The Progressive Northern Youth Forum (PNYF) has thrown its support behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s stance on the tax reform bills, following his decision to dismiss the National Economic Council’s (NEC) recommendation to withdraw the bills.
At the NEC’s 144th meeting, led by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the council had proposed retracting the tax reform bills after receiving opposition from northern governors and traditional leaders. Despite this, President Tinubu, through a statement by his media aide Bayo Onanuga, urged NEC to allow the legislative process to continue as planned.
In response, PNYF’s Secretary General Abdulkadir Bala issued a statement on Saturday backing Tinubu’s decision. Bala argued that the position of the Northern Governors’ Forum did not reflect the true interests of the northern populace. “The Forum’s call for the withdrawal of these bills does not represent the views of the people in the region,” he stated.
He criticized the governors, suggesting that instead of pushing for withdrawal, they should have contributed constructive input during the legislative process. “If the governors genuinely cared for their constituents, they would have taken advantage of the opportunity to provide input and propose changes during the legislative process,” Bala said, questioning the motives of the Northern Governors’ Forum.
Bala further alleged that northern governors are reluctant to develop independent revenue sources and remain overly dependent on federal allocations. “What is the Northern Governors’ Forum afraid of? Clearly, they are afraid of taking responsibility,” he remarked, adding that there was little evidence that these governors had made effective use of the allocations they had already received from the federal government.
