Governor Seyi Makinde weekend stated that he is not opposed to the controversial Tax Reform Bills by the federal government.
The governor said this in Ibadan while speaking at a media chat on the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) which was relayed on other radio stations across Oyo state.
He stated that he was not opposed to the tax reforms, but that the federal government needed to engage with a wider array of stakeholders to achieve a meaningful reform.
Frowning at his being criticised by a section of the public for opposing the Tax Reform Bills, Governor Makinde said Nigerians should learn to focus on the message rather than the messenger.
“At the level of the National Economic Council, we asked the chairman of the Presidential Task Force a question on the whereabouts of the bill and he said that it was already at the National Assembly. I said if that was the case, why are you just coming here for us to debate and give you the approval as prayed. It amounted to putting the cart before the horse.
“It was an agreement reached unanimously at the NEC meeting; withdraw this bill from the National Assembly, let us have a wider consultation. If people have reservations here and there, it is something that is national and you can seek alignment. And when you align, it may be in the original form, or you may have to tweak it to accommodate whatever the stakeholders are going to say.”
“I was asked to be part of the people that would brief the press, and my bit was to explain our decision on why the bill should be withdrawn so that consultation could happen with stakeholders, but some people just focused on the messenger as opposed to focusing on the message,” he said.
Speaking further, the governor said his administration has remained committed to improving the sector and has been achieving some results, but that it is set to do more to improve the all-important sector.
The governor noted that his administration has consistently exceeded the UNESCO benchmark for budgetary allocation to the education sector because it believed that education should have priority attention.
