Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, on Monday called on the National Assembly to include value-added tax (VAT) on the Exclusive List in order to give the Federal Government legislative control over the 7.5% consumption tax paid when goods are purchased and services are rendered.
El-Rufai made this statement in Abuja at the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies’ second annual “Distinguished Parliamentarian Lecture.”
He asserts that VAT is crucial to Nigeria’s survival, particularly in light of the fact that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has not made any payments into the federation account thus far this year.
“Value Added Tax has become a major source of survival for this country because this year, the NNPC has not brought a penny to the federation account; we’ve been relying on taxes, particularly Value Added Tax and the fact that Value Added Tax is not on the exclusive list is a major source of concern for the fiscal health of the federation and I think this National Assembly can do something about in its last six months,” the governor said at the event.
El-Rufai also urged the National Assembly to ensure the birth of state and community policing to solve Nigeria’s multifarious security challenges.
“We are all clear now that the current policing system is broken and cannot work for Nigeria and Nigeria is the only federation in the world with one centralised policing system. I think this National Assembly can enact state policing,” he stated.
Among the luminaries present at the event were the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
The National Assembly rejected a bill in March that sought to add VAT to the Exclusive List. The decision came after a protracted legal dispute between the Rivers State Government and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the collection of the state’s Personal Income Tax (PIT) VAT.