By YINKA KOLAWOLE

Lagos State government has unveiled plans aimed at achieving its targeted revenue of N12 billion to be generated from property levies under the State’s Land Use Charge law.

The law was established by the State to harmonise existing land charges such as tenement rate, development charges, ground rates and neighbourhood improvement charges.

Managing Director, Lagos State Office of Land Use Charge, Mr. Dele Ibrahim, during a recent awareness and sensitisation roadshow, said that the agency has embarked on the campaign to create awareness of the benefits derivable from complying with the law.

He noted that a marked improvement in compliance with the law has been recorded of recent, while still charging officials to do more to further boost the compliance level.

He further noted complaints of the challenges of inadequate access in some banks due to poor network. “We have a huge mandate to achieve the N12 billion target but I still believe this market can generate over N25 billion. The compliance level is presently at 27 per cent and is rising.

We have to work harder to improve on the revenue collected so as to support infrastructure growth,” he asserted.

Ibrahim said the law made provision for the consolidation of all property and land based rates and charges payable under the land rates law, the neigbourhood improvement charge law and tenement rates law in Lagos into a new land based charge called property land use charge.

He said it also includes the assessment of chargeable properties and identification to ascertain those that qualify for exemption or tax.

According to him, charges for Owner-Occupied residential property is 0.0394 per cent per annum of the assessed property value; industrial premises of manufacturing concerns, 0.132 per cent; residential property/commercial, 0.394 per cent; while commercial property used by occupier for business purposes attracts 0.394 per cent.

Ibrahim charged officers of the agency to maintain the core values of the agency, which according to him, are integrity, efficiency, professionalism and discipline.