Presidency has denied shortchanging the South for North.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Presidency has faulted the position of the governor of River State, Southern Nigeria, Nyesom Wike, that the federal government was taking Value Added Tax (VAT) from the South to service states in the North.
The President’s Special Assistance on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale, stated this on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily
He said the bulk of VAT income was generated by the federal government.
According to Ngelale, the highest percentage of VAT comes from the Port owned by the federal government, irrespective of the fact that they are located in the Southern part of Nigeria.
He also argued that the federal government’s contracts awarded by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, in Abuja, FCT yield the second largest volume of VAT.
Ngelale said: “I do disagree on the notion that states are by themselves generating VAT en masse and the Federal Government is trying to hijack it.
“In 2020, the nation generated about N1.5trn in VAT. We have about 60 per cent of VAT coming from imports at the ports.
As we know, ports infrastructure in the country is not controlled by the state governments, so they cannot say it is their revenue; it is controlled by the Federal Government, it is federal revenue.
“So, when we create the impression that states collect these VATs and the Federal Government is hijacking it and trying to share it when, in fact, it only (belongs to) Lagos or Rivers, I think it is a gross over-simplification.”He said the collection of VAT by the FIRS should be encouraged because it was perfecting the union of Nigeria.
“Anything that will perfect our union should be embraced. Any conversation, any serious-minded discussion around how resources are managed is healthy for the country.
Ngelale further noted that the VAT issue had been “heavily politicised”.
He also complained about “some of the utterances that had come from Rivers along ethnic lines and political posturing ahead of the next election.
He said: “I really don’t want to repeat some of the stuffs we’ve heard from the Rivers State governor that we want to take Niger-Delta money to the north and all this ethnic sabre-rattling, That is what I am talking about when I say politics.”
He further berated Wike, who he said confirmed in January 2021 that the Federal Government had refunded to the state government, the N78 billion it spent on federal projects, even though he was not sure the projects were constructed by Wike.
“There are those who, despite collecting tens of billions of naira from this administration in form of refund for federal roads that they did not even construct in their states and you still have these claims coming out trying to abuse the Federal Government because of political reasons,” Ngelale alleged.
