Youths from Northern Nigeria have expressed outrage towards Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, for his perceived anti-north stance on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s tax reform bills.
Mohammed Idris and Abdulhafiz Garba, President and Secretary of the Northern Youth Assembly, made their dissatisfaction known in an open letter.
The Northern Youths noted that Jibrin’s support for the bills is insensitive to the region’s economic plight.
They argued that the bills, in their current form, would disproportionately affect the economic livelihoods of Northern Nigerians, exacerbating the region’s economic disadvantage.
The controversy surrounding the tax reform bills has been ongoing since early October 2024, with widespread rejection from Northern Nigerian elites, including the Northern Governors Forum and the Northern Elders Forum.
Tinubu, despite this, has insisted on the passage of the bills, with some economic experts and politicians, like Shehu Sani, backing the bills as a means to boost Nigeria’s revenue, which has further divided the north.