• Others demand reversal of new law 

Chinelo Obogo

There was tension yesterday during the public hearing of the Land Use Charge organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly, as stakeholders staged a walk out over the refusal of the House to adjourn the hearing for two weeks.

The Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the Joint Action Front (JAF) and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) were among the stakeholders who led the walk out after their demands were not met.

The lawyers complained that they had no access to the law which was being amended and that they were informed of the public hearing only a day before the event, hence, they could not make any informed decision or input regarding the law.

But the House did not see the complaint as genuine enough to warrant postponement of the hearing.

The NBA Chairman, Adesina Ogunlana, who raised a point of order while Speaker Mudahsiru Obasa was still speaking, informed the House that the stakeholders got the notice of the public hearing late and could not get a copy of the law to be amended, hence, they were calling for a two-week adjournment to study the law properly and make informed input.

“We received a letter on Monday inviting us for this programme as well as a copy of the amendment at our secretariat of the NBA, Ikeja branch. What we did was to write a letter to the speaker informing him of the necessity for an adjournment of this public hearing.

“It is gratifying to note that the speaker and other  members of the House are interested in our views and the views of others and that we should come to a compromise. What we did was to first go back to the cabinet office to look for the law being sought to be amended. That law is not even with the government. Even in this House, I have made enquiries, and we cannot even get a copy of the law. The truth of the matter is that the amendment sought, and a copy of the law must be given to the stakeholders, if we are going to have meaningful contributions,” Ogunlana said.

A representative of Lekki Residents Association, James Emadoye, who also objected to the bill, said the new law was arbitrary and that people living in Lekki area of the state were being segregated against and punished with the charges for houses in the area.

“Lagos State Government should revert to the status quo on the Land Use Charge. The state should expand the level of compliance of the rate rather than increasing the rate paid by the people. The Assembly should spend the next nine months for consultations rather than rushing to pass the law with an amendment,” Emadoye said.

Also, Chairman of Estate Surveyors and Valuers in Lagos State, Olurogba Orimolade, faulted the way property were being assessed in the state, adding that it should be equivalent to the annual income of the owners. He said the law did not take the Nigerian constitution into consideration.

A representative of National Association of Private School Owners, Mr. Joseph Idornigie, urged the government to exempt private schools from land use charge. He said private school owners are offering social services while parents of the children pay taxes and it would be double taxation if the schools should also pay taxes.

“In Nigeria, we run schools through money generated from parents  and the parents pay taxes. We should abolish commercial taxes from schools as schools run social services. If the government exempt places from taxes, why not schools,” he said.

But the chairman of the ad-hoc committee of the House saddled with the review of the bill, Bayo Oshinnowo, said there was no basis for the postponement of the public hearing while Obasa disclosed that only eight sections of the bill were amended. He said the supposed non-availability of the document was not enough demand for the postponement.

The response of the leadership of the House drew the ire of the stakeholders and resulted in the protest which made the lawyers stage a walk-out.

Earlier in his keynote address, Obasa said it is important for the state to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) because what the state government is getting from the Federal Government is too little.