Senator Kola Bajomo who represented Ogun West at the Nigerian senate between 2007 and 2011 speaks with OLUFEMI ADEDIRAN on the tax reform bills, and how Ogun West could produce a governor in 2027

As a former National Assembly member and an experienced tax expert, do you think the tax reform bills are the right approach to addressing Nigeria’s revenue challenges?

Tax matters should be subjected to reforms from time to time. However, they must be progressive and not punitive to the disadvantaged people. The tax reforms will create the need for various sectors of the economy to be more productive; for them to earn a tax return commensurate with the economic positions of various organisations or settings in that particular region. I know some sections of the country oppose the tax reform, but I know it will be sorted out in the arena of politics. If a situation where in the past, you sit down and earn from where you don’t deserve, is going to be looked into and more rationalised, so be it. If Nigeria is run on a federal system, it will create opportunities for competition among the federating units, and that is the way it should be.

Nigeria is currently facing significant economic challenges. In the face of this hardship, many Nigerians have continued to call for the cutback of legislators’ allowances. What do you think about this?

In an economic setting like ours, whatever sacrifices can be made in terms of rationalisation of expenditure is appropriate. If an organisation is facing some challenges, you look at your sales, revenue, and expenses. If you are struggling to improve your revenue but fail to contain your expenses, you are not doing justice to the well-being of the organisation. The two must go hand-in-hand. However, this should not be focused only on the legislators, all hands must be on deck as far as that aspect is concerned. But while that is desirable in terms of rationalising expenses as it affects everybody, including legislators, the real problem of this country is corruption. Corruption is the monster eating into us very negatively. If we can successfully handle that, then issues of earnings will be a secondary matter. Corruption cuts across all aspects of our economy. Are the executive, legislature, and private sector, immune to this? Are they not part of it? Many organisations have become moribund because of corruption.

Corruption is an issue that affects every one of us, and there must be reorientation as far as our values calling are concerned. Our values must be addressed from the primary school level point of view – from the way and manner we train our children in our various homes, to our religious inclination, training and upbringing; these are the factors that can shape our attention to curb the cankerworm of corruption.

You were in the banking and finance sector, what motivated your transition from the private sector to politics?

My career has not changed at all; I’m still practising as a chartered accountant. I’m still involved in accounting. I advise investors in the capital market. Politics was a digression, and it’s about time that people of our kind of calling continued to take an interest in politics. It is good for the country, particularly if you will bring the moral aspect of your upbringing to bear in political ventures because that is not quite present these days, and that should bring about a change. The only way it can change is for other people who are running away from politics because they consider it a dirty game to stop distancing themselves from politics. You have to be inside the politics to be able to effect some kind of change which will not come overnight. It is going to be a gradual process; it is a work in progress. No nation was built overnight.

Look at the kind of politicians we have in other countries; in United Kingdom, you talk of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Macmillan, Gladstone, Margaret Thatcher, etc, they are all products of Cambridge, Oxford and some other well-meaning universities. But that does not mean first degree in Oxford and Cambridge will make you a better politician. However, the fact that your calling was solid, not only educationally, but also morally, will influence your political ventures and activities. These people that I have mentioned all have their shortcomings, but at the end of the day, they are people of good reference.

In a country like Nigeria, we cannot continue to fold our arms and allow Nigeria to regress rather than progress




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