Popular public affairs commentator and veteran journalist
Jimi Disu bared his heart to the Akinwunmi Ambode-led Lagos State
Government in the popular Front Page Comment, a morning newspaper
review programme on Classic FM.
Disu was analysing a news story in the dailies about the
increase in Land Use charges in Lagos. This was the major issue
Disu and Bukola analysed on the day. Many Lagos residents reacted
and today we published some of their reaction to the usual
insightful analysis of Disu. The headline of the story in the Punch
Newspaper read this: Lagos State government commends residents for
paying land use tax.
According to the Punch, the Lagos government on Wednesday
applauded property owners and occupiers in the state for trooping
into designated banks in fulfilment of their civic duties. The
turn-out followed the launching of the payment platform by the
state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode. Part of the story reads that a
renowned comedian and resident of the state, Mr. Gbenga Adeyinka
who paid his land use tax on Tuesday said massive payment of the
levy would enable government to embark on more infrastructural
projects for better living conditions.
Disu made the following comments in his analysis:
“I will like to plead with the Lagos State government officials
to always try and do the right thing or ask for advice when issues
like these come up. The Lagos state government introduced a new
system of paying for land use and that has been virtually condemned
by almost everybody in the state in the sense that the new rates
are more than punitive. For example, someone called in to say he
used to pay N58,000 before, but now has a bill of more than
N400,000.
In any business transaction, an increment of about N400,000 to
N500,000 is completely unacceptable. If you’re paying a rent of
N100,000 per annum, your landlord cannot increase the rent to
N500,000 per annum. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce issued a
statement that they are even going to court. Most people see these
new charges as punitive and that is very clear.
Now the usual manner in which government officials react to this
is, they see it as a challenge. Rather than take a second look and
say to themselves ‘How best can we handle this situation so that
it’s a win-win situation for everybody?’ The same headline in all
the papers tells me that it is a planted story and I’m surprised
they fell for this because it is the same photograph of Gbenga
Adeyinka you have across all the newspapers, so he’s being used….
And the issue is beyond that.
What you have is that in most cases, people are not even in a
position to pay and it’s going to reflect on rents. What is typical
in Nigeria is that everybody wants to defend the boss. ‘Since the
governor has put this in place, it will be bad for him to retrace
his steps’… I think the governor who luckily is an accountant,
should take a second look at these land use charges. They are
punitive. You’re going to have a lot of defaults therein, no doubt.
Most of the houses where he wants to get the highest charges from
are empty – go to Ikoyi, VGC, all these houses are empty.
You have a crisis on your hands and you need all the ingenuity
under the sun to resolve that crisis. You cannot be hard on your
citizens. If you have very good consumer protection laws, for
example, a landlord cannot just increase his rent from N58,000 to
N400,000. So why should the government be seen as doing this? I buy
their argument, but you must find a way to make life bearable and
tolerable for citizens. And the typical thing is officials will
always be thinking about the governor “We cannot afford to
embarrass the governor in this instance” . And so what do they do?
They go on publicity. The publicity is not going to bring out any
money I don’t have from my pocket. That is the reality. Am I going
to get a bank loan because I want to pay for land use charge?
Definitely not! The approach is wrong and I’m sorry I have to do
this again and again and again.
If Gbenga Adeyinka has paid his land use charge, what has that
got to do with me? Is Gbenga Adeyinka going to put money in my
pocket? The whole attitude is completely wrong. Luckily the
governor is an accountant. He needs to sit and take charge of this
process because the truth of the matter is, if you spend more of
government money on publicity and getting people to endorse what
you’re doing, it’s not going to put money in the pockets of the
landowners.
For the Chamber of Commerce to have gotten up within a week to
make a definite statement, that they were even ready to go to court
to get to the bottom of all these should give the governor some
concern.
So my message this morning to His Excellency is that, please
take control of this process. Luckily, as God would have it, you’re
an accountant. Bring people from the private sector – consultants…
and see how you can make this more realistic for people to adhere
to or else, I can assure you what they are going to have is a lot
of default. I also think that generally Lagos state has to be a bit
careful, there are a few things happening that are making life more
difficult for Nigerians. I think we need to get our priorities
right in this state.
Reactions….
Sylvester Steve Obiakor sends a message which says “Is there no
legislation controlling these government charges and fees or the
government is just arbitrarily increasing charges?”
