By Leshi Adebayo
The Federal Court of Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the governments of Rivers and Lagos States to suspend any plans to start collecting the Value Added Tax (VAT).
The court, in its ruling on Friday, asked both states to maintain status quo pending the determination of an appeal lodged before it by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Justice Haruna Tsammani, who led the three-man panel of Justices of the appellate court, said the order was to preserve the ‘Res’ (subject matter) of the appeal before it.
The court ordered all the parties that have subjected themselves before it to “refrain from taking any action to give effect to the judgement of the Rivers State High Court”, which gave Rivers State Government the right to collect VAT revenue, instead of the FIRS.
The court had postponed hearing of a filed Lagos State application to be joined as an interested party in the matter, till September 16.
Meanwhile, Lagos State had through its Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, protested against the issuance of an order for the maintenance of status quo.
The Attorney-General insisted that such order could not be binding on it, since it was yet to be joined as a party in the appeal by FIRS.
Recall BlackBox Nigeria reported that Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Friday, signed the State Value Added Tax bill into law.
