Bayelsa State Government has described the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) claim of a N7 billion Value Added Tax (VAT) refund as mischievous.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Treasury, Accounts and Revenue, Mr. Timipre Seipulo, made the clarification while presenting the revenue and expenditure profile of the state for the month of September 2019.
Mr. Seipulo said contrary to media reports, the yet-to-be released VAT refund was in the range of N4 billion and not N7 billion.
His words:”On this issue, let me inform you that the state is pursuing this refund. Contrary to news reports, the amount is not up to N7 billion. We believe that the amount will not be less than N4 billion.
“By the time the money comes to the state and transfer is made, we will know. However, it doesn’t come up in the transparency briefing for the month of September. As usual, what the state always does when such monies come up, is to report it in the transparency briefing.”
In his remarks, Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, identified the monthly transparency briefing as one of the worthy legacies that would be bequeathed to the incoming government.
On the forthcoming election in the state, Mr. Iworiso-Markson said the future of the state depended largely on Bayelsans voting for the PDP’s standard bearer, Senator Douye Diri, to sustain the development agenda of the restoration government.
He cited the Bayelsa International Airport, Agge Deep Seaport, three Senatorial roads, health insurance scheme, model and boarding schools as achievements of the PDP and urged the electorate to vote wisely.
Seipulo, who presented the revenues from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), for the month of September, said the total inflow stood at N14.2 billion.
He noted that the amount consists of statutory allocation of N3.4 billion, derivation N8.87 billion, VAT N774 million, and foreign exchange equalization N579 million among other components.