₦airaland Forum

post=59822002:
PUNCH EDITORIAL :

Many states get money simply for contributing practically nothing! According to the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, Lagos State alone generates 55 per cent of the VAT collected in the country, followed distantly by the Federal Capital Territory, which chips in 20 per cent. This means the contribution from the remaining 35 states of the federation is just 25 per cent. Adeosun, at a meeting of the Progressive Governors’ Forum in Birnin Kebbi in Kebbi State, put the VAT returns from Rivers and Kano states at six per cent and five per cent respectively. And when Rivers’ and Kano’s total of 11 per cent is added to that of Lagos and Abuja, making it 86 per cent, it means the remaining 33 states jointly make a paltry contribution of just 14 per cent.

In fact, Lagos has so much potential that the state government is realistically setting a target of making it the third largest economy in Africa. This is a state that accounts for 70 per cent of maritime trade in the country and hosts 60 per cent of industries that help generate the VAT that is shared among all the states. Aside from accounting for 86.2 per cent of Companies Income Tax in 2008, according to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Lagos is also the manufacturing hub of Nigeria. The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, recently noted that all the 214 people who paid up to N20 million each as tax per annum were resident in Lagos. He went on to add that, of the 914 who paid between N10 million and N20 million tax, only two were resident outside Lagos. Those two are domiciled in Ogun State. Figures from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria also indicate that the Ikeja Industrial Zone alone – not even the entire Lagos – accounted for 55 per cent of goods manufactured in the country in 2016. This also means sustenance of jobs for Nigerians from all parts of the country.

However, the setting becomes very provocative when it comes to the sharing formula. For the month of February, for instance, while Lagos got N6.14 billion, reports have it that Kaduna State, whose contribution was put at mere one per cent, got N4.23 billion, just as Kano and Rivers got N1.66 billion and N1.33 billion respectively. The question then arises, how did the state with one per cent contribution end up getting more than the bigger contributors? Where is justice in such a system?


VAT, a tax levied on goods and services consumed, is shared among the three tiers of government, with the Federal Government taking 15 per cent, while the state and local governments share 50 per cent and 35 per cent respectively. With the present LG structure in the country, the Northern section of the country is placed at an unduly advantageous position because it has by far the greater number of LGAs. These are LGAs created based more on land mass than on human population.

The country was deliberately structured that way during the military rule to give that part of the country an undue advantage when it comes to revenue distribution, not generation. An often cited example is that of Lagos and Kano states, which started off with the same number of LGAs at the 1967 state creation, only for Lagos to still remain at 20 LGAs while Kano, despite Jigawa State having been carved out of it, now has 44 LGAs. Even Jigawa, the sister state, boasts 27 LGAs, while efforts by Lagos State, which is indisputably the most populous in the country, to increase its number of LGAs have been met with deliberate frustration.

Besides, when a bill came up at the Senate last year, highlighting the special status of Lagos, it was promptly thrown out without senators batting an eyelid. Oluremi Tinubu, the sponsor of the bill, had sought the setting aside of one per cent of accruals to the Federal Government from the Consolidated Federation Account for the funding of the peculiar challenges of the state as a former capital of Nigeria. Those who threw out the bill conveniently forgot that an investment in Lagos is also an investment for Nigeria because Lagos, the economic capital of the country, has become a home to many Nigerians, regardless of their state of...

DabuIIIT:
an eye opener once again.. eough reason why the SW,SS n SE gotta come together as one and join hands and liberate,emancipate herself from the grip of the parasitic north. I hate it when we SS,SW SE are @daggers drawn against eachother when we all have a common enemy..

Op,Its appalling,i mean,how can kano still be officially more populated,got more lgas than Lagos!
Contributes less but get a huge chunk more than other regions!?
The crude and sea are in the south but are headed and run by northerners!?
They refuse the sales of ...alcohol but receive vat for same generated elsewhere,dammit!
If the north dont wanna play ball and allow total restructuring/true federalism,then its curtains,everybody to your tents,period..

