Former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has advised his colleagues not to embark on any legislation over the collection of the Value Added Tax and Stamp Duties.
He stated that allowing the litigations to run the full course could be a major step towards strengthening the nation’s federalism.
Ekweremadu gave the advice on Sunday in a statement by his Media Adviser, Uche Anichukwu, titled, “Feeding bottle federalism: Allow VAT legal battle run full course – Ekweremadu”
The lawmaker demanded an expeditious hearing of the VAT, stamp duty suits pending in the Courts.
Ekweremadu recalled that he had for over a decade been warning the nation against what he had since termed a “feeding bottle federalism.”
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He expressed that the term refers to a situation whereby states depend on redistributed resources of other federating units for survival.
He argued that any constitution amendment to transfer VAT collection to the Exclusive Legislative List, as reportedly requested by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, “would amount to changing the goal post in the middle of a game.”
The Senator was the chairman of the constitution amendment process in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Senate.
He noted that since past legislative efforts to get things right had failed or were scuttled, it was natural and imperative to allow the judiciary to play its role in shaping the nation’s federalism.