what do you think the government can do to address this situation?

What the government can do is what it is already doing by promoting policies that address the foundation of poverty. One of them is the introduction of tax reform bills that affect the situation of the poorest of the poor. It is like a man who is about to die of hunger, and the government is trying to put a stop to that drainage. The issue of poverty cannot be addressed with palliative distribution. The word ‘palliative’ is temporary, and we cannot deal with poverty by sustaining a temporal process. We must address it permanently from the root, and I think that outside the removal of subsidies, the government should be intentional about the issue of agriculture. The staple food that Nigerians are used to is fast going out of the commoner’s reach. Situations like this will affect the conduct of credible elections because it will allow politicians to provide stipends to win votes. A hungry man has no help but what he has to give in return for that help. The government must have the intention to create a platform for an agricultural boom, which is why the government had, over the years, made provision for the importation of agricultural tools with tax exemptions. It is only a few states that have bought into such incentives, maybe except Niger State, as many other states are not interested. Their interests appear to be in road infrastructure, where they can benefit. I think the Federal Government has played its role.

 

 

The Rivers State crisis has continued to widen, especially with the recent utterance of the former governor of the state, Dr Peter Odili, against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and a counter-response. What is the way forward for the political stability of the state?

My challenge with the crisis that has engulfed Rivers State is that of sincerity. From my point of view, I hate betrayers. I find it ridiculous that a sitting governor who was a few months in office started generating crisis. A political neophyte was brought into the race and started creating problems. One of the governance issues is to surround yourself with people who were not part of your emergence; they will generate a crisis for you. This Rivers crisis reminds me of what also happened in Akwa Ibom State when Godswill Akpabio handed over to Udom Emmanuel. The case of Akpabio was worse because the then-governor did not allow him to hand over before he started his infighting; it became so intense that Akpabio had to abandon his state and maintain residency in Abuja. Some keep pushing for successors when their tenure wants to expire because they want to maintain financial and political control of their states. Still, the unfortunate issue with Rivers is that the sitting governor has allowed masquerades who are parading themselves as political stalwarts to mislead him. The problem has not abated despite the President’s intervention because of insincerity. When President Tinubu intervened, I said the present governor of Rivers was not sincere about peace. He clamours for peace in the open, but he does something different behind. He was only using the President to buy time to get some people to support him. Unfortunately, Rivers State has lost its elders because those who should have stepped in to resolve this issue have taken sides. It has become difficult to know who is speaking for the interest of Rivers State because they are speaking for their pocket. So, Peter Odili’s entanglement with Nyesom Wike is expected because he ought to have been at the center of reconciling the parties, but because he, too, is looking for something in his pocket, he has to guide his territory. The FCT Minister is no longer in charge of the state’s purse, so his focus is on who is currently in charge of the state. In the state, people benefit from the spoiling, and you no longer have anybody at the neutral line. We are going to see more of this. I think it is an unfortunate situation. The Rivers State issue has come to stay, but I think the 2027 election will address this matter.

  

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