The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has faulted Governor Bala Mohammed’s claims that governors are suffering under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG argued that only a lazy and incompetent governor would useTinubu reforms as an excuse for poor performance.
It said: “We have read Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed’s false claims against President Bola Tinubu when he recently received the National Chairman, Council of Ulama Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’ah Wa’Ikamatis Sunnah, Sheikh Sani Jingir in Bauchi, the state capital.
” In the video which is now in the public domain, we saw the governor in hysteria, unconscionably blaming President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies for the supposed hardship in Northern Nigeria
“Without giving any proof, he said that the proposed tax reform would affect the North more than any part of the country.
“Part of his argument, delivered in Hausa, was that the tax reform would amount to tampering with ‘government’ means of revenue.” We find this line of thought absurd and preposterous.
“Surprisingly, the Bauchi governor who had initially expressed misgivings over the proposed VAT reform is still sounding like a broken record but this time code switching awfully between being an activist and anarchist with blunt arguments.
“Governor Mohammed was quoted as saying that the tax reform policy would block revenue sources, thereby jeopardizing governance in states.
“Which governance is the governor talking about? Which revenue is being blocked?
“Is it another state or his Bauchi state which has received humongous billions of naira in increased allocations from the Federation Government for which there was verifiable infrastructure on the ground as proof?
“We wonder which part of states’ revenue sources will Tinubu’s tax reforms block? Is this governor who plays politics with just anything and everything, not the enemy of his people?
“What is he doing with the humongous allocations to Bauchi state while the people are impoverished under the weight of his dismal governance and unnecessary political red herring?”
“Or is he saying that the over 50 multiple taxes that the tax reforms seek to streamline should be retained to further impoverish Nigerians?
“Other than playing to the gallery, what really is the governor up to? What is his real grouse with the tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly, and how will his state’s revenue be affected? We like to know. ”
But more importantly, TMSG tasked Gov. Mohammed to tell Nigerians what he has done with improved humongous allocations to Bauchi state as a result of the economic policies of the Tinubu administration, which has freed up more funds to sub-nationals
“It is common knowledge that Bauchi, like other states, had since Tinubu assumed office in 2023 recorded a quantum leap in monthly allocations from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to the respective states.
“We hereby put it in the record that before President Tinubu assumed office, the highest annual budget of Bauchi state was N213 billion in 2021 while that of 2023 was N202 bn.
“Last year’s budget was, however, N300bn while the state government projects to spend N467bn this year as a result of improved federal allocations. So we wonder why Governor Mohammed will set out to demonize an economic policy that has ensured more public funds for the subnationals.
“We need to also remind him that his first budget upon assuming office in 2020 was N167.2bn before it was modified to N129.8bn as a result of COVID-19.
“But the state’s budget has more than tripled since then, and despite improved allocations, Bauchi still ranks 5th on the list of states with the highest number of out-of-school children. It also tops the ranking of states without Foreign Direct Investments in two years.
“And to worsen matters is the jolting revelation by the National Bureau of Statistics that 73.9% of Bauchi indigenes are reeling in astonishing multidimensional poverty on his watch. But are these governors affecting people’s welfare positively after all that President Tinubu is doing for the Nigerian nation?
“For once, can the Governor reassess his government and see how he’s responsible for the unacceptably low development index in Bauchi state that boasts of the glorious days of Tatari Ali, Adamu Muazu, Isa Yuguda, etc?
“Can someone nudge Bala Mohammed to quit blaming Tinubu’s solutionist economic policies that have put more funds in the coffers of state governments
END.
