The Lagos state government (LASG) has appealed to property owners to voluntarily comply with payment of the Land Use Charge for the development of the state.

The commissioner for finance, Abayomi Oluyomi, made the appeal on Sunday evening during the Parkview Residents’ Association’s general meeting in Ikoyi.

While sensitising the property owners in the estate on the need to pay the Land Use Charge (LUC), Mr Oluyomi said the payment would enable government to address all infrastructure challenges raised at the meeting with ease.

The commissioner urged them to pay their LUC to support the state government’s development initiatives.

Mr Oluyomi said the estate was a highbrow settlement, adding that the elites who owned the properties should pay the LUC as a civic responsibility.

He added that a 15 per cent discount had been attached as an incentive to encourage payments.

“So, I am just here to appeal to you, compliance rate is too low for, particularly, elites. We shouldn’t see that in the midst of elites,” he said.

He explained the legal implications of total refusal to pay the charges while listing categories of elderly citizens and conditions for exemption for them and a few other groups.

Speaking with journalists, the commissioner said the government decided to change strategy to begin visiting residents’ associations on the axis to boost compliance.

The government flagged off the sensitisation to promote the payment of the Land Use Charge (LUC) in the state on June 24, 2024.

The government engaged 500 ad-hoc staff for awareness advocacy, which began in Lagos Island, Victoria Island, and Eti-Osa Local Government/Local Council Development Areas.

Mr Oluyomi said that there were about 200 estates on the axis, but his ministry had visited eight so far, expressing hope to cover the entire axis before the end of 2024 to boost compliance.

“Now, what we will do is to go to estates to keep on talking to them rather than just go to everybody the same day,” he said.

He explained that the ministry would prevail on residents’ associations to appeal to property owners who refused to comply.

Mr Oluyomi added that after appealing to property owners, if they still refused to comply, the ministry would go a step further to publish the names of recalcitrant owners.

He said that the state government was collaborating with the association of professional bodies of Nigeria to get the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, and financial and banking stakeholders to host a LUC workshop.

The commissioner added that the government wanted to make the sensitisation for voluntary compliance popular before exploring legal options as a last resort.

(NAN)