The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has granted the request of Lagos State to join the Value Added Tax (VAT) case against the Federal Government.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had challenged the decision of a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt which rules that VAT is a collectable tax of state governments.
Justice Steven Pam of the Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, voided the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act that prohibits states from collecting VAT.
The Appeal Court, in a ruling by Justice Haruna Simon Tsanami, held that Lagos has effectively shown that it has sufficient interest to protect by being made a party in the case.
The court rejected the objections by the FIRS and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and proceeded to join the Attorney General of Lagos State as the third respondent.
It ordered that all processes so far filed in the case be served on the AG of Lagos and that further proceedings in the case will continue at the Port-Harcourt division of the Court of Appeal on October 7.