• Assembly to review Land Use Charge
Moshood Adebayo; Chinelo Obogo
Lagos State Government has advised residents of Olusosun Dumpsite to temporarily relocate to other areas, to avoid health hazard occasioned by smoke emanating from the dumpsite.
Daily Sun observed, yesterday, that thick smoke continued to envelope surrounding communities including Oregun, Ojota, Ketu, Alausa and Olusosun, from where fire erupted last Wednesday.
Fire bellowed from the site, which necessitated Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to visit the site, during which he ordered closure of the dumpsite. He also urged operators to make use of the Epe landfill and other dumpsites in the state.
Director General of Lagos State Safety Commission, Hakeem Dickson, during a press conference on Vision Zero, at Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday, advised residents to relocate in their own interest.
He said: “It is advisable for residents of the area to temporarily relocate from the area pending when the fume will subside, then, they can return to their bases. Another option is for them to always close their windows because of the poisonous fumes from the thick smoke from the site.”
Meanwhile, the House of Assembly has constituted a six-man committee to review the controversial Land Use Charge law in the state.
Speaker Mudashiru Obasa said at plenary, yesterday, that following public outcry over the 400 percent increase in the Land Use Charge, in the state there is need for the House to review the law.
Said Obasa: “We need to look at the law again. We need an adhoc committee to look at the law to amend it based on the opinion of the people. People should, however, know that there is opportunity for them to contribute to the lawmaking process, during stakeholders meetings.
“If people had come forward before the Land Use Charge was passed into law, they would have offered their suggestions rather than complaining later,” he said.
The review committee is chaired by Sikiru Oshinowo and it was directed to organise a stakeholders’ meeting between Thursday and next Monday and report back to the House in two weeks.
The state government recently increased the Land Use Charge by 400 per cent, motor rate taxes by over 600 percent, court fees by over 500 percent and bore hole taxes by 1000 percent.
The action elicited public outcry and prompted the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) to embark on a peaceful protest, with various human rights groups, from its secretariat in Ikeja to the Government House at Alausa.