By GARBA MUHAMMAD, Kaduna

A northern good governance advocacy group, Northern Star Youth Empowerment Initiative, has called on President Bola Tinubu to have a listening ear and immediately withdraw the Tax Reform Bill and allow for more thorough scrutiny and wider consultations before it is reintroduced to the National Assembly for passage into law.

Northern Star Youth Empowerment Initiative is a non-political, non-tribal and non-religious youth movement that aims at uniting and protecting the interests of the North. It Is a pressure group that promotes good governance, unity, progress and development of northern Nigeria.

In a statement issued to journalists Wednesday, December 18h, 2024 in Kaduna, Director General of the Group Dr Abdullahi Idris, said having studied the controversial bill thoroughly, his Group has come to the conclusion that though there are aspect of it that may be beneficial, sections especially those that deal with the distribution of VAT revenue are unfair and will lead to economic adversity for the North.

While wondering why there was no enough consultations before the bill was presented to the National Assembly, Dr Idris called on members of the National Assembly especially those from the north not to endorse it lest they incur the wrath of their people.

“We are calling on the Tinubu administration to withdraw it with immediate effect”, he said.

He recalled that the bill was presented for passage into law at its current form against the advice of many well-meaning Nigerians, including the National Economic Council, because of its potential to benefit some sections of the country at the detriment of other sections.”