Northern Elders Split As Concerned Group Backs Tinubu’s Tax Reforms
Amid growing political tension over Nigeria’s fiscal direction, a faction of northern leaders has broken ranks, declaring that resistance to tax reforms risks dragging the region, and the country, backwards.
The Concerned Northern Elders Forum has rejected recent statements attributed to the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) criticising the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), insisting the position does not reflect the true aspirations of the North.
In a statement signed on Tuesday by Dr Nasir Manguno, the group accused the NEF of abandoning elder statesmanship for what it described as political grievances and sponsored opposition narratives.
It warned that silence in the face of “calculated distortion” would amount to complicity.
The elders threw their weight behind the Executive Chairman of the FIRS, praising his leadership for boosting non-oil revenue, blocking historic leakages and deploying technology to improve transparency and accountability.
They said the agency’s consistent over-performance of revenue targets shows what is possible when competence replaces complacency.
Backing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic reforms, the group said the administration inherited an economy weakened by subsidy dependency and selective compliance.
It commended the President for pursuing difficult but necessary reforms, stressing that revenue reform is central to nation-building and not punitive.
The forum also supported the FIRS’ inter-agency collaboration framework, arguing that policies promoting transparency and efficient revenue collection serve both northern and national interests.
Warning against what it called the “politics of sabotage”, the elders said attempts to weaponise the North against reform would fail, insisting the region’s real priorities remain jobs, infrastructure, education and accountability.
“The North is not against reform. The North is against failure,” the statement concluded.
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