Jimi Disu: To be fair to the government, it’s not as arbitrary
as you might think, but the bottom line is, that is the
responsibility of the government – To make life bearable for its
citizens. The government must do something.
Laws are made for men, men are not made for laws. It is the
system that was put in place that brought about that. It’s a bit
technical, I don’t want to go into that. But it’s not as if the
government just decided to… Where I’m going is, first of all, you
need to explain it to the people. But most importantly, if that
system is not working, choke it! It’s going to break the backs of a
lot of our citizens and I don’t think the government will want to
inflict pain on the citizens, because we have enough pain around
us. I also want to plead with the handlers of the governor to be a
bit more creative in some of the things they do. That a comedian
has paid his land use charge is neither here nor there.
Akugbe Daniel says “So they used a comedian as their
poster-boy…
Jimi Disu: While we are at it, I think the press need to be very
careful about their relationship with politicians. We need to be
extra careful, even if we have them as friends and whatever… The
press should not be against the government, we should work hand in
hand, but part of our job is to tell these people some home truths.
Remember that the intents of the politicians might not necessarily
align with yours, so you have to be very careful. I don’t mean that
you should be antagonistic at all times. The same story and
photograph is in about three to four papers… Is there also a pun in
using a comedian?
Another person says “What is the penalty for not paying the land
use charge because I can tell you categorically that most people
won’t pay?”
Jimi Disu: It’s not that they won’t pay, but it’s that that they
won’t be in a position to pay. The truth of the matter is most
people may not have the capacity to pay.
Radioman says ‘The challenge with the government today in Lagos
is the fact that they think Lagos state is their birthright. They
need another party to give them a good run for their money.
Loius says “Governor Ambode is taking Lagosians for granted with
some of his policies”
Jimi Disu: That’s why I say to people “Know the honourable in
your neighbourhood”. He’s there to protect your interest, that’s
what you voted him in for.
Michael says “It has become the norm for Lagos state government
to use celebrities in endorsing some distasteful policies”
Jimi Disu: I don’t think I will go as far as call it a
distasteful policy because the truth is you must pay land use
charge. But I think that the government must also protect its
citizens and as for using comedians I don’t see anything wrong with
that.
Popular public affairs commentator and veteran journalist
Jimi Disu bared his heart to the Akinwunmi Ambode-led Lagos State
Government in the popular Front Page Comment, a morning newspaper
review programme on Classic FM.
Disu was analysing a news story in the dailies about the
increase in Land Use charges in Lagos. This was the major issue
Disu and Bukola analysed on the day. Many Lagos residents reacted
and today we published some of their reaction to the usual
insightful analysis of Disu. The headline of the story in the Punch
Newspaper read this: Lagos State government commends residents for
paying land use tax.
According to the Punch, the Lagos government on Wednesday
applauded property owners and occupiers in the state for trooping
into designated banks in fulfilment of their civic duties. The
turn-out followed the launching of the payment platform by the
state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode. Part of the story reads that a
renowned comedian and resident of the state, Mr. Gbenga Adeyinka
who paid his land use tax on Tuesday said massive payment of the
levy would enable government to embark on more infrastructural
projects for better living conditions.
Disu made the following comments in his analysis:
“I will like to plead with the Lagos State government officials
to always try and do the right thing or ask for advice when issues
like these come up. The Lagos state government introduced a new
system of paying for land use and that has been virtually condemned
by almost everybody in the state in the sense that the new rates
are more than punitive. For example, someone called in to say he
used to pay N58,000 before, but now has a bill of more than
N400,000.
In any business transaction, an increment of about N400,000 to
N500,000 is completely unacceptable. If you’re paying a rent of
N100,000 per annum, your landlord cannot increase the rent to
N500,000 per annum. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce issued a
statement that they are even going to court. Most people see these
new charges as punitive and that is very clear.
Now the usual manner in which government officials react to this
is, they see it as a challenge. Rather than take a second look and
say to themselves ‘How best can we handle this situation so that
it’s a win-win situation for everybody?’ The same headline in all
the papers tells me that it is a planted story and I’m surprised
they fell for this because it is the same photograph of Gbenga
Adeyinka you have across all the newspapers, so he’s being used….
And the issue is beyond that.
