A former Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, Friday stir the bees hornet.
Adewole said states that prohibit the sale of alcoholic drinks, should not share from the Value Added Tax (VAT) on beer through the federation account.
The former Buhari minister said that the funds received by states from the federation account should be commensurate with their contributions to the national purse.
He spoke as a guest on Inside Sources, a programme on Channels Television.
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.”
The former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan advocated true fiscal federalism in which local government areas would be allowed to function as an independent tier of government.
He believes that while it might be too late in the day to return to regional governments, states should be allowed to grow on their own and on the basis of the resources available to them.
“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,” he said.
