Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has urged the National Assembly to add value-added tax (VAT) on the Exclusive List in order to make the Federal Government have legislative control over 7.5% consumption tax paid when goods are purchased and services are rendered.
El-Rufai stated this on Monday in Abuja at the second edition of the ‘Distinguished Parliamentarian Lecture’ organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies.
For him, VAT is a major survival for the country’s economy especially now that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has not remitted a penny into the federation account this year.
“Value Added Tax has become a major source of survival for this country because this year, the NNPC has not brought a penny to the federation account; we’ve been relying on taxes, particularly Value Added Tax and the fact that Value Added Tax is not on the exclusive list is a major source of concern for the fiscal health of the federation and I think this National Assembly can do something about in its last six months,” the governor said at the event.
He also urged the National Assembly to make state and community policing to solve Nigeria’s multifarious security challenges.
“We are all clear now that the current policing system is broken and cannot work for Nigeria and Nigeria is the only federation in the world with one centralised policing system. I think this National Assembly can enact state policing,” he stated.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila were some of the dignitaries in attendance at the programme.
Recall that in March, the National Assembly rejected a bill seeking to include VAT in the Exclusive List. The move followed a protracted legal tussle between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Rivers State Government over VAT collection and personal income tax (PIT) in the state.
Last year, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers signed a bill on VAT collection into law, lamenting what he called injustice in the country especially in the area of resource allocation.
Wike said Rivers State generated N15billion VAT revenue in June 2021 but got N4.7billion in return, while Kano generated N2.8bn in the same month and got the same N2.8bn back.
The Rivers governor also said N46.4billion was collected from Lagos State in the same month but the Federal Government gave Lagos N9.3billion. “Sometimes, you don’t want to believe these things exist,” he had said.
The case has been in court for over a year with no end in sight.