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VAT: Kogi opposes Rivers, Lagos on right to consumption tax

The Kogi State government, yesterday, distanced itself from the current move by the governments of Rivers and Lagos States to wrestle with the Federal Government over rights to collect the Value Added Tax (VAT) in their respective states.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State recently signed into law the Rivers State VAT Law following a court declaration that the states and not the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had legal rights over consumption tax collected on the states of the federation. Governor Babajide Sanwo -Olu of Lagos State had equally followed the same steps even as the FIRS has gone to the Court of Appeal to stop them. However, the Commissioner of Information in Kogi State, Kingsley Fanwo, in an interview with Arise TV on Friday ruled out the possibility of his state joining the bandwagon to challenge the FIRS over the said tax. Fanwo described the move by both Lagos and Rivers as insensitive, self-centred and and an attempt to make policies that will further divide the country.

“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.

“When you look at the development of the South-West in those days — the cocoa house — and the groundnut pyramids in the north, the whole of Nigeria is reaping the benefit till today. And what we need to do at this material time as leaders is to stop thinking about ourselves alone. “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.

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