The governor of Rivers State Nyesom Wike on Thursday signed into law the bill on Value Added Tax (VAT) collection in the state.
Mr. Wike signed the recently passed bill by the state House of Assembly at the Government House, Port Harcourt.
The governor maintained that the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt had sufficiently addressed the illegality perpetrated by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
Along side the VAT, the governor also signed into law the Open Rearing and Grazing Prohibition Law No 5 of 2021; The Child’s Rights Amendment Law No 2 of 2021. Others are the Residents Registration Agency Law No 6 of 2021 and the Naming and Renaming of Infrastructure Law No 3 of 2021.
Wike stressed that when agencies of the Federal Government are allowed to illegally demand and collect taxes meant for states, they strangulate the states financially and turn them to be beggars.
“But we (Rivers State) are standing on the part of history as representatives of the state to have taken the bull by the horn to challenge the illegality of the Federal Government through the Federal inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
“Of course, we are all aware that the states have already been strangled. Most states depend on allocation from federation accounts.
“States have been turned to beggars, hardly any day will pass that you will not see one state or others going to Abuja to beg for one fund,” Wike said.
Wike said that no campaign of calumny or blackmail on the part of FIRS would make what was illegal to become legal.