Governor Abiodun of Ogun State
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has clarified the state’s motive for joining the ongoing Value Added Tax (VAT) fray which pitched the federal and some States in legal tussle of who collects VAT for States.
Ogun joined Rivers and Lagos States to demand that States and not the Federal Government, through the Federal Inland Revenue Service, should collect Value Added Tax (VAT).
The governor while playing host to members of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN) yesterday said the state join the Value Added Tax (VAT) fray is to ensure that the it gets a fair share from the money generated from the system.
Speaking in Abeokuta, Governor Abiodun pointed out that despite the huge amount generated from VAT, the State’s share does not reflect what is generated.
While informing his guests that his administration is strictly adhering to the tenets of good governance, Prince Abiodun said the State generated the sum of N75bn in the last nine months and was working towards surpassing it this next year.
“We have joined the fray on the Value Added Tax because we believe Ogun is not getting a fair share of the proceeds. Not only are we producing, we are also a consuming State. We generate so much money, yet we don’t have a bigger chunk of that same fund that we generate”, he noted.
He said the country was spending so much in subsidising petroleum products, hence wasting fund needed to provide basic amenities which could be used to fast track development.
On the State’s Accountability Index (AI) position of the ICAN, the State helmsman said though the State had moved from the 29 to 19, government’s desire was to see the State in the first three position in future.
The Governor urged the Institute to look at ways of partnering the State in the area of youth development, saying the Institute Entrepreneurship Training Centre planned for the State is a welcome development.
Enumerating some of his administration’s achievements in less than three years, Abiodun hinted that housing projects sited across the State, was part of the sustainability model strategy to generate employment and at the same time, provide affordable houses to the people.
Earlier in her remarks, the ICAN President, Mrs. Comfort Eyitayo, noted that the exemplary leadership style of the Governor had impacted positively in the health, education, youth development and other sectors of the State’s economy.
The ICAN President who said the Institute had made its position known on VAT and the Petroleum Industry Act, added that it would soon embark on another round of Accountability Index assessment across the country, calling for the cooperation of the State Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
