The Court of Appeal has turned down the request of Rivers and Lagos States to appoint receiver or manager for the purpose of collecting and keeping Value Added Taxes (VAT) in place of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) pending the resolution of all legal disputes in the matter.
The two states separately canvassed that the order of status quo ante granted on September 10 in favour of FIRS to continue the collection be put on hold given the appeal already lodged at the Supreme Court against the order.
In his oral application,counsel to Rivers State, Ifedayo Adedipe, SAN,prayed the appellate body to exercise its power under Order 4 Rule 6 of the Court of Appeal to appoint a receiver or manager to take custody of the VAT in the interest of justice to parties in the matter.
Attorney General of Lagos, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo SAN who stood for his state supported the position of Rivers and prayed the upper court to bar FIRS from further collecting the tax and replace it with a receiver or manager that will act for parties that are locked in the legal battle.
The Lagos Attorney General predicated his expressed fear of unjust treatment on the fact that FIRS apart from collecting the tax has been sharing it among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory FCT despite the pendency of the legal tussle.
However, the Presiding Justice, Hamma Simon Tsanami asked the two states to make their request formal by puting it in writing.
Meanwhile, the Court has reserved ruling in an application by Lagos State to make it a respondent in the appeal filed by FIRS against a judgement granted in favour of Rivers State by a federal high court in Port Harcourt.
Onigbanjo who moved the application argued that Lagos has vested interest in the Value Added Taxes collection and that the decision of the Court would affect it when delivered.
The Attorney General informed the 3-man panel of Justices that FIRS in its appeal against the federal high judgment made some allegations against it and that it would be in the interest of justice for it to be allowed to join in the appeal to ventilate its defence.
“From the contents of the appellants’ affidavit, Lagos has been made a necessary party in the appeal by some references to it and for it to be bound by the final decision, it is in the interest that it should be allowed to make a defence to allegations against it”
FIRS as the appellant through its counsel, Mahmoud Magaji SAN vehemently opposed the Lagos request to join the suit, adding that the state has not shown how its interest would be jeopardized if not allowed in the matter.
Meanwhile, eight of 10 residents of Lagos State have supported the recently signed Lagos State Value Added Tax Law and Anti-Open-Grazing Law.
This was established through a new poll conducted by FREDDAN Continental Services, a Public Relations and ICT Consultancy Firm, based in Lagos.
According to a statement signed by Mr. Olufemi Lawson, the Executive Director of FREDDAN, and made available to newsmen on Thursday, the poll showed that the people of the state believed the domestication of the collection of VAT by the state government would improve the economic strength of the state to develop all sectors and enhance the people’s living standard.
The poll, which was supervised by the organization’s team made up of experienced development experts, media entrepreneurs and data analysts, focused on the prevailing subject of discourse among the citizenry, particularly Lagosians, on the largest contributors to the VAT regime in the country.
Besides,the poll through the data generated from the statewide survey showed concerns over the menace of farmers/herders conflicts, occasioned by the unpopular uncontrolled open grazing of cattle across the natiom.
According to the statement, FREDDAN SMS poll was conducted on Sunday through Wednesday, and no fewer than fifty thousand residents were contacted.
The poll according to the firm, found no significant differences between respondents whom have mainly subscribed to participate, before and after the eventual outcome.
The poll requested respondents if they were in support or not of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu proposed bill on VAT and anti-open-grazing recently presented to the Lagos State House of Assembly.
