Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has called on the north not to condemn President Bola Tinubu’s tax reform bills.

He urged them to reconsider their stance, citing the creation of the livestock ministry, which has boosted several businesses since its emergence.

According to Dogara, no northern leader has done what Tinubu has done for the north.

The tax reform bills have been under scrutiny by the National Assembly, with the north rejecting the bill and stating that it will impose a huge amount of inconvenience on the northern region.

Reports indicate that the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF), representing 19 states, amplified these concerns after consultations with the Northern Traditional Rulers Council, calling for a thorough review of the bills.

During a Channels Television town hall meeting on the reforms, Dogara appealed to northern governors and elites to adopt a forward-looking perspective, highlighting the potential long-term advantages of the proposed changes.

“I want to talk to my brothers in the North,” Dogara said. “I don’t think this is the time for us to begin to condemn the president and to begin to say that on account of these bills, he is anti-north. I want to remind us that the president has done something significant.

“If he can pursue this to the end, it would be that there is no northern leader of my lifetime that has done what the president has done for the North. And I will tell you what he has achieved—the creation of the livestock ministry. There is a global business around that.

“The global market size of dairies and beef in the next three years will rise to about $2.5 trillion. You can Google it. So if in the North, we are able to organize ourselves in such a way that we can corner just 5%, just 5% of this global market size of dairies and beef, I tell you that gives us $250 billion.

“We don’t need VAT from any state in Nigeria to survive. The North can survive on its own. We are the most endowed part of Nigeria.”