The Chairman, Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has bemoaned the attitude of some Nigerians towards the proposed tax reform bills.
This is even as the Chairman noted that some Nigerians now rain curses on him and his family over the tax reform bills.
Oyedele made this disclosure during an event for the presentation of the report of a technical committee set up by the League of Northern Democrats (LND) to review the controversial tax reform bills on Thursday in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, Oyedele stated that he was not deterred by the vitriol. This, he said is because his assignment was a public service to bring economic change to the country.
Recall that the tax reform bills have generated heated debates across the country. With the bills facing serious push backs from the North.
IVNTVNEWS reports that the Northern Governors Forum and some leaders from the region have contested the tax reform bills. The development also led to open confrontations in both chambers of the National Assembly. The northern political class have argued that bills were meant to favour Lagos State and other narrow interests. They insisted that if passed would shortchange the North.
Oyedele, however, used the occasion to state that the recommendations made by his committee on tax reform were not influenced by anyone. This is even as he said that it came through robust discussions and engagements to revolutionize the tax system in the country.
He said, “Even on social media, you need to see the number of people cursing me and my family. I don’t take it personally. I just go through and say is there any useful comment that we can work on? We pick it and we work on it. It’s public service. You’re not meant to be appreciated and praised every time. It doesn’t happen anywhere in the world.
“Public service is public service. You are accountable to the people and you must take that very seriously. So, our approach to this is that some Nigerians were asked to do this for our country. I had the privilege of leading that team. And we did our best but we’re not in any way suggesting that our best is the best for Nigeria.
“You cannot have more than 200 million people and you then assume that about 100 people are the smartest. You know that that would be arrogance at a different level. So, this engagement helped us to even improve the quality of what we have done.
“I’ve said this in a number of fora and I’ll say it again. There’s not a single person in the world, not World Bank, not IMF, not United Nations, not Mr. President, not any Governor, not any Minister, past or present, not President, past or present, no one dictated anything to us. Every single thing you see in all those bills were the outcome of debates by the committee that is representative nationally.
“We have people from all the geo-political zones. We have more than 20 government institutions. And we had all manner of engagement, including with people with disability. But we know that engagements will never end. In fact, if the bills are passed, it doesn’t mean that we should stop engaging. We should continue,” Oyedele said.
He stated that engagements would give feedback on how it’s been implemented and the areas needed to further improve on. This, according to him is because there are no perfect laws even when they have been enacted.
“So, I’m eagerly looking forward to the outcome of this event today and I can give you one assurance. Every single point you send to us will be carefully considered. And we’ll get back to you with our own explanations. So, once we have superior reasoning and superior arguments, we bow to it very quickly. Because we have no agenda other than the agenda for Nigeria,” Oyedele added.
source: Daily Trust
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