Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has reacted to the retainment of Value Added Tax (VAT) on the concurrent list by the National Assembly (NASS), as he described it as a win for all.
BizWatch Nigeria reported that on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, NASS rejected a proposal seeking to shift the collection of VAT in Nigeria from the concurrent to the exclusive legislative list.
NASS voted on 68 amendments recommended by the Joint Senate and House of Representatives’ Special Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution. In the process, the Bill for an Act to Alter Part I of the Second Schedule to the Constitution, which would see the inclusion of VAT in Nigeria on the exclusive legislative list, failed to be adopted.
The adoption failed due to the fact that the Bill did not meet the minimum 73 votes.
Reacting to this development, Sanwo-Olu, who had joined Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, in a suit challenging the Federal Government on the collection of VAT, as they both maintained that it is only the jurisdiction of state governments.
Speaking on behalf of Sanwo-Olu, the Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotosho said NASS deserves commendation, adding that any decision like that of the VAT that would promote federalism should be encouraged.
His words: “I think the lawmakers have done well. If they have said now that the states have the right to collect VAT, it is good because that has been the question that the judiciary has been asked to answer, and if the Lagos State Government and some other state governments are pushing for this, at the National Assembly it is wisdom.
“It is the right way to go. I think they deserve kudos; they deserve applause because, in my own view, it is a ‘no victor, no vanquished’ situation. It is good for democracy. It is a victory for the rule of law. It is a victory for equity, for justice. It is a victory for what is right as against what is not right.”
