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Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Saturday disclosed that he openly criticised the original Value Added Tax component of President Bola Tinubu’s tax reform, warning that pushing the proposed increase through at a time of high inflation would have hurt ordinary Nigerians.

Sule made the disclosure while receiving the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and the Renewed Hope Ambassadors National Media Tour team at the Nasarawa State Government House in Lafia, on the second leg of a nationwide inspection of federal and state infrastructure projects that had earlier taken the delegation through Benue State.

Sule said the President listened to the concerns of governors like him and ultimately revised the changes to the Tax Bill.

He stated, “I don’t praise-sing. When the president was misled about taxes, I criticised the matter openly. People misunderstood the matter, and when we visited the President, he said, ‘Sule, go and meet Zacch Adedeji and the current Minister of Finance [Taiwo Oyedele]. If you make the changes, if they agree, it’s okay.

“I said, ‘Mr President, that’s what we wanted from you.’ Governors were pushing me that I was the one to talk, and I spoke. And when we went, we made the changes.”

Sule explained the reasons behind his objection, tying it to the inflationary environment at the time the reform was first proposed.

“We made the changes because as at January 1, 2025, VAT would have been 10 per cent at the time. Inflation was about 30 per cent. Today, inflation is now getting to single-digit numbers. So now you can afford to charge more.

“I come from the business angle; I cannot allow our party to make a mistake. And luckily for us, we have a president who listens. He listened.

“We made the changes. They are positive, and it is bringing money to states; this has made the President look good,” he said.

Sule said he was willing to challenge the President publicly as consistent with a broader philosophy of honest engagement rather than blind loyalty.

“There is a way that you have to be able to find a way to commend your leaders when they do right. But it goes both ways,” he told the Presidential Communications Team, urging them to also scrutinise governors whose infrastructure did not match the resources they were receiving.

“The governors should be concerned about these trips that you are making, because it is time now to be accountable,” he added.

Sule also disclosed that the state’s monthly federal allocation surged from an average of N3.8bn to N4.5bn before the removal of fuel subsidy, to between N14bn and N16bn today.

He credited President Tinubu’s economic reforms for freeing up resources previously consumed by subsidy payments across all tiers of government.

The ex-Dangote Sugar Refinery executive explained, “In the first four years, everybody knows Nigeria was sharing anywhere between N590bn to about N620bn monthly as total FAAC allocation.”

“For Nasarawa State, what we were getting was anywhere between N3.8bn and N4.5bn for the state. With the removal of subsidy today, Nasarawa State is receiving an average of N14bn to N16bn every month,” he added, saying Tinubu “took the bullet” for state governments by freeing up resources previously consumed by subsidy payments.

Sule further stated, “Today, I can tell you we have spent about N90bn on infrastructure without borrowing one naira from the bank, and most of it has already been paid off.

He listed state projects executed, including a combined overhead and underground flyover built for N16.7bn, the dualisation of Akwanga Township at N7.1bn, an Akwanga underpass at N6.6bn, the dualisation of Shendam Road at N5.6bn, a stormwater channel at Amba Bridge at N3.3bn, and the Keffi flyover built for N11.4bn.

On lithium, Sule said Nasarawa now hosts what he described as Africa’s largest lithium mining and processing facility.

He attributed this to a federal policy requiring miners to process minerals locally rather than export them raw.

“You cannot take away the credit from this administration,” he said, highlighting the state’s vocational skills centres which offer training in 12 trades and a post-retirement skills programme, alongside new tertiary healthcare facilities established across all three senatorial zones of the state, including a specialist hospital under construction in Akwanga.

Responding, Onanuga said the tour was designed to independently verify claims of development rather than rely solely on official reports.

“We want to verify federal projects, verify state projects, so that people can know that the reports are not just a waste of time, but were done in good faith to really develop our country,” he said.

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Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have arrested three more people suspected to be members of the kidnapping ring that abducted the Dean of Agriculture, Nasarawa State University, Samuel Okunsebor.

