Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari has spoken against the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) by states, saying the North contributes to the economic development of Lagos and Rivers.

Speaking exclusively with Daily Trust , Mr Masari described the agitation over tax collection as a joke.

“What is Lagos without the rest of Nigeria? The market Lagos is boasting of is dependent on the larger part of the country.

Benin Republic has a port, Togo has a port; do they have the population to back up the ports? Without us providing the demand part, what will be Lagos?” Mr Masari said.

Mr Masari told the media outlet that both Rivers and Lagos were reliant on population from other parts of the country to sustain their economy, adding that states benefited from each other in the revenue equation.

“VAT serves them and us. We provide the bulk of the market because without the rest of the states what is Lagos or Port Harcourt?” Mr Masari said.

According to him, “Any state that thinks it can survive in isolation is joking. We provide the demand that makes Lagos what it is.”

Mr Masari did not speak on how northern states benefit from alcohol taxes generated from southern states while Sharia-backed state police in the north continue to confiscate and destroy alcoholic beverages that cross state lines.

On Thursday, southern governors acknowledged the power of the states to collect the consumer-based tax following the landmark judgement of the Rivers division of the Federal High Court.

The court held that the FIRS had no constitutional backing to collect taxes in the state and granted the power to collect the consumption tax to the Rivers government.

The revenue collection body had asked companies to ignore the court ruling and appealed the judgement, but Rivers and Lagos have ordered the enforcement of their Value Added Tax Law 2021.

Enugupikin:
There is some sense in what he is saying ,Lagos can't stand alone without the rest of Nigeria. Those headquarters too and the ports and all that stems from the Nigerian people

Enugupikin:
There is some sense in what he is saying ,Lagos can't stand alone without the rest of Nigeria. Those headquarters too and the ports and all that stems from the Nigerian people

austinvsb:


What does Lagos need that it cannot get within itself or within the Southwest? Tell me just one thing..

Lagos can survive alone or at most with the rest of the 5 South western states and that's facts.

Enugupikin:
There is some sense in what he is saying ,Lagos can't stand alone without the rest of Nigeria. Those corporate headquarters too and the ports and all that stems from the Nigerian people

Blackfire:
First of all lagos is no man's land
By tradition and historical facts it belongs to the Benin ogiso dynasty ,not yorubas


Secondly, lagos is made up of all Nigerians including all that is inside


Thirdly all this noise about state collecting Vat is a ploy to a southern sinister...well let me tell you the status quo remain


Incase you don't know ...North2023

Blackfire:
First of all lagos is no man's land
By tradition and historical facts it belongs to the Benin ogiso dynasty ,not yorubas


Secondly, lagos is made up of all Nigerians including all that is inside


Thirdly all this noise about state collecting Vat is a ploy to a southern sinister...well let me tell you the status quo remain


Incase you don't know ...North2023

OneTemplate:



Lol. I can tell you for free that the first sign of a loser is that he remains fixated on dubious past glory perhaps because he is nothing in the present and knows he will remain nothing. Hence the need to create fantasies about the past.

Even indulging your idiotic revisionism, why is an Edo not Governor of Lagos today and why no single Lagos State Senator or Rep who is Edo?

How many local Government chairman in Lagos of Edo origin? Why is Lagos State legislative house not full of Edos? Loser.

Iamgrey5:
Just like the federal highway in your state and any federal building in your state.


Let's forget that Lagos was already economically viable before the advent of Nigeria for a second.

And Lagos can stand alone. There are lot of tiny island Nations around the world that are far Richer than Lagos.

Iamgrey5:
Even if Lagos belongs to cameroonians and filled with Germans..

The argument is not about Lagos ethnic nationalities but about the economic prospects of Lagos..

I believe Lagos should be allowed to keep atleast 50% of what it makes to further develop the State.

OneTemplate:


Correct talk brother. In fact Lagos would thrive spectacularly once free of the repressive encumbrance of "one Nigeria" which, to me, is a term signifying a pathetic situation where a people exist to keep each other down and underdeveloped.

Enugupikin:
There is some sense in what he is saying ,Lagos can't stand alone without the rest of Nigeria. Those corporate headquarters too and the ports and all that stems from the Nigerian people

OneTemplate:



Lol. I can tell you for free that the first sign of a loser is that he remains fixated on dubious past glory perhaps because he is nothing in the present and knows he will remain nothing. Hence the need to create fantasies about the past.

Even indulging your idiotic revisionism, why is an Edo not Governor of Lagos today and why no single Lagos State Senator or Rep who is Edo?

How many local Government chairman in Lagos of Edo origin? Why is Lagos State legislative house not full of Edos? Loser.

Iamgrey5:
They don't know that the ports will not seize to exist once Nigeria break

They don't know Lagos can't be moved from the current location and will still continue to benefit from the populations surrounding it even after Nigeria must have split. It will serve as a major entrepot zone.

They forgot that without the large population in Lagos, Lagos in it self can become a tourist destination because of the numbers of beaches and other natural attractions in it.

Blackfire:



Educated illiterate
Because Egypt of today is rule by arabs from the desert does that means it wasn't owned by blacks

Or Because the native Americans now live in conservation and the immigrants now becoming mayor,presidents does that make NA not the owner of there lands

Historically Benin names are still irremovable...like idumota, EKo,IDUMAGO , obanikoro and so on, I hope you know that oba rilwane akiolu has benin ancestry

You can just come from ogbomoso to claim lagos


Incase you don't know...North2023

Iamgrey5:
Even the ogiso dynasty no longer holds water in Benin city itself.

What they have is an Oba just like Lagos.

Nothwitgstanding, the argument about Tax collection has nothing to do with the ethnic groups that makes up Lagos.

Blackfire:



Educated illiterate
Because Egypt of today is rule by arabs from the desert does that means it wasn't owned by blacks

Or Because the native Americans now live in conservation and the immigrants now becoming mayor,presidents does that make NA not the owner of there lands

Historically Benin names are still irremovable...like idumota, EKo,IDUMAGO , obanikoro and so on, I hope you know that oba rilwane akiolu has benin ancestry

You can just come from ogbomoso to claim lagos


Incase you don't know...North2023