THE Lagos State Government on Wednesday reviewed the 2018 Land Use Charge, stating the decision was to reduce the financial pressure on Lagosians relating to land use.
The state government in a statement signed by Dr. Rabiu Olowo, its Commissioner for Finance, explained that it is imperative to review the land use charge due to the high rate of the Land Use Charge in the state.
“In 2018, there was an increase in Land Use Charge rate as well as the method of valuation of properties, this shock had a sporadic increase in Land Use Charge payable by property owners,” Olowo said.
“In view of the aforementioned, the current administration decided to review the Land Use Charge law by reversing the rate of Land Use Charge to pre-2018 while upholding the 2018 method of valuation.”
He stated that penalties for Land Use Charges for year 2017, 2018 and 2019 have also been waived, which translates to N5,752,168,411.03 potential revenue waived by the state.
The Commissioner also disclosed that, “in additional to the re-introduction of the 15 per cent early payment discount, an additional COVID-19 incentive of 10 per cent would be granted on the total amount payable.
This makes the total discount for early payment 25% if payment is made before due date, he said.
He, however, added that the penalty for obstruction of officials and damage to property identification plague has been reduced from N250,000 to N100,000 while penalty for inciting a person to refuse to pay LUC has been reduced from N250,000 to N100,000.
Meanwhile, the 2020 LUC Law introduced a 10 per cent and 20 per cent special relief for Vacant properties and Open empty land, respectively.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via niyioyedeji1@gmail.com. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.