Nigeria Should Be Focusing On Governance Reforms, Not Tax Reforms – Ali Ndume

The Senator representing Borno North Central Senatorial District, Ali Ndume has come out to explain his opposition to the Tax Reform Bills.

He recently had his say while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, he can only criticize the timing of the bills, especially because the focus should be on governance reforms before tax reforms at this time.

He added that the lack of consensus from Nigerians is another reason why the bill should not be passed.

His words, “Yes, reform. But even with reforms, you have to prioritise, time it correctly, and ensure the buy-in of Nigerians because this is a democracy. It is the government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

First in Nigeria, what we need to do is reform the government. Our personnel and overhead expenditure for 2024 is about 50 to 60 per cent of the budget itself. We are here in November, and 20 per cent of the budget has not been implemented. But if you check the recurrent expenditure, it has already been exhausted.

So, that means over 15 to 20 trillion naira is going into personnel, debt servicing, and recurrent expenditure. We should reform the government, not only the Executive – we need to reform the government holistically.

Does it say it’s a Presidential Bill or is it supposed to be a Presidential Bill? When you say it’s an Executive Bill and you don’t have the buy-in of the Executive of the State, is it complete? That is where the problem lies. We’ve been doing this to the point that they now call us a rubber stamp.”

WOW.