Nigeria, Sept. 16 -- The Rivers and Lagos state governments on Thursday failed to convince the Court of Appeal in Abuja to stop the Federal Inland Revenue Service from further collecting Value Added Tax (VAT).

The court refused oral applications for a restraining order against the FIRS made by the legal team of the two states.

Refusing to grant the requests, a three-man panel of the court, led by Haruna Tsanami, directed the lawyers representing the two states to file formal applications instead of oral applications.

The FIRS had appealed the judgement of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt empowering the Rivers State government to collect VAT.

The Mr Tsanami-led panel had last Friday ordered parties to the case to maintain status...