Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) who also doubles as the Minister of Justice, says the Federal Government is ready to challenge states at the Supreme Court over the collection of Value-Added Tax (VAT).
According to Malami on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, the apex court has jurisdiction over such matters.
“The federal government is still looking at other possibilities, all options open in terms of challenging the action, the action of the state government,” Malami said.
“We are indeed litigating contending this issues before the court and the federal government is looking at all options at its disposal, inclusive of the possibility of invoking the jurisdiction, the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
“This is taking into consideration that the dispute at hand is a dispute between the state government and the federal government, in respect of which only the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to entertain taking into consideration the constitutional provisions relating thereto.”
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the Federal Government has been collecting all components of VAT on behalf of all tiers, but things may soon change — considering this present struggle.
