A Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has stopped the governments of Rivers and Lagos from collecting Value Added Taxes (VAT), pending the determination of an appeal filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

The appellate court which said the order was to preserve the ‘Res’ (subject matter) of the appeal before it, gave the order on Friday September 10.

This came after Attorney-General of Lagos state, Moyosore Onigbanjo informed the court of an application for the Lagos state government to be joined as a co-respondent in the appeal filed by FIRS.

The three-member panel of justices of the appellate court led by Haruna Tsammani asked parties involved in the case to refrain from taking action, following a judgement by a high court which gave Rivers state government the right to collect VAT instead of the FIRS.