Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has criticized the Tax Reform Bills introduced by President Bola Tinubu, describing them as anti-people.

Galadima acknowledged that while the bills may not be entirely flawed, their provisions, such as the increase in value-added tax (VAT), are likely to worsen the hardships faced by ordinary Nigerians.

He stated that this is a key reason why the bills are facing strong opposition in the North.

In an interview with Vanguard published on Sunday, Galadima expressed frustration that some Nigerians who would be adversely affected by the reforms are still supporting the President’s decision. He described this as the most troubling aspect of the situation.

“It is not about the business community because they don’t lose anything. And, it’s not all the bills that are bad, but the major issues is that the bills are anti-people, because when you increase VAT by 1%, the cost of things will skyrocket and it’s the ordinary man who has no capacity to even feed himself that will suffer most. The business man, each time you add whatever, he will also add it to the cost of his goods. He doesn’t need to complain. What pains me is that some Nigerians, even though it hurts them, they will say “yes, we support the president because Mr A is the one that is opposing him”. We are a country, we should talk for the good of everybody and not because Mr A is opposed to something I have to like it or not. That’s not how to build a nation,” he submitted.