#VIVA_NIGER_DELTA (Edo nimose)
#VIVA_OODUA
#VIVA_IPOB

GoldNiagara:
Bros, remember how you edited my post, remove iPod and we from the arrangement, they are better off with the north, they don't bring much to the table than being mouthy.

They will only Leach on others and be screaming marginalization upandan.

DabuIIIT:
i dont think so Golddy,the easterners are a ppl who progress naturally even against all odds..inspite of the fact that they are locked up and kinda purnished (believe it or not)by fed govt ever since after the civil war,they yet thrived on,thrived on their own efforts. But look@the north,they occupy virtually all top fg positions,NPA,NIMASA,CUSTOMS,etc,and these are agencies whose area of operation are down south and yet,their region is as backward as ever. They kick against every policy-true fed,resource control,restructuring- that would liberate us economically,socially,financially,simply cos they will quit some stuff and they also percieve that the south will gain more! If the sea and crude were to be in the north,dammit,we southerners will be their slaves.......
The Igbos/ipob gat every right to slam u yorubas,you guys betrayed them and we ss,we all know the north and their evil ways politically and yet,u westerners gave them leverage to power and here we are today,in the desert.and when the se and ss expressed their grievance towards u westerners,u reply back,no remorse or humility. Aint tryin to make anybody remorseful or cry buh we all south gotta know that what the Igbo is agitating for/needs is what the Ss and Sw are agitating for/needs,take it or leave it.
The SW SS and SE can join hands and liberate herself and thereafter,sort themselves out.

Op,as long as the north are in majority,states,lga and @the NASS,Lagos will hardly attain that status that is long overdue.
As for me,i gat no more time,the day i move outta naija,thats final

Eku wkend..

GoldNiagara:
First no one betrays any body, you don't allow some people to kill your people and pamper them, secondly, politics is a game of number, so it expedient for a political wise person to leverage on the numbers of the northerns to win in the political arrangement. When Awo offered Zik presidency to become his vice in the 60 cum 70, zik chose the north over southwest, No body screamed betrayal, when Ojukwu boys started killing Yoruba's at ore no body screamed betrayal, we took it with equanimity.

Tinubu knew his history and numbers, so he followed the lead of zik, and your people are now complaining.


Now the igr representation show the IBO's do not bring much to the table, they are consumer oriented. They are a burden to themselves, a dead weight to any body, if you south south guys want them, by all means take them, Yoruba will never deal with them, they are hypocritical, corrupt, devious, unforgiving, impulsive, foolhardy, thoughtless, with denatured moral crust.

GoldNiagara:
Many states get money simply for contributing practically nothing! According to the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, Lagos State alone generates 55 per cent of the VAT collected in the country, followed distantly by the Federal Capital Territory, which chips in 20 per cent. This means the contribution from the remaining 35 states of the federation is just 25 per cent. Adeosun, at a meeting of the Progressive Governors’ Forum in Birnin Kebbi in Kebbi State, put the VAT returns from Rivers and Kano states at six per cent and five per cent respectively. And when Rivers’ and Kano’s total of 11 per cent is added to that of Lagos and Abuja, making it 86 per cent, it means[b] the remaining 33 states jointly make a paltry contribution of just 14 per cent.[/b]

a)Lagos- SW 55%

b)FCT- 20%

c)Rivers-SS 6%

d)Kano- NW 5%

Others (SE,NC,NW) 14%

Isn't it surprising that those who claim to control Nigeria's economy did not even contribute as much as FCT?

Are you not amazed that those who tag others as PARASITES are in the same mix with NE who has been ravaged by BH?

Statistics over time have shown and still currently shows that some people do not really contribute but rather live on the wealth of others.

PS: waiting as usual for them to come and tell us how they contributed 99.99% of the VAT generated in Lagos and FCT.

GoldNiagara:
The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, recently noted that all the 214 people who paid up to N20 million each as tax per annum were resident in Lagos. He went on to add that, of the 914 who paid between N10 million and N20 million tax, only two were resident outside Lagos. Those two are domiciled in Ogun State.