Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday concluded its deliberations on Value Added Tax (VAT) Bill and the Anti-open Grazing Bill during plenary with a unanimous passage of the bills.
Following the passage of the bills, the Speaker, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, directed the Acting Clerk of the House, Olalekan Onafeko, to transmit clean copies to the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for assent.
It would be recalled that the Lagos State Value Added Tax Bill was read for the first and second time in the state House of Assembly last Tuesday after which the Bill was referred to the Committee on Finance to report back on Thursday.
The Speaker had, before the bill was referred to the Committee on Finance, expressed the hope that when passed into law, it will lead to “increase in revenue and in infrastructural development. This is in line with fiscal federalism we have been talking about.”
The lawmaker, therefore, urged the state government to do everything legally possible to ensure the enforcement of the Federal High Court judgment.
While lamenting the current fiscal regime in which about N500 billion was generated from Lagos State, and N300 billion was generated from other South West states, with little amounts disbursed to them in return, Hon. Obasa described the latest judgment as “an opportunity for us to emphasise again the need for the consideration of true federalism.”
