‘Lagos will implement Value Added Tax law despite court order’

• Presidential aide claims argument on tax politicised
• DAWN urges FG, states to agree on equitable collection
A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Setonji David, has said that the state would go ahead with the implementation of its recently assented Value Added Tax (VAT) law despite a stay of execution by the Appeal Court in Abuja.

The lawmaker, who represents Badagry II Constituency in the House, stated this, yesterday, when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme, tagged: “VAT collection dispute,” adding that the enactment of the VAT law followed due process.

He said Lagos had always clamoured for true federalism and would continue the implementation of the VAT law pending any order by the Appeal Court ruling otherwise.

MEANWHILE, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale, has alleged that arguments against VAT collection had been heavily politicised ahead of the next elections.

Ajuri, who said this when he also appeared as a guest on the breakfast programme, complained about “some of the utterances, unfortunately, that have come from Rivers State along ethnic lines and political posturing ahead of the next election.”

He said the Federal Government makes contributions to the generation of VAT in the country, adding that Rivers, Lagos and other states do not generate VAT by themselves.

HOWEVER, the Director-General of Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Mr. Seye Oyeleye, yesterday, urged the Federal Government and states to sit down and find an agreeable and equitable means of collecting and sharing VAT.

Oyeleye, who stated this while speaking with The Guardian in Ibadan, lauded Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State for taking such a bold step to challenge the 1999 Constitution. The DG said the Federal Government alone cannot be collecting VAT.