Africa Business Radio

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has advised the National Assembly not to legislate on the collection of the Value Added Tax and Stamp Duties, which are currently subjects of litigation between some states and the federal government.Ekweremadu says allowing the litigations to run the full course would be a major step towards strengthening the country’s federalism.Ekweremadu recalled that he had for over a decade warned the country against feeding bottle federalism in which states depended on redistributed resources of other federating units for survival.He stressed that since past legislative efforts to get things right had failed or had been scuttled, it was natural and imperative to allow the judiciary to play its role in shaping the country’s federalism.