Churches And Mosques To Pay Tax In Lagos; Land Use Charge To Be Reviewed

Determined to jack up its internally generated revenue (IGR) for development by 100 per cent, a bill that would review Land Use Charge in the state had gone through second reading on the floor of the State House of Assembly during plenary yesterday.

The law tagged “A Bill for A Law To Repeal The Land Use Charge Law 2001 and Enact Land Use Charge 2017 and For Connected Purposes” was subsequently committed to the House Adhoc Committee on Finance headed by Hon. Yinka Ogundimu. According to the Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, the law was all about increasing the revenue generation of the state. Obasa observed that a situation where a few consultants were working with the state governments on the collection of land use charge was not good enough, calling for increase in the number of consultants.

He said: “We need more consultants to do the job so that the entire state could be covered in the collection of land use charge. Whatever tribunal that would be set wup to deal with offenders should have the support of the government. “On the issue of exemptions, we cannot exempt religious organisations because most of the worship centres are making money. We could only exempt Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).” Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade had informed the House that the Bill would be going through second reading.