Osun plans land use charge law to boost revenue

The Osun State Government has sent a Land Use Charge bill
to the state House of Assembly for passage into law.
The Deputy Governor of the state, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori,
said at the public hearing session organised by the House of
Assembly on the bill on Tuesday, that the state government
decided to introduce the law to make property owners pay
certain amount of levy on their property.
The deputy governor said the state needed to look inwards
to boost its Internally Generated Revenue to augment its
federal allocation.
“ Oil price has been hovering at fourty-something dollars per
barrel for quite a while now. People are not buying oil again
despite that we are approaching winter when the price is
supposed to be high but the price is still low.
“Apart from the land use charge, taxation is another one.
Tax is what we use to transform the state,” she said.
The deputy governor added that the state government was
also looking into mineral resources and tourist sites in the
state to generate more revenue for its development.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Najeem Salaam,
said the bill would assist in increasing the IGR of the state if
it was passed into law.
The Speaker said the lawmakers organised the public
bearing to give the people of the state the opportunity to
have inputs into the law-making process.
He said now that the revenue accruable to the state could no
longer sustain the desired development, there was the need
to look inwards to be able to generate more revenue.
The representative of the Nigerian Institution of Estate
Surveyors and Valuers, Dr. Bioye Tajudeen, said the
proposed law was good but the government should consider
the high level of poverty in the state.
Tajudeen said, “The Land Use Charge Bill proposes formula
to determine the annual charge rate. We, the Nigerian
Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers in Osun State,
however, recommend the use of valuation list to determine
the annual charge rate.
“ A valuation list prepared by the registered estate
surveyors and valuers should serve as a basis for
determining the land use charge in this state and should be
reviewed and updated every calendar year.”
He said the bill should exempt places of worship from
paying rates but schools and other business interests owned
by religious organisations should be made to pay rates.