Lagos Assembly passes VAT, anti-open grazing bills

The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed the Value Added Tax (VAT) bill, with Speaker Mudashiru Obasa describing the outcome as “historic.”

It was a unanimous vote on the floor of the legislature.

House Clerk, Olalekan Onafeko, has been directed to transmit a clean copy of the bill to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for assent.

“I thank you all for this historic exercise,” says Obasa.

The Lagos legislature has also passed a bill that prohibits open grazing of cattle in the metropolis.

The bill proposes a 21-year jail term for herders in possession of firearms and the establishment of a taskforce to curb open grazing of cattle in a city famed for its gridlock and bedlam.

The VAT legislation has been a contentious, hut button one lately, with state governments in Nigeria’s southern region bickering with the federal government, and pushing for the responsibility to collect consumption tax within their jurisdictions.