States against alcohol shouldn’t get VAT on beer – Ex-minister

Former Health Minister, Prof Isaac Adewole, has advocated fiscal federalism where states get funds commensurate to what they bring into the federation account.

The former minister Specifically said states that prohibit the sale of alcoholic drinks should not get out of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on beer through the federation account.

He said, “We need to look at how we share the resources of this country. If you have a law that prevents you from selling alcohol, that law should also prevent you from sharing money from alcohol. We should be honest with ourselves. States that prohibit the sale of alcohol should not share out of VAT from alcohol. Straight forward.

“Then we should also ask each state what they are bringing to the table. A situation where states only share money from oil is absurd and that is why we are where we are today because the other states are not bringing anything to the table.

“What is happening to our gold, bitumen, lithium? The resources from all of these, where are they? The only thing we know is oil money.”