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The Gombe State Government has pleaded with the government of other States, especially those from the Southern parts of the country to reconsider their stance on the issue of Value Added Tax (VAT).
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Gombe State’s Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Muhammad Magaji made the plea at the opening of Technical Workshop on development of the Medium-Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) for the State.
He said the other States, especially those from southern parts of the country, should put sentiment aside and become brothers’ keepers in sharing the VAT generated in their respective states.
TNG reports the plea is coming as the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike and his Lagos State counterpart, Babajide Sanwo-Olu have taken steps to start the collection of VAT in their respective States.
Magaji posited that with the dwindling revenue from the federation account, it was obvious that only three of the 36 states in the country could survive without support from the federal government.
“The VAT issue will have adverse effects not only on Gombe state but almost all the states of the federation. I was part of the discussion few weeks ago by all commissioners of finance across the country.
“The realisation was that only Lagos, Rivers and probably Delta states would be able to pull through without this VAT being administered centrally, and it is our appeal that we all put sentiments behind and work towards a federation that is one, by being our brothers keepers and ensuring that what is pull together at the center is distributed to be able to balance resources across the country,” Magaji said.
According to him, it would be a very bad development that won’t augur well for the country if every state will ask for control of its resources.
He added, “Don’t forget that the oil producing states collect only 13 per cent derivation, so if you say every state will take whatever resources it has, that it means we are starting a very dangerous trajectory that will not augur well for the federation called Nigeria.”