Lagos House of Assembly Passes VAT, Open Grazing Bills Into Law

By Ogundele Olanrewaju

The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed the state’s Value Added Tax (VAT) bill. The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa on Thursday, after the passage of the bill, directed the Acting Clerk of the House, Mr. Olalekan Onafeko, to transmit a clean copy to the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for assent.

The House also passed the bill prohibiting open cattle grazing in the state, in line with the resolution earlier reached by Southern Governors. The two bills received unanimous votes by the lawmakers at the sitting.

“I thank you all for this historic exercise,” Obasa told his colleagues after the passage of the bill. Lagos had said it would go ahead with the VAT bill, which passed the second reading in the state House of Assembly on Monday. Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on Thursday signed into law the bill on Value Added Tax (VAT) collection in the state. Wike signed the bill which was recently passed by the state House of Assembly at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

He said the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt had sufficiently addressed the illegality perpetrated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

The governor also signed into law the Open Rearing and Grazing Prohibition Law No 5 of 2021; The Child’s Rights Amendment Law No 2 of 2021

The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt in its judgment last month in a suit marked FHC/PH/CS/149/2020 held that the Rivers State Government had the powers to collect VAT within its territory. The Akwa Ibom and Adamawa state governments on Tuesday supported the position of the Rivers State Government on the issue.

Meanwhile, the government of Muhammadu Buhari is heavily indebted and has been borrowing to fund the budget.