The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), has affirmed its rejection of the Tax Reform Bill proposed by President Bola Tinubu, describing it as a policy conceived in bad faith that would threaten national cohesion.
The Northern Governors’ Forum had also recently voiced opposition to the proposed tax reforms.
The NEF, in a communiqué issued after its Board of Trustees’ bi-annual meeting in Abuja on Saturday by its convener, Professor Ango Abdullahi, warned against policies that could further ‘marginalise the north’s resource potential’, noting that implementing the tax reform policy would be detrimental to the north.
“The meeting seriously maintained that, in its present form, the Tax Reform Bill is conceived in bad faith, poorly packaged and it is a palpable threat to our unity and national cohesion,” the communique reads in part.
“The Board-in-session condemned in very strong terms, the conspicuous loss of voice on this burning issue by the overwhelming number of elected politicians in the National Assembly from the region, and fiercely warned, that indeed, the days are fast gone, when such conspiratorial connivance against the vital and strategic interest of the region, either by those within or outside the region, would be condoned or even tolerated
“In consideration of the deteriorating situation in the education sector in the country in general and the North in particular, the Board-in-Session was alarmed by the high percentage, now about (60%) of students in Northern Nigeria, who involuntarily were not able to return to their institutions of higher learning, universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and legal studies, due to high costs of tuition fees and unaffordable daily transportation to and from schools.
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“The Meeting went on to discuss the explosive crisis of out-of-school children now estimated to be 20 million in the whole country, of which over 80% comes from the North. Against this troubling reality, the Board-in-session expressed serious doubt, on the viability and efficacy of the much-touted Federal Students Loan Scheme as a panacea to this malignant malady.
“The meeting spiritedly decried the prevalence of condescending attitudes being exhibited by some powerful political actors in the region, who more often than not, behave arrogantly and disdainfully like rulers rather than leaders fully committed to the plight of their people.
“The Board-in-session urgently called on the people of the North to stay resolute and remain vigilant in defence of their inalienable rights, particularly their voting rights and to desist from allowing themselves to be deceived yet again, through subterfuge, use of ill-gotten wealth and religious manipulation, by some unscrupulous elements, whose past records did not portray them to be persons of integrity, character, and probity.
‘The NEF urgeds Northerners to remain vigilant in defending their rights, particularly during elections, and warns against falling victim to manipulation by unscrupulous leaders with questionable records,” it said.
The forum further applauded the Northern States Governors’ Forum and the Northern Nigeria Council of Traditional Rulers for opposing the bill, and described their stance as patriotic.
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