VAT: Gov Yahaya Bello Turns His Back On Rivers, Lagos

Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, who is also fancied as possible candidates for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 Elections, has turned his back on the governors of Rivers and Lagos states in their clamour for the retention of value added tax (VAT) in states.

This is the position expressed by the state Commissioner of Information Kingsley Fanwo who appearance as a guest on Arise Television on Friday.

Fanwo said despite the advantages Kogi had on VAT, Governor Yahaya Bello was against it because the potentials of states across the country were not equal.

“The position of governor Yahaya Bello on this is very clear: we will not jump on that bandwagon to call for the retention of VAT completely in the state.

“We are not created equally, and God that created us did not give us equal potentials, and we have to support one another,” he said.

“Kogi is bordered by about 10 states of the federation and a gateway to the north, south, to everywhere. And you know that thousands of vehicles transverse the state on a daily basis.

“It’s the mineral capital of Nigeria. When you look at our advantages, we should even be at the forefront of fighting for VAT to be completely retained in the state,” he said

The Commissioner advised states that were already thinking of throwing their weights behind Rivers and Lagos State to have a rethink and place the interest of the nation above themselves.

RovingNaija recalls that the controversy over the VAT was kindled when a Port Harcourt Federal High Court, held last month that the Rivers State government had the powers to collect VAT within its territory.

The judgement has since pitched the Rivers State Government against the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), who has appealed the judgement at the Court of Appeal.

Consequently, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who is in the forefront of the campaign for fiscal federalism took to various media fora to denounce the lopsided nature of the sharing formular adopted on VAT collected from the states by the Federal Government.

While the controversy raged, the Lagos State House of Assembly, on Thursday, empowered the state government to also commence the  collection of VAT in Lagos.