People Curse Me And My Family Over Tax Reform Bills – Taiwo Oyedele

The chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed that Nigerians who were incensed about the proposed tax reform laws had cursed him and his family.

When a technical committee appointed by the League of Northern Democrats (LND) to examine the controversial laws presented its report on Thursday, December 19, in Abuja, Oyedele insisted that the criticism would not stop him from fulfilling his public service obligation.

“Even on social media, you need to see the number of people cursing me and my family. I don’t take it personally. I just go through and say is there any useful comment that we can work on? We pick it and we work on it. It’s public service. You’re not meant to be appreciated and praised every time. It doesn’t happen anywhere in the world,” Oyedele stated.

The tax reform legislation have provoked passionate debate throughout Nigeria, with strong resistance emanating from the North. Some governors and regional leaders contended that the reforms are slanted to benefit Lagos State and other privileged interests while disadvantageously affecting the North. The dispute even resulted in open confrontations in the National Assembly.

Oyedele addressed these issues by emphasizing the independence and inclusivity of his committee’s activities.

“Public service is public service. You are accountable to the people and you must take that very seriously. So our approach to this is that some Nigerians were asked to do this for our country and I had the privilege of leading that team and we did our best but we’re not in any way suggesting that our best is the best for Nigeria.

“You cannot have more than 200 million people and you then assume that about 100 people are the smartest. You know that that would be arrogance at a different level. So this engagement helped us to even improve the quality of what we have done,” he explained.

He also promised that no outside parties or persons had any influence on the proposals, which were the result of intense discussions inside the group.

“I’ve said this in a number of fora and I’ll say it again. There’s not a single person in the world, not World Bank, not IMF, not United Nations, not Mr President, not any governor, not any minister, past or present, not president, past or present, no one dictated anything to us. Every single thing you see in all those bills were the outcome of debates by the committee that is representative nationally,” Oyedele said.

The chairman acknowledged that no law is flawless and reaffirmed the importance of continued involvement even after the measures are signed into law.

“So, I’m eagerly looking forward to the outcome of this event today and I can give you one assurance. Every single point you send to us will be carefully considered and we’ll get back to you with our own explanations. So once we have superior reasoning and superior arguments, we bow to it very quickly because we have no agenda other than the agenda for Nigeria,” he added.

Oyedele’s statements emphasized his commitment to transparency and ongoing conversation, even as he confronts criticism for the contentious measures.