Rivers not fighting FG over tax collection – Wike

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State says the state is not fighting the federal government or any of its agencies over the collection of Value Added Tax as being insinuated in some quarters.

Speaking Sunday in Abuja at a public lecture entitled: ;Taxing Powers in a Federal System’ to mark the 60th birthday of Ahmed Raji, Wike said the state was only trying to pursue what was right and legitimate within the ambits of the constitution.

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Wike, represented by the Attorney-General of the state, Zacchaeus Adangor, said Rivers and the Federal Government were co-equal because they both derived their life from the constitution.

“I’ve heard a lot of comments being made that we’re fighting the Federal Government, there’s no desire or any intention of the Rivers government to fight the Federal Government.”

Also speaking, Prof. Abiola Sani appealed to the judiciary to make definite and definitive pronouncement on the impasse surrounding tax collection in Nigeria’s federal system.

Sani, a professor of Commercial Law who was the guest lecturer at the occasion, called on the National Assembly to use the ongoing constitution amendment to bring out clear taxing powers among the three tiers of government. (NAN)