The controversial Value Added Tax, VAT, bill has been passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly Thursday, 9 September 2021.
In doing that, Lagos has followed the footstep of Rivers State which got a Court ruling that VAT should be retained by the State Government, and not be remitted to the Federation account through the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.
While FIRS’s attempt to stay execution on the judgment was thrown away by a Court of competent jurisdiction, the Northern elites appear to be uncomfortable with the court decision.
While Katsina State Governor said he would go to Court over it, his Gombe State counterpart appealed to his Rivers and Lagos colleagues to “be your brother’s keeper” and allow VAT to be federally shared.
But Nyesom Wike, Rivers State Governor, has insisted that it is wrong to use VAT from Rivers to support States that destroy cartons of beer in their thousands.
Also passed by the Lagos State Assembly is the Anti- Open Grazing bill, a bill that has pitched the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, against the Southern Governors’ forum.
The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, after the bill was passed, directed the Acting Clerk, Olalekan Onafeko, to send a copy to Governor Sanwo-Olu for signing into Law.
Both bills were passed via a unanimous vote by the lawmakers after the bill passed the third reading.
“I Thank you all for this historic exercise,” speaker Obasa said.
The House held separate public hearings on the bills Wednesday.
