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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Dr Salihu Moh Lukman, has described as cheap politics, the current controversy trailing the demand by states to collect Value Added Tax (VAT).
He further argued that should Lagos and Rivers win the fight to collect VAT in their states without sharing with the Federal Government and other states, some states like Osun, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Abia, would lose while others like Oyo, Ogun, Kano, Kaduna and Enugu, may be the surprise actual gainers.
In a statement he issued in Abuja on Friday, the PGF DG hinged the increase in the agitations for states to collect VAT on the spiral increase in the collection of the tax.
He stressed that the agitations would not have been possible under the administration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because of the inefficiency and corruption in the process of collection and management of VAT.
Writing under the title; “Retrogressive politics of VAT in Nigeria’, he noted: “As members of APC, it is important that the governors are reminded that the current increased record of VAT collection in the country is made possible only because the PDP is no longer in power.”
“If PDP were to be in power, the fact of inefficiency and corruption in the process of collection and management of VAT would have continued and the amount collected would have remained relatively low.
On the states that will be the worst hit, he said: “In the same way Rivers and Lagos imagined that they would have more revenue if they were allowed to collect VAT and therefore control everything, they collected without sharing with the Federal Government and other states, states like Osun, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Abia, would lose. On the other hand, Oyo, Ogun, Kano, Kaduna and Enugu, may be the surprise actual gainers,” the statement read.
Defending the increase in collection responsible for the agitations, Lukman said: “That Nigerians are debating whether it is states or federal government that should collect VAT signify some progress, which has to do with the fact that there is an increase in what is being generated from VAT. For instance, in 2015, the total amount collected was N759.43 billion. Between 2016 to 2020, there was consistently increase in the amount collected respectively to N777.51 billion, N972.35 billion, N1.11 trillion, N1.17 trillion and N1.531 trillion.
“Everything considered, under the APC-led federal government of President Buhari, VAT collection increased from N759.43 billion in 2015 to N1.531 trillion in 2020, an increase of more than hundred percent.”
