Harvard alumnus seeks consultation on tax reform

Lauds Tinubu over revived refineries
Harvard University alumnus and prominent member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Abdullahi Hashim, has called on President Bola Tinubu to consult widely on the controversial tax reform bills.

Lauding the President over the successful reactivation of the Port Harcourt Refinery and Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Plant, he noted that Tinubu demonstrated his capacity to change the narrative in the production of petroleum products for domestic use and export.

Hashim stated, yesterday, that with the combined production of petroleum products from Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, the country would be able to free up its foreign spending on importation of petrol and shore up the value of naira.

The member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and a Fellow of the College of Diplomacy and International Relations (FCDIR),

According to him, there is the need to commend Tinubu in ensuring the successful reactivation of the two refineries, saying that it was on record that past governments since 1999 were unable to achieve the feat.

Hashim, who is also a member of the Nigerian Institute of Civil Engineers (NICE), said Tinubu’s positive action in the petroleum industry would encourage the country’s refining and development of the petrochemical industry in the country rather than exporting huge capacity of crude produced.

He said, “It is important to commend Tinubu in ensuring that two of the four refineries began operations within his first 18 months in office. This is salutary and cheering news. This is no mean feat, as Port Harcourt and Warri refineries had been laid prostate since 1999 by previous administrations, while millions of dollars were spent on suspicious Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) that never turned anything around but only left Nigerians more hopeless.”

Calling for more consultations on the new tax reforms bill before the National Assembly, he said there was the need for understanding from the stakeholders to arrive at a consensus on the bill.

He said: “The new tax reform bill has sparked a very heated debate across the country. The division cuts across the regional lines. Thus, the North is against it while the South, specifically Lagos, is in support.”