River State Governor, Nyesom Wike, said on Wednesday, September 8, during a stakeholders’ meeting with oil companies and business owners in the state, that companies based in the state are to start paying VAT to the state government.

He accused the Federal Inland Revenue Service,  FIRS, of threatening and bullying companies based in the state and warned that any organization that doesn’t pay VAT to the Rivers state government would be sealed off.

Wike then told companies to start paying their Value Added Tax to the state starting from this September.

This comes one month after the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt held that Rivers State Government had the power to collect VAT within its territory.

The FIRS applied to the court for a stay of the executive but the judge rejected the application.

Wike also pointed out that Kano State keeps 100% of what it generates in tax but Rivers State is only given a percentage of what it generates on tax.

Reacting to Wike’s stance on the VAT issue, Dawisu said he is in support of the River State Governor.

He wrote: “Any northerner that’s attacking Wike on this VAT issue does not mean well for his region. On this, I’m with Wike 100%. It’s time we look inwards & do some soul searching on how to revive our economic status in this country. To me, this is a wake-up call to Arewa leaders & followers.”