What you have is that in most cases, people are not even in a
position to pay and it’s going to reflect on rents. What is typical
in Nigeria is that everybody wants to defend the boss. ‘Since the
governor has put this in place, it will be bad for him to retrace
his steps’… I think the governor who luckily is an accountant,
should take a second look at these land use charges. They are
punitive. You’re going to have a lot of defaults therein, no doubt.
Most of the houses where he wants to get the highest charges from
are empty – go to Ikoyi, VGC, all these houses are empty.
You have a crisis on your hands and you need all the ingenuity
under the sun to resolve that crisis. You cannot be hard on your
citizens. If you have very good consumer protection laws, for
example, a landlord cannot just increase his rent from N58,000 to
N400,000. So why should the government be seen as doing this? I buy
their argument, but you must find a way to make life bearable and
tolerable for citizens. And the typical thing is officials will
always be thinking about the governor “We cannot afford to
embarrass the governor in this instance” . And so what do they do?
They go on publicity. The publicity is not going to bring out any
money I don’t have from my pocket. That is the reality. Am I going
to get a bank loan because I want to pay for land use charge?
Definitely not! The approach is wrong and I’m sorry I have to do
this again and again and again.
If Gbenga Adeyinka has paid his land use charge, what has that
got to do with me? Is Gbenga Adeyinka going to put money in my
pocket? The whole attitude is completely wrong. Luckily the
governor is an accountant. He needs to sit and take charge of this
process because the truth of the matter is, if you spend more of
government money on publicity and getting people to endorse what
you’re doing, it’s not going to put money in the pockets of the
landowners.
For the Chamber of Commerce to have gotten up within a week to
make a definite statement, that they were even ready to go to court
to get to the bottom of all these should give the governor some
concern.
So my message this morning to His Excellency is that, please
take control of this process. Luckily, as God would have it, you’re
an accountant. Bring people from the private sector – consultants…
and see how you can make this more realistic for people to adhere
to or else, I can assure you what they are going to have is a lot
of default. I also think that generally Lagos state has to be a bit
careful, there are a few things happening that are making life more
difficult for Nigerians. I think we need to get our priorities
right in this state.
Reactions….
Sylvester Steve Obiakor sends a message which says “Is there no
legislation controlling these government charges and fees or the
government is just arbitrarily increasing charges?”
Jimi Disu: To be fair to the government, it’s not as arbitrary
as you might think, but the bottom line is, that is the
responsibility of the government – To make life bearable for its
citizens. The government must do something.
Laws are made for men, men are not made for laws. It is the
system that was put in place that brought about that. It’s a bit
technical, I don’t want to go into that. But it’s not as if the
government just decided to… Where I’m going is, first of all, you
need to explain it to the people. But most importantly, if that
system is not working, choke it! It’s going to break the backs of a
lot of our citizens and I don’t think the government will want to
inflict pain on the citizens, because we have enough pain around
us. I also want to plead with the handlers of the governor to be a
bit more creative in some of the things they do. That a comedian
has paid his land use charge is neither here nor there.
Akugbe Daniel says “So they used a comedian as their
poster-boy…
Jimi Disu: While we are at it, I think the press need to be very
careful about their relationship with politicians. We need to be
extra careful, even if we have them as friends and whatever… The
press should not be against the government, we should work hand in
hand, but part of our job is to tell these people some home truths.
Remember that the intents of the politicians might not necessarily
align with yours, so you have to be very careful. I don’t mean that
you should be antagonistic at all times. The same story and
photograph is in about three to four papers… Is there also a pun in
using a comedian?
Another person says “What is the penalty for not paying the land
use charge because I can tell you categorically that most people
won’t pay?”
Jimi Disu: It’s not that they won’t pay, but it’s that that they
won’t be in a position to pay. The truth of the matter is most
people may not have the capacity to pay.
Radioman says ‘The challenge with the government today in Lagos
is the fact that they think Lagos state is their birthright. They
need another party to give them a good run for their money.
Loius says “Governor Ambode is taking Lagosians for granted with
some of his policies”
Jimi Disu: That’s why I say to people “Know the honourable in
your neighbourhood”. He’s there to protect your interest, that’s
what you voted him in for.
Michael says “It has become the norm for Lagos state government
to use celebrities in endorsing some distasteful policies”
Jimi Disu: I don’t think I will go as far as call it a
distasteful policy because the truth is you must pay land use
charge. But I think that the government must also protect its
citizens and as for using comedians I don’t see anything wrong with
that.