Niger Delta youth group, has commended the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike for initiating a suit that resulted in the Federal High Court judgment granting the state government the power to collect value added tax, VAT in the state.
The group, Campaign for Good Governance and Credible Elections, CGGCE praised Wike for the initiative, commitment, courage and proativeness in filing the case against the Federal Government.
The group described it as an effort to take back what rightly belong to the states, maintaining that a Nigerian system where the federal government will collect VAT on business transactions that are domiciled in the states only to return a fraction of it to the states is antithetical to true federalism and state development.
A press statement jointly signed by the group’s national President, Mr.Goodluck Edafe and national Secretary, Mr. Johnson Inipusam, issued in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and made available to Journalists, insisted that it is time for the federal government to encourage the states to pursue genuine development through a deliberate expansion in their internally generated revenue.
The group further called on the thirty-six states governments to emulate the courage of Governor Wike and begin the process of VAT collection and improve the welfare of their people.
