The controversy over the decision to increase Land Use Charge in Lagos State, which culminated in protests from some segments of the state’s population last month, incidentally threw up a picture of the state government that many Lagos residents were hitherto not very familiar with. It showed the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration as a listening one that is ready to address the concerns of the people. Although the state’s House of Assembly which reviewed the former Lagos Land Use Act 2001 to provide for the increases in the new Land Use Law 2018, and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who signed the bill into law, had initially attributed the increase to the urgent need to generate funds to boost the infrastructural development of the state, they have also gone further to address the fears of the people at different fora, including a public hearing and critical engagements with other stakeholders.
At one of such engagements with media professionals at Ikeja, the state capital, recently, members of the state cabinet, including the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, the state Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade; the Commissioner for Housing, Prince Gbolahan Lawal; the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Ladi Lawanson; Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, were on hand to further say why the increase became imperative, and why Lagosians should support the initiative in the overall best interest of the entire residents of the state.
These members of the state cabinet went to great lengths to explain the serious problems facing the state and the need to source money to address the various developmental challenges and fund the massive programmes of their different ministries and the state’s local governments. The Housing Commissioner spoke eloquently about the huge housing gap in the state which the administration plans to bridge with about 185,500 housing units yearly in the next five years through the Lagos HOMS programme, which he said now has a rent-to-own option.
The Commissioner for Transportation spoke about the plan to introduce 800 new buses to address the urgent transportation challenge in the state in the next few months and the need to dredge the waterways and provide more water transportation facilities; build more overhead bridges and U-turns to check the perennial Lagos traffic snarls and introduce automatic licence plate number identifier technology, traffic surveillance cameras, speed control sensors, and other such facilities to properly manage transportation in the state.
The state also has plans to get more vehicles and yellows buses off the roads, build bus shelters and parks, and terminals. There is also a plan for movement of goods from the Apapa seaports by barges to other ports in Ikorodu, Epe etc to ease the Apapa traffic gridlock and free Western Avenue from traffic hold ups.
There are also the ongoing Blue Line and Red Line projects, since rail transportation is about the best means of moving large numbers of people. The Finance Commissioner also spoke about the need for massive investments in the provision of security infrastructure; job creation, public infrastructure such as roads and bridges; other government schemes such as the Lekki Master Plan.
The main thrust of the Lagos top officials’ discourse on the increased Land Use Charge is the need for understanding by property owners in the state. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, at a public hearing, also spoke on the fact that the Land Use Act 2001 which provided for an increase in land charges every five years had not been reviewed in the last 16 years, until the House of Assembly started working on the latest increase in 2017. The law also exempts worship centres and certain categories of pensioners from the tax.
Overall , certain facts emerged from the Lagos Land Use Charge brouhaha. First, is that Lagos as an aspiring megacity, has many infrastructural and social needs which require huge funds to provide. Second, is that the funding of these needs cannot be fully sourced from the money accruing to the state from the Federation Account. So, Lagosians, especially the moneyed class and commercial property owners, will need to support the state to meet these needs through schemes such as the Land Use Charge.
The uproar that attended the increased charges is, however, understandable in view of the general economic downturn that negatively affected the finances of many Nigerians. The Federal and all state governments should, therefore, live up to their responsibility and provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive to enhance the people’s capacity to meet their tax obligations. Although some supporters of the state government have harped on the fact that rich Nigerians do not like to pay their taxes, it is important for the state authorities to also recognize that it is difficult for citizens to pay taxes when the general economy is in a shambles and the people are only managing to feed and stay afloat in expectation of better days. The government should, therefore, work harder to get the economy back on even keel to help the people pay their taxes. The taxes should also be made to be seen working for the people and making their lives easier to reduce the incidence of tax evasion and tax avoidance.
The Lagos Land Use Charge Law 2018 is based on the value of all taxable property in the state, as determined by registered estate valuers. It had, initially, elicited anger among many Lagos house owners, with the Ikeja branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), leading the protest.
The law, which consolidates ground rent, tenement rate and neighborhood improvement levy into one charge, essentially provides for different charges for different occupancy modes of houses in the state. For instance, the rate for an owner-occupier is 0.076 per cent of 60% of the estimated value of the house, which comes to N9,120 for a property valued at N20millon. It would appear, therefore, that the anger that the increase generated, has more to do with the general economic difficulties in the country at this time, than the actual increase, which is significantly high for those who have many years of unpaid charges.
One thing that is clear from this incident is that the state government is passionate about developing the state, and is in a great hurry to do so. It is also seeking the support of the people in this regard. Unfortunately, the many decades of insensitivity of various levels of government in the country to the citizens’ needs has led to a general distrust of our governments. Lagos State and all other governments in the country have a responsibility to rebuild this trust so that Nigerians can begin to see some sense in paying their taxes.