23rd September, 2021
By Cecilia Ologunagba
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami said the Buhari-led government is considering suing the governments of Rivers and Lagos at the Supreme Court to end the VAT war.
Malami stated this while speaking on the disagreement over the collection of VAT.
He explained that the ruling of the Court of Appeal that FIRS and the Rivers government maintain status quo favoured FIRS.
He said the ruling means Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will continue to collect Value Added Tax (VAT) but the Federal Government is taken steps to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
Malami said:
“The position of not only the Federal Government but indeed the judiciary is the fact that status quo associated with the collecting of VAT should be maintained.
“And as far as the judicial system is concerned, the status quo as at the time the parties approached the court, it was the Federal Inland Revenue Service that was indeed collecting the value-added tax.
“So with that in mind, the Federal Government has succeeded in obtaining an order that establishes the sustenance of the status quo, which status quo is that the Federal Inland Revenue Service should continue collection.
“This is pending the determination of the cases that were instituted by states, particularly the Rivers State Government and the Lagos State government. The cases are being determined by the court.
“But one thing of interest is the fact that the Federal Government had indeed taken cognisance of the fact that where there exists a dispute between a State and Federal Government, it is the Supreme Court that should naturally have the jurisdiction to determine the dispute between the state and the federation.
“And we are taking steps to consider the possibility of instituting an action before the Supreme Court to have this matter determined once and for all.’’