By Rev Fr Gerald Nwafor
I have watched with disappointment the tax debate that is ravaging the media space today. The social media, the print media, and the electronic media. I do not worry about the nitty-gritty of the VAT (value-added tax).
The tax experts were on both sides, for and against the bill. But my question is simple, “How would it improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians?” Some of the governors who are fighting about 55%, 35%, and 15% have not done anything with the ?% they have received since Adam. Meanwhile, what are they taxing? Is it not the person who had money that would be taxed? The politicians should show us their tax returns first.
The general public is dying of hunger and the government is talking about taxing the dying. Value-added tax should be for those whose life has value. The way things are going now I do not see any value in the lives of a common Nigeria. Even if you make a billion Naira yearly, by the time you finish buying petrol and gas, pay school fees, settle kidnappers, and buy food for your family, that money would be severely dealt with.
Why not focus on the improvement of life, add value to our lives first then add tax on the value? The way things are going now the government can tax a dead man because he died wrongfully. If this kind of discussion had happened before the subsidy removal, we would not be having this kind of problem. Had it been that we had this kind of robust discussion and openness before the floating of Naira, things would not be this bad. This tax reform or whatever they call it should be kept in the freezer till the life of the people improves.
I watched with disappointment and utmost confusion when the Senate President and the Majority Leader lied to the public that the bill had not been halted. All the people speaking about this tax bill have changed their position not less than three times to be modest, in my estimation.
First, the Senate President said he would recuse himself from the bill because he may have a conflict of interest. After the first sitting in which Senator Ali Ndume and Ningi wanted to use the deputy Senate President for peppersoup, the Senate President quickly returned and said he did not recuse himself anymore.
In two days the Senate President has said that the bill has been suspended, not suspended, and should be for public hearing, and now a committee has been appointed to look into it, and one member of the committee was removed because he should not have been in the committee. Kai kai kai, these people are taking us for a ride.Since 2015 this issue has been rearing its ugly head in the National Assembly.
The northern governors have objected to it. The southern governors likewise said that VAT should be local, let the state manage what they consume, and tax their citizens as such.
The North is predominantly Muslim and does not drink alcohol, so the southern governors object to the fact that VAT on alcoholic beverages should go to the north. That looks like a valid argument to make. But a governor from the south said on national television that he had not even read the bill.
This governor looks erudite and smart, and he has not read the bill in all this confusion. Just imagine what other governors would be doing (If gold would rust, what do you think would happen to ordinary iron?). The commotion surrounding this tax reform should not be a concern to the public.
What should concern the public should be how to eat rice and drink some green bottles this season of celebration, not the greediness of the governors be it north or south. They are talking about what would be the percentage they would get from the federal government.
I did not see the solution to our problem in the tax bill. The current President Tinubu, in 2019, rejected the idea of VAT because it would hurt the citizens. Today he is pushing the bill, and it doesn’t matter to him anymore if the citizens are hurting or not. Why do the people in government lie and deceive the public (there is god oo)? The North is against the current bill and the South is not talking.
By the time the North finishes with their wahala, the South will start and by the time the South finishes, it will be 2027 another election cycle. So, I would ask the government of today when they think that they would start to govern and stop this petty politics and debate about who would be taxed and who would not be taxed.
While this tax confusion is going on the government has, through the back door, initiated the kidnapping of civil rights activists starting with Dele Farotimi who wrote ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System.’ I just bought the book from Amazon, and I have read through it.
I did not see so many facts and defamation that warranted the arrest of the social critic, although I did not regret buying the book because there were other areas of our justice system that Dele threw open for the public to discuss a good example is how justice and justices are paid and bought. The same people who have money to pay for justice should have money to pay for taxes. When you arrest or persecute an author because of what he wrote, there is every tendency that people would like to know what he put down.
I bought the book The Satanic Verses, written by Salman Rushdie, because the Ayatollah placed a death warrant on his head; till today I do not understand the book. Dele was popular in Nigeria because of his voice but today the actions of the agents of states in Nigeria have made him an international figure. Whenever he comes out from this kidnapping episode orchestrated by the government of Nigeria, he will be interviewed by CNN, Al Jazeera, and BBC.
This article is about tax bills, tax reform, and tax confusion, but in the middle of the cacophony the government introduced the abduction of a citizen to disrupt the confusion. But we have shown that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. All this bruhaha should stop so that the Christians can celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ who came to bring peace and happiness, not fear and confusion.
