The Government, The Whole Of Nigeria, Needs To Be Reformed, Not Just Taxes – Ndume

Borno South lawmaker, Senator Ali Ndume, has emphasized the need for broader reforms across all levels of government and governance in Nigeria.

Ndume also dismissed suggestions that he is against reforms in the country, emphasizing that the reforms needed in Nigeria are much more than the tax reforms proposed by President Bola Tinubu.

The Senator submitted that the government, the people, the attitude and other areas of national life, all need to be reformed.

Naija News reports Ndume made his views known while speaking during an interview with Arise News published on Friday.

“That is the major problem. You know my grounds with the reforms. Nigeria needs to be reformed, not only the tax.

“The government, the whole country needs to be reformed—not only in terms of governors. In terms of our people, our people’s attitude to governance needs to be changed through national reorientation. So I support reforms, but the timing is important. Where it would start is more important because, to me, the easiest and fastest thing to do is to reform the government,” he said.

Speaking further, Ndume said the spending of the Nigerian government is overbloated and needs to be cut down.

“Government is spending too much money. I once came on this program to complain about personal and overhead costs of government—it is too much. We are not increasing stupendously.

“If you look at that and try to save it, even by half…so far, the spending in personal and recurrent expenditure of 2024, which has already been extended for a capital project—the capital side, we did not achieve up to 20%.

“In November, 28 or at best 30%. That’s a big mis-governance. I have been paid all my salaries and allowances up to November, and so have the officials in government, and we constitute less than 5% of the population,” he said.

The Senator expressed concerns about the implementation of previous budgets at a time the 2025 budget proposal is already in the pipeline.

“The time is out; they are going to bring another budget, and I understand it’s going to run into about 40-50 trillion. Yet we have not achieved up to 30% execution of the 2024 budget. The 2023 budget is still running,” he noted.

On the tax reform bills before the legislators, Ndume said it is wrong to lump bills together and expect them to be fast-tracked into passage.

He also pointed out his reservations about the bills, noting that the timing is wrong, it raises constitutional concerns, issues with VAT increase, and the government’s approach to economic policy.

“The timing is wrong. The time that Nigeria is going through does not warrant talking about any kind of reform that would touch on tax, except if we are going to abolish it.

“The issue of derivation whereby a certain percent of the collection of VAT, especially other taxes, would go 60% according to them and then a certain ratio. That is a big problem because it’s controversial, and it has to do with the constitution because it is contradictory to what they are talking about.

“Even the classification is something that I read, and they were arguing that maybe they need to come and educate me.

“The rate of VAT that they intend to increase gradually.

“What I’m saying is this: the executive should concentrate on raising more revenues, blocking leakages, and not be in a hurry in borrowing.”

He also expressed concerns about the overdevelopment of the government on borrowing from international financial institutions, saying the government needs to focus on better approaches to solving issues of governance.

“What makes me feel bad is the involvement of or dependence on IMF and World Bank on our economic policies. That further enslaves us—it doesn’t work. A treatment that you give an Oyinbo man may not necessarily work for we the black man,” he said.