C'ttee Set Up on Lagos State, FG Face-off
From Josephine Lohor in Abuja
National Economic Council (NEC), which comprises all the state governors and presided over by Vice President Atiku Abubakar, yesterday set up a joint committee between the Lagos State Government and the Federal Government to amicably settle all disputes between the two governments.
It would be recalled that the Vice President, had Tuesday disclosed that the Federal Government would soon wade into the crisis between the Federal Ministry of Works and the Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) over the control of Lagos roads.
The Governors of Ondo and Benue states, Mr Olusegun Agagu and Mr George Akume and the Deputy Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Magaji Abdullahi, while briefing State House Correspondents on highlights of the NEC meeting, also said the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Olujimi Akinlolu would chair the side of the Federal Government just as the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mr Femi Pedro was expected to chair the Lagos State Government side.
The NEC also gave a one-year ultimatum to 16 state and local governments to remit about N6.7 billion to the Federation Account which they have withheld for more than five years from withholding taxes and Value Added Tax (VAT).
Agagu noted that such amounts "ought to have been remitted to the Federation Account for sharing in the normal way that the Federation Account monies are shared amongst the three tiers of government.
And in pursuant of its determination to be transparent, to be efficient, the present administration has insisted that everybody including the three tiers of government, has to be a good corporate citizen of this country."
He said that the meeting, after being briefed by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) on the progress so far made to amendments to the revenue formula that would constitute a bill to the National Assembly, "resolved that this long-standing issue should be finalised as quickly as possible. And RMFAC was mandated to submit its final report to the President enroute to the National Assembly before the next meeting of NEC (in a month).
Recalling that the NEC had some months ago asked the police to put in place a machinery to stop the illegal collection of taxes on Nigeria's highway, the governor stated that "the police swung into action and in the course of doing this, a number of people have been arrested and prosecuted.
"Those arrested include 860 policemen, 153 civilians, 80 traffic wardens, 4 vehicle inspection officers, 4 members of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), one soldier and sums of money totaling N350,600. It is our hope that this illegal activity will stop and the police also suggested that this is not to say that taxes should be stopped from being collected, but it should be done in a civilised manner and it was recommended that a committee should be set up at the state level between the chairman of the various revenue boards in the states and all other agencies that are relevant to ensure that proper and civilised ways of identifying and collecting taxes are
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