Tax reforms: Build trust, allay fears, demystify North-South dichotomy before reform- MURIC
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has advised the presidency to consult widely, build trust, allay fears and demystify the North-South dichotomy on the controversial tax bills.
Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the Founder/Executive Director, MURIC, stated this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
“The Nigerian Senate has been widely reported as halting further debates on the tax reform bill due to the huge controversy it has generated.
“In view of this development, we would like to advice the presidency to devote more time to robust consultation, to build trust across the divides, allay fears in all sectors and demystify the North-South dichotomy before reintroducing the bills. We cannot afford to destroy within days what took a whole century to build. Neither should the presidency remove the same ladder used by it to access Aso Rock’s hilly terrain when it has not even reached halfway yet and it will still need same ladder to reach the very top.
“The group also debunked a statement credited to its Executive Director in which he was quoted as saying that Islamic scholars should not comment on the tax reform. MURIC said such a statement did not emanate from its office.
“Rather, what the Executive Director said in an interview that lasted less than two minutes was that he would not personally want to go into the nitty-gritties of the tax reform but he would leave those details to financial experts and tax gurus. He said nothing about other Islamic scholars and he did not say such scholars should not speak on the matter. We advise journalists to desist from twisting words to suit their whims and caprices,” Akintola said.
