According to report reaching oyogist.com, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, on Tuesday, kicked off the payment of the Oyo State Land Use Charge by paying bills on his private properties, charging property owners in the state to follow suit by paying their Land Use Charge.
The governor, while speaking shortly after the 11th Executive Council meeting of 2021, held at the Exco Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, maintained that the payment of the charge would help the government to generate additional revenues to develop the state.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the Executive Council also granted approvals for the commencement of the Oyo State Residents’ Registration Programme, the forwarding of three Bills to the State House of Assembly.
The bills include the State Audit Bill, Assessment and Collection of Personal Income Tax Bill and the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology Bill.
The statement indicated that the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun; Commissioner for Justice; Professor Oyelowo Oyewo; Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barr. Olasunkanmi Olaleye and his Finance counterpart, Mr. Akinola Ojo, as well as the Special Assistant to the governor on Information Communication Technology, Mr. Bayo Akande, jointly addressed the media on the different items.
The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Ojo, while explaining the Land Use Charge maintained that the charge is not a new tax and that it “is to ensure that Oyo State has the revenues required to carry out all the exceptional projects to uplift our people from poverty to prosperity.”
Ojo said that the state government has, in the last one year, embarked on data capturing and enumeration of properties, adding that the charge, which will be paid annually, has been designed in such a way that the value of properties would determine the amount to be paid.
He added that the payment could be made over a period of time, with incentives for early payment and penalties for defaulting, saying: “At the Exco today, the governor flagged off the payment of the Land Use Charge, which was one of his cardinal electioneering promises.
“He made it known that throughout the time he has been living in Oyo State, he has never received a bill for Land Use Charge. And what we have done in this administration is to enumerate all the properties in Oyo State and all the properties in the state now have a unique I.D and we have also delivered bills to every property in the state.
“The process is easy and quick. Anybody who has a smartphone can use it to take a picture of the QR code on the top right corner of the Bill. With that, you get a quick populated screen where you just need to insert some fields, capture some essential details, which is your name, email address, contact phone number, and follow the prompt. And at your convenience, you can pay your land use charge bill as long as you have an ATM card and a smartphone. That is the easiest way of paying your land use charge bill.
“You can also go to the bank if you don’t have a smartphone, present your bill and you will be allowed to pay the bill. You can also go to the Ministry of Lands, where there is a dedicated office where you can pay the bill and get the receipt.
“So, we encourage every resident of Oyo State to embrace this lofty idea and ensure that we find a way to revolutionize this state.”
