Enugu govt targets N20b land use charge in 800,000 properties

The Enugu State Internal Revenue Service, or ENIRS, has announced that beginning June 1, 2024, it will begin collecting Land Use Charge on all 800,000 properties enumerated in the state’s 17 local government areas.

Mr. Emmanuel Nnamani, Chairman of the Service, stated in a press briefing in Enugu on Wednesday that the state government expects to collect more than N20 billion from the tax system in the remaining part of the year, which he stressed differs from ground rents paid to landowners such as the Ministry of Lands or Housing Development Corporations.

Nnamani stated that the Geographic Information System, or GIS, was used to capture the affected properties in the state, including ancestral homes in the villages, which will all pay the Land Use Charge or be compelled by revenue courts or other forms of enforcement, such as sealing or revocation.

He explained that while upscale places in big centres such as GRA, New Haven, and Independence layout will pay greater taxes, suburbs such as Abakpa and Emene will pay less money under the state’s 56 categorised zones.

According to Nnamani:

“The Land Use Charge is the main stay of the economy which was not scaled up but the Governor has directed that we should scale it up and what we did was to buy into the GIS that showed all the properties in Enugu state, within the metropolises and even in the villages.

“All the properties in our state now have identifiable head counts and have been programmed into the system. The GIS will help us to generate demand notices, identify each property in the state. The Governor promised a disruptive innovation and the GIS is part of that for management of our land properties.

“The GIS that we want to launch on June 1will also help us in the near future to enable citizens apply for Certificate of Occupancies without going to the ministry of Lands.

“Earlier than now the land use charge was essentially paid by commercial bodies but now the fee applicable to each property is dependent on the value of the land in that particular location. The charge is categorized into residential, industrial and commercial areas. While the charge for properties in GRA areas is fairly over N200,000; Trans Ekulu areas is about N76,000 per annum, and the charge in Abakapa is about N36,000.”

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cc: Vanguard Ng