IN an accelerated reading yesterday, the State House of Assembly committed the bill on the Value Added Tax (VAT) to the committee on finance and asked it to report back on Thursday after the bill scaled first and second reading.
The House also treated for speedy reading, the bill on open grazing before committing it to the committee on agriculture.
Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, described the ‘Prohibition of Open Cattle Grazing Bill’ as timely; and a law that would ensure harmonious relationship between herders and farmers and protect the environment of the state and the Southwest region.
The speaker also suggested that the bill should make provision for the registration of herders and prepare them for ranching.
“Allocating parcel of land is not enough, but there should be a training of those who would go into ranching,” he said, noting that ranching is expensive and required adequate preparation.
On the bill on VAT, Speaker Obasa said it would lead to an “increase in revenue and infrastructural development. This is in line with fiscal federalism that we have been talking about.”
Obasa said the VAT law, when passed, would help the state meet challenges in its various sectors.
He also urged the state government to do everything legally possible to ensure the judgment of a Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, is sustained even up to the Supreme Court.
He lamented a situation where about N500 billion is generated from Lagos State while N300 billion is generated from other Southwest states and paltry amounts are disbursed to them in return.