The university professor was rescued by DSS operatives two days after some gunmen kidnapped him in the wee hours of Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at Mile Uku, a border community between Lafia and Nasarawa-Eggon LGAs.

Two suspects, including a lady, were arrested by the DSS at the time.

A security source disclosed that DSS operatives arrested the three other members of the kidnapping gang on Friday night at a local brothel on the Mararraban Akunza, Lafia – Makurdi highway.

“The suspects were identified as 25-year-old Yakubu Abubakar (aka Black/Starboy), of the Doemak tribe in Plateau State; 37-year-old Usman Abubakar Mairiga, and 27-year-old Sale Babauro Abubakar. Mairiga and Abubakar are Hausa and Fulani, respectively, the source added.

The source also disclosed that the suspects are in the custody of the state command for further investigations.

The move, he added, followed a valid detention warrant from a magistrate’s court.

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Nigeria may be excluded from a new $1.4 billion U.S health and humanitarian assistance package announced earlier this week if the Federal Government fails to take measurable actions to address violence against Christians, according to terms contained in a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding signed by both countries.

The MOU, signed on December 20, 2025 between the U.S Department of State and the Nigerian government under the America First Global Health Strategy, AFGHS, commits Washington to nearly $2.1 billion over five years to expand preventative and curative services for HIV, TB, malaria, maternal and child health and polio.

Under the MoU, Nigeria is also expected to increase its domestic health spending by nearly $3 billion during the term, an expenditure that has been described as the largest co-investment under AFGHS.

A significant portion of the U.S funding is earmarked for Nigeria’s 900 faith-based clinics and hospitals, which currently serve more than 30 percent of Nigerians.

However, the deal contains strict conditions. The MOU states that the agreement was “negotiated in connection with reforms the Nigerian government has made to prioritize protecting Christian populations from violence” and includes “significant dedicated funding” for Christian health facilities.

Crucially, it adds: “As with all foreign assistance, the President and Secretary of State retain the right to pause or terminate any programme which do not align with the national interest, and the Trump administration expects Nigeria to continue to make progress ensuring that it combats extremist religious violence against vulnerable Christian populations.”

The conditionality was reinforced by the U.S House of Representatives, which recently voted to tie Nigeria’s aid to verifiable steps on tackling Christian persecution.

The bill passed last month by the House of Rep tasked Abuja with taking concrete actions to ensure the return of internally displaced persons to their ancestral homes and ensuring protection for persecuted Christians in the Middle Belt region among others.

Meanwhile, in the fresh aid approved by Washington under its AFGHS, the U.S set aside $1.4 billion to support integrated health services through faith and community-based hospitals and clinics in more than 20 countries.

Out of it, $850 million will go through a Faith and Community Initiative Award to World Vision and local faith-based implementers to strengthen over 2,500 faith-based hospitals and clinics across 17 countries with more than 30,000 community health workers trained, paid, and equipped.
An additional $570 million will be channelled directly to faith-based and community hospitals through bilateral MOUs with governments, including Nigeria.

In humanitarian assistance, the State Department also announced $538 million for Samaritan’s Purse and a World Vision–Compassion International consortium to reach 7 million people across 16 humanitarian crises. Over $100 million will be made immediately available for disaster response in 23 disaster-prone countries.

The State Department said the combined $1.4 billion health announcement is the largest to faith-based organisations in over 20 years, with at least 80 percent of resources required to go directly to frontline services.

For Nigeria, the MOU specifically emphasised support for Christian faith-based health care providers, which are described in the agreement as “uniquely positioned” to complement public facilities.

With the U.S shifting more resources to faith-based delivery where such providers account for 40 per cent or more of health facilities in many aid-recipient countries, Nigeria’s access to the new funding will depend on how Abuja addresses concerns raised in Washington.

The State Department said partners like Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision and Compassion International were chosen for their record of rapid deployment in conflict zones and disaster areas without bureaucratic delay.