The sharing formula for the Value Added Tax (VAT) between the federal, states and local governments is topping the agenda of discussions between the Attorney General of the Federation and the Senate Adhoc Committee on the Tax Reform Bills, The Nation gathered yesterday.

Both sides were scheduled to hold their first round of talks at the weekend to iron out the grey areas, but it was not clear yesterday how far they had gone with the issue.

The bills have sparked a massive controversy across the country with Information and National Orientation Minister Mohammed Idris saying yesterday that the nation?s tax administration system was long overdue for reform on account of the general attitude of taxpayers.

He spoke on a day a former governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, lashed out at critics of the bills.

Many of the critics, he said in Abuja, have not even taken time to go through the documents before passing judgment on them.

The Senate at its plenary session on Wednesday constituted the ad hoc committee headed by Minority Leader, Abba Moro, to interface with the executive arm to discuss the contentious areas with a view to probably reaching a consensus.

Other members of the committee are the Senate Chief Whip, Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North), Muhammadu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central), Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West),Titus Zam (APC, Benue North West), Abdullahi Yahaya (PDP Kebbi North), Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Ogun West), Sani Musa (APC, Niger East) and Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East).

The House of Representatives has suspended further legislative action on the bills to allow for wider consultation.

The Nigerian Southern Senators Forum said in Abuja at the weekend that despite the inherent economic benefits of the bills, the issue of how to share the proceeds of VAT on the basis of derivation between the state governments has become contentious.

No official was willing to talk on the meeting between the Senate delegation and the AGF yesterday, but sources said the formula for sharing VAT was a key issue at the deliberation.

The bills includeincludee the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, which aims to provide the fiscal framework for taxation in the country, and the Tax Administration Bill, which will provide a clear and concise legal framework for all taxes in the country and reduce disputes.

Others are the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, expected to repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act and establish the Nigeria Revenue Service, as well as the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, which will create a tax tribunal and a tax ombudsman.

On Thursday, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele denied media reports that the Red Chamber had suspended legislative action on the four bills.

The southern senators said that contrary to the views in some quarters, the bills would help enhance the economic development of the country.

They claimed that the derivation formula as proposed in one of the bills for sharing VAT was the reason some lawmakers were opposed to the proposed legislations.

The forum urged the Federal Government, through the Tax Committee (and Fagbemi?s team), ?to demonstrate, using data, that no sub-national in Nigeria will be at risk of a lower VAT revenues post reforms.

?This will go a long way in allaying the fears currently being expressed by some states of the federation.?

Tax system long overdue for reform -Information Minister

Shedding more light on the bills in Kaduna yesterday, Information and National Orientation Minister Mohammed Idris said they could not have come at a better time,? especially as part of a larger set of macroeconomic reforms aimed at setting the country on an irreversible path of growth and development.?

He said the executive arm of government, including President Bola Tinubu, was prepared to listen to and work with all stakeholders to ensure that all concerns on the bills ?are duly and comprehensively addressed.?

?We will continue to ensure open lines of communication and engagement with the National Assembly and all other stakeholders on these taxation bills.

?We are all in this together, as one people, one nation, and just as we are being called upon to make collective sacrifices, we will also collectively reap the abundant social and economic benefits of all of these necessary reforms,? Idris said as chairman at the 2024 Annual Public/AGM and Awards of the Kaduna State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

The minister, who spoke on Tax Reform: The role of Public Relations in fostering constructive dialogue for national economic renaissance said it was ?very inspiring and heartwarming to see Nigerians from all walks of life coming out to express their views and opinions on these matters of critical national importance, as such is the very essence and meaning of democracy.?

Continuing, he said: ?In spite of the challenge of trust deficit that tends to crop up around matters of governance in Nigeria, we have still been able to have what can be adjudged as robust debate on this sensitive issue.

?Even with our keenness for fundamental reform of Nigeria?s governance and fiscal systems, the Tinubu administration will never do anything to undermine the ideals of participatory democracy.

?The current mandate and responsibility that we have for governing and reforming Nigeria at this time came by way of democracy, and we will continue to live up to those very high democratic standards and expectations.

?All over the world, effective taxation is important as a source of financial power for governments to provide social services for their citizens.

?However, there is plenty of reason to believe and assert that Nigeria?s tax administration system has become long overdue for reform, on account of design and implementation flaws as well as the general attitudes of taxpayers toward taxation.

?As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu continues to implement an ambitious fiscal reform agenda that will devolve more resources to Nigeria?s State and Local Governments, and ultimately to the Nigerian people, in the spirit of true federalism, citizen engagement will become ever more critical.

?Society advances by mutually respectful engagements, where we give voice to diverse opinions, and respect those who we disagree with.

?We will certainly not always agree on all issues, perhaps not even on most. But we will always be guided by the fact that the things that unite us ? our common humanity, our nationhood, our sense of patriotism, our collective vision for a Nigeria that works for all ? will always be more important and more meaningful than our differences of age, religion, region, ideology, gender, culture, and social class.?

Also speaking, NIPR President, Dr. Ike Neliaku, spoke of the institute?s support for the expected reality and implementation of the tax reform in the country by using the vocal voices of the institute across the country.

Also, the Lead Discussant, Professor Mustapha Bagudo Muhammad, gave a thorough insight into the numerous advantages of the reform while all the panelists, including Senator Shehu Sani, Prof. Cosmos Eze and Prof. Hauwa?u Evelyn Yusuf, all gave their nod to the proposed tax reform.

Senator Sani in his submission said countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have started taking measures to address their post oil future, adding that tax reform is one of the very important steps for Nigeria and Nigerian economic feature.

Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi and former Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Kaduna State, Dr. John Joseph Hayab, both argued that the tax reform was necessary. They, however, called for more awareness creation and sensitization.

Ex-gov Aliyu: Where critics, govt got it wrong on bills

Dr. Aliyu who governed Niger State between 2007 and 2015 said the federal government was at fault for what he called its poor communication on the bills.

He also lashed out at critics, many of whom he said had not even read the bills before passing judgement on them.

?I was speaking to the NSA when we were in the common room, and I said to him, look, many of the people debating the tax bill have not read it,? he said at graduation ceremony for the Executive Intelligence Management Course 17 at the National Institute for Security Studies in Abuja.

He added: ?But again, there is the problem of communication; the government should speak more when the majority of the people are not literate.

?You should be the first to speak on any major policy, particularly one that will bring changes so that people can understand it. People can know that there is no policy that will come to somebody; if the majority comes and one person is disturbed, you can only tell him. But you cannot say because of one person, the policy cannot be taken. So, communication is very, very important.? (The Nation)