The Northern Governors’ Forum, chaired by Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, is billed to meet today (Monday) in Kaduna to brainstorm on issues relating to the Value Added Tax.
The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufa, will host the emergency meeting to be presided over by lalong.
The Coordinator of the NGF Secretariat and Secretary to the Plateau State Government, Prof. Danladi Atu, confirmed the scheduled meeting in an interview with The PUNCH in Jos, on Sunday.
The issue of VAT has been generating heated arguments following a judgment, last month, by the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The court held that the power to collect VAT was within the jurisdiction of the state.
However, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had said that no state had the power to lay claim to the collection of VAT in the country, a position which some senior lawyers criticized.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service challenged the judgment at the Court of Appeal and the court ordered the parties in the suit to maintain status quo pending the determination of the appeal.
Malami was quoted as saying, on Friday, that collection of VAT in the country was on the exclusive legislative list, adding that only the National Assembly had the power to make laws on it.
“The issue of the Value Added Tax is an issue on the exclusive legislative list. And, the implication of being on exclusive legislative list matter is that only the National Assembly can legislate on it. The question that you may, perhaps, wish to address your mind on is whether there exists any national legislation that has conferred the power on the state to collect VAT. And my answer is no.”
Mike Ozekhome, SAN, said that Malami was ‘dead wrong,’ noting that contrary to his claim, VAT was in the residual list, hence, strictly within the purview of state governments.
Ozekhome said, “There is nowhere VAT is reflected as a matter within the exclusive or concurrent list in the constitution of Nigeria. If anything, it is residual and is strictly within the purview of state government in our federal set-up.”
