There are indications that Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, widely believed to be close political allies, may have parted ways, as the governor openly disagreed with the minister, last week.
Amosun, to the surprise of many political observers, faulted Adeosun’s finance ministry over the data it submitted regarding the level of contributions from Ogun State, to the Value Added Tax.
The finance ministry, supported by the National Bureau of Statistics and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, had issued a statement, placing Lagos State above Ogun in VAT contributions.
But reacting, Amosun put a lie to the minister’s claim.
According to him, the data presented by the finance ministry, the NBS and the FIRS, as they pertained to the contributions of the state to the VAT, amounted to “a misrepresentation.”
He said the claim that Lagos State contributed more than Ogun State could not be true, as Ogun State had the highest number of industries in the country.
The governor, who was speaking during a facility tour of an indigenous armoured vehicles manufacturing company, situated in Ode-Remo area of the state, faulted the presentation by the agencies; that, out of 916 high net-worth individuals paying tax to the federal purse, only two are from Ogun State.
“Not less than 27 high net-worth individuals in the state pay at least N20 million monthly as tax to the federal purse,” he said, urging the agencies to cross-check their data.
The governor added that such inaccurate statistics was unacceptable, especially if foreign agencies, like the World Bank, could come and do accurate statistics about the state.
The governor’s open disagreement with the Adeosun is, however, coming as a surprise, considering the fact that Adeosun was Amosun’s Commissioner for Finance before she was given a ministerial appointment.
It was even touted that her appointment as minister was influenced by Amosun, as many see the minister as the governor’s goddaughter.
With Tuesday’s open disagreement with the minister, observers feared that things had fallen apart between the governor and the
minister.
Meanwhile, Amosun, during the tour of inspection, also frowned at companies that manufactured products in the state, only to inscribe ‘Made in Lagos’ on them, “just because they have their head-offices in Lagos,” saying such practices must stop thenceforth.
