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Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has commended religious bodies in the state for their support of the amended Land Use Charge and their unanimous endorsement of his second term in office.
His message was conveyed to the clergymen by the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr. AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef, who expressed the appreciation of the state government to the body of religious leaders over their position on the issues.
While delivering the governor’s goodwill message to the religious leaders at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in Alausa, Dr. AbdulLateef stated that governor Ambode remained focused on socio-economic and infrastructural transformation of citizens’ lives.
He said in the efforts to make Lagos the second largest economy in Africa, Ambode’s government would continue to count on the full support of faith-based organisations and all other groups.
Present at the quarterly meeting of stakeholders/leaders of religious and faith-based organisations, were representatives from all the 20 Local Government and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the state.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Taxation and Revenue,Mr. Abdul Fatai Lasisi, says that the Revised Land Use Charge was grossly misunderstood by the people, “even when it had a lot of benefits and was relatively easy to understand.”
Lasisi stressed that government would remain focused to ensuring that policies continued to favour residents.
” Only about 700,000 tenements in Lagos have been captured in tax-net, which was quite low, considering the estimated number of houses in built-up areas across the state,” he said.
While highlighting the benefits of the new revised law, Lasisi said “it is a very creative piece of Legislation, as it is scientific, predictable, easier for self-assessment, more harmonised, relatively cheaper and affordable.”
He went on to say that the law granted “general and specific reliefs,” which could be as high as 45 percent in some cases such as pensioners of 60 years and above, owner-occupiers who are over 10 years in same properties, persons with disability, senior citizens above 70 years and non-profit making organisations.
To the cheering audience, he said some properties, such as state-owned, public cemeteries and burial grounds, buildings used as public libraries and all places recognised to be occupied by Obas and Chiefs in the state are exempted from payment of the Land Use Charge.
