Our Fight With FG Anchored On True Federalism, Fiscal Policies – Wike

Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has said his State’s challenge of the power of the Federal Government (FG) to administer the Value Added Tax (VAT) and related issues were intended to safeguard the nation’s federal structure.

Wike argued that the foundation of the nation’s federalism placed both levels of government at par without subjugating the States to the Federal Government.

He further argued that the current arrangement where the centre dictates to the constituent States on virtually all issues was an aberration and a violation of the principles on which the nation’s federal system was negotiated.

Wike spoke in Abuja at a public lecture on “taxing powers in a federal system,” as part of activities to celebrate the 60th birthday of a former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Ahmed Raji (SAN).

Other speakers at the event, including Justices Peter Ige (Court of Appeal) and Nnamdi Dimgba (Federal High Court); House of Representatives member, Ajibola Muraina (Oyo State) and Abiola Sanni, aProfessor of Commercial Law at the University of Lagos identified ways to resolve the current tax administration crisis in the country.

Represented by the Rivers Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Zacchaeus Adangor (SAN), Wike said: “I have heard a lot of comments being made that we are fighting the Federal Government. There is no desire or intention on the part of the Rivers State Government to fight the Federal Government.

“But, we must realise that in a federal system, the states are not the house boys of the Federal Government. The principle of co-equality is fundamental in federal arrangement.

“That is what leads us to the principle of autonomy. Autonomy leads you to fiscal autonomy and fiscal autonomy leas you to fiscal federalism.

“When you put all the principles together, what it means is that each level of government, whether federal or state are co-equal, because none derives its life from each other, they both derive their lives from the Constitution.

“Because of that co-equality, every level of government is entitled to have access to sufficient revenue so that it can carry out its own responsibilities without subordinating its will to that residue authority.

“That is the fundamental principle of federalism and until will get it right we will continue in this journey of talking and talking and talking without result. But I think the court has a role to play. The court can lay this controversy to rest when the court makes its pronouncement.”

Wike, who disagreed with some issues raised by the keynote speaker (Prof Saani), argued that it was impossible for the all the States in the country to have a uniform approach to issues.

“The taxing system you appear to capture is one that will do homogenisation and that certainly is not what we agreed upon at the constitutional conferences. And so, when you look at the constitution, an in matters of taxes, there is no ground for ambiguity, there is specific donation of powers.

“Can we say that the Federal Government has the power to collect and impose those taxes that the court struck down in Port-Harcourt, certainly not. So, for me, we need to resolve this issue through the court. That is what River State has opted to do.

“And, we encourage as many states as possible to join us in this new revival of the Nigeria federal arrangement, so that we can lay some of these issues to rest.

“Our own federation arrangement was designed to address the issue of ethnicity, how to reconcile and accommodate all the diverse ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. And, it was founded on two fundamental principles.

“One, that no region and no tribe shall suffer domination nor shall any be dominated. Two, that every unit shall be allowed to develop according to its own fiscal capacities.

“Those are the two fundamental values of the Nigerian federal system, and any arrangement that either derogate or does violent damage to those fundamental issues is certainly not what our founding fathers agreed upon.

“From the constitutional conferences in London to Ibadan and Lagos, those were the two fundamental key values of the Nigerian federal system.

“Therefore, it is my submission that homogenisation was never in contemplation when we agreed to form a federal system.

“Homogenisation was never in contemplation, it was because of the mutual fear of domination between the north and the south and even among the business groups that we said we need space for self- expression so that we can grow without doing damage to the unity of the country. That is what we call unity in diversity,” Wike said.

Jussices Ige and Dimgba; Muraina, Sanni and Raji emphasised the need for a review of the nation tax laws and the tax administration regime to allow for a just and equitable allocation of tax resources.