“So somebody comes and says that we have increased by 400 per cent. The 400 per cent of what? You were paying ten thousand naira before, we say you should pay fifty thousand naira, you are saying, you are calculating and turning statistics upside down by saying it is 400 per cent. Is it still not still small?”
While N50,000 may mean nothing to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the people in that hall who were nodding and applauding him, N50, 000 means a big deal to some people. Many of whom came out to vote him into power in 2015. Mr. Governor, 400 per cent is 400 per cent whether it is an increase on five naira or five million naira. Granted, the charge has been reduced.
“But you know the truth, pensioners, you don’t need to pay; owner-occupier is just point something percent; churches, mosque, NGOs, government institutions, is free. So who is going to take care of the ones that are free? if you are owner-occupier, you don’t need to pay, so it’s the commercial part that people are shouting.”
It seems that the governor and all the people around him forget or refuse to avert their minds to the fact that most owners of these commercial properties that are supposed to bear the weight of this charge will shift the liability to their tenants either directly or indirectly. Whether the bill is given to the tenants to settle or the landlord increases rents to meet his new liability, or industries factor it into their cost of production, it is the same people who they expect to deliver votes for them next year that will suffer. A government should take care not to enact laws that have a contradictory effect on existing laws. The effect of this law is contrary to the spirit of Section 37(1) the Tenancy Law of 2011 which protects tenants from unreasonable increase in rent in the areas where the law applies.
“So but the truth is this, that is the real story. Pensioners, eh, owner-occupier, they don’t really pay anything and all that, so why have we increased? We should have been doing it every five years, but I am looking at it, if I must sustain, according to what Mr Napoleon referred to, if I want to sustain the level of my vision, I have to throw something back to people. I don’t need to come and meet you if I continue to borrow money…”
Mr. Governor, whose fault is it that the charge was not reviewed as planned? No one considered that a phased implementation of the increase would be more acceptable? Unless a person or business is minting money, the sums on the bills that have been sent out even with the subsequent 50% decrease will shock their system.
“Shouldn’t somebody be able to tell you the bitter truth? And then let’s say let’s sacrifice together. That’s what we have done here. The number of people that are really affected in all these commercial transactions, they are like 300,000 against 34 million. Because almost every other thing in the Land Use Charge is technically free. And then you know, they have the resources to attack us. So they will just, you know, scaremongering and blackmail and everything, but we are ready for dialogue. That’s the bottom line. (applause)”
There is no scaremongering going on in Lagos. The only people who believed that the noise was all scaremongering and blackmail are people who had not received a bill from the Land Use Charge office. When a smoke alarm is set off, it is a warning sign that there is danger. A blaring smoke alarm is a call to action, to find the source of the smoke and contain the problem to prevent a fire that could burn down the building. Social media may make the Government jittery, but it is the smoke alarm for these times. Lagos is about to burn to the ground, Mr. Governor. It would be a good idea to pay attention to the smoke alarm.
The bitter truth, Mr. Governor, is that you and all the architects of the new law missed the mark on this one. This law and what it represents is the banana peel that you carelessly tossed on your way to the 2019 polls. You have slipped on an obstacle of your own creation, and whether you and your party get up with just a bruised knee or a multiple-fractured ankle is in the hands of the people, and only time will tell.
If the Lagos State Government cared about the welfare of its citizens, dialogue should have taken place before, not after, the law was passed. Yes, the land use rates have been reduced and the people have been given an option of paying in instalments and we are supposed to applaud. But we must still ask a few questions. Who are the stakeholders that influenced the reduction of the charge? Why were these stakeholders not consulted in the first place? On what basis was the charge reduced by 50% or is this some arbitrary figure that was settled upon to keep the people quiet until 2019? What is Lagos doing with all the money that it has collected thus far? It is not enough to reclaim lands from the ocean and make the rich comfortable; the dividends of good governance and infrastructure must reach every corner of the state and I know that I speak for Apapa residents when I say that we are yet to feel the benefits of living in this “progressive” state. And finally, what exactly does this reduction in the rate mean? Will there be a repeal of the law? An amendment? Or is this the case of the rat that blows soothingly as it bites the skin off your foot? Forgive me if I am not excited about the governor’s subsequent announcement on the reduction of the Land Use Charge. With Lagos State being as opaque as it is, you will understand my apprehension.
Concluded
END
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