The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Friday described the continuous operation of the Federal Land Registry in Lagos as an aberration which the current ongoing constitutional amendment process must address in line with the principle of fiscal federalism.

Speaking at a joint working retreat of Senate and House Representatives Committees on the Review of 1999 Constitution held in Lagos, Mr. Ambode also called on the National Assembly to jettison the proposed Stamp duties Bill currently being considered, which according to him, would cripple the internally generated revenue due to states in the federation if allowed to scale through.

While faulting the Federal Land Registry in Lagos which was established when Lagos was the Federal Capital Territory, the governor said the continuous operation of the registry was an aberration and it ought to have been closed and all title therein moved to the Lagos State Land Registry, urging the federal lawmakers to urgently correct the anomaly.

He also called for the restriction of Land Use Act only to the Federal Capital Territory on the basis of the fact that land had always been and should remain a residual matter for the State Houses of Assembly to legislate upon, hence the need for the Act to become Land Use law of the states.

On the Stamp Duties Bill, the Governor said: “I will also like to express the imminent dangers inherent in the proposed Stamp duties Bill which no doubt seeks to cripple the internally generated revenue due to states in the federation in favour of a federal government agency- NIPOST.

“The Bill is presently before the National Assembly and it is a grave threat to the principles of fiscal federalism and as representatives of the true beneficiaries of the Act as it presently stands, there is need to put an urgent and immediate end to its further coordination by the National Assembly which also has the noble tradition that once a matter is before the Court, all activities on the matter would be suspended.”

He said the call became imperative in view of a case currently pending before the Supreme Court between Lagos State Government’s Attorney General and Attorney General of the Federation.

While highlighting some of the unhelpful provisions in the constitution, Mr. Ambode attributed the imbalance in the financial resources of states and local governments to the current unhealthy revenue sharing formula which is heavily tilted in favour of the federal government, calling for an urgent review to enable other tiers of government realise their potentials and accelerate growth and development.

He said: “The current revenue allocation formula by which the federal government takes as much as 52.68 per cent of centrally-collected revenues in the Federation Account, leaving the states and local governments with 26.72 per cent and 20.60 per cent respectively has created a glaring and unacceptable imbalance in the financial resources of the three tiers of government.

“The sharing formula should be limited to federal and state governments. Since local governments are to come under the purview of the states, allocations to them should be shared to states as they can have as many local governments as they wish. The 774 formula is inequitable.”

Governor Ambode also reinstated his call for special status to be granted to Lagos in the proposed constitutional amendment being the former federal capital territory of Nigeria, the economic and commercial nerve centre of the nation, and taking into cognisance the high population density and continuous influx of people into the state.

He said such was even more important considering the fact that whatever comes to Lagos would be in the overall interest of all Nigerians, as the state holds the trigger of Nigeria’s growth and development.

Besides, Mr. Ambode said it was time for Section 214 (1) of the constitution to be amended to allow states to establish their own police service, as the current arrangement was unhelpful to truly protect the citizens.

He said over the years, the federal government had been unable to provide resources necessary to pay, equip and train police officers to the level required by the challenges they face, adding that the situation whereby only about 300,000 policemen are policing more than 140 million which is a ratio of 1 to 467, confirmed the fact that the country was grossly under-policed.

He said the situation had negatively affected states like Lagos with huge population saying despite the massive financial support to security agencies by most states including Lagos, such was still inadequate mainly because state governments have no influence over the number of officials recruited or deployed to their domains.

Blue3k:
Don't trust these state governors any restructuring without fiscal automony is a joke. Eliminate joint account provision The call for decentralized police force us excellent. Local policing by local government would be great. The land use act is stupid the people should hold their own land and mineral rights not government. State and local government regulating land is much better.

I don't agree with special status call. You used to be a capital so what. Your taxes from population and infrastructure projects should accomadate population growth. This is just self serving measure and rightly tossed in busses by mass as whole.



Davidif Omohayek: story for you.

Blue3k:
Don't trust these state governors any restructuring without fiscal automony is a joke. Eliminate joint account provision The call for decentralized police force us excellent. Local policing by local government would be great. The land use act is stupid the people should hold their own land and mineral rights not government. State and local government regulating land is much better.

I don't agree with special status call. You used to be a capital so what. Your taxes from population and infrastructure projects should accomadate population growth. This is just self serving measure and rightly tossed in busses by mass as whole.



Davidif Omohayek: story for you.

Blue3k:


Source: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/236915-constitutional-amendment-federal-land-registry-land-use-act-must-disbanded-ambode.html

Front page: Mynd44 Lalasticlala

davidif:


He is wrong! was in Lagos not too long ago and I found out that the govts raise revenue via taxes and gives it to the state which turns around and gives it to the local governments which is so dumb.

omohayek:

LGAs which can't or won't raise the necessary taxes to fund their own operations should simply be merged with others, so that we don't end up with a situation in which LGA elections also become "do or die" affairs because everybody wants their chance to steal "free" money from Abuja.

omohayek:
While I agree with Ambode that the Land Use Act needs to go, I strongly disagree with his suggested replacement. Why should the state governors, using the legislatures they control, be given even more freedom to act like mini-dictators?

What needs to replace the Land Use Act is to make clear and easy provision for individuals to acquire perpetual title to land, and to then dispose of said land as they please, whether by sale, gifting it or whatever. It should be made much harder for politicians to interfere with individual property rights except where eminent domain clearly applies, and een then individuals should be entitled to receive fair market value (as assessed by an agency independent from the government) for the land taken from them.

Of course, all of the above is what one would wish for in a sane country whose leaders are actually serious about making the citizens lives better, rather than merely searching for new opportunities to steal. As such I don't expect any governors, senators or house members to come forward in favor of individual land rights.

davidif:


He is wrong! Land should go to the people or their local communities not the state (except for small strategic areas designated as federal lands for national security). I was in Lagos not too long ago and I found out that the state raises revenue via taxes and then turns around gives it to the local governments which is so dumb. LGA's should be able raise their own revenue and provide services for their constituents this way you encourage civic participation by the people and reduce the possibility of money passing through many hands.

OAFMods:


How does it operate in the state you came from to Lagos ? Guess the LGA's over there generate it's own revenue n all the civic participation theory bla bla bla.
Remove the log in the eye of your state or shut it.

omohayek:
While I agree with Ambode that the Land Use Act needs to go, I strongly disagree with his suggested replacement. Why should the state governors, using the legislatures they control, be given even more freedom to act like mini-dictators?

What needs to replace the Land Use Act is to make clear and easy provision for individuals to acquire perpetual title to land, and to then dispose of said land as they please, whether by sale, gifting it or whatever. It should be made much harder for politicians to interfere with individual property rights except where eminent domain clearly applies, and een then individuals should be entitled to receive fair market value (as assessed by an agency independent from the government) for the land taken from them.

Of course, all of the above is what one would wish for in a sane country whose leaders are actually serious about making the citizens lives better, rather than merely searching for new opportunities to steal. As such I don't expect any governors, senators or house members to come forward in favor of individual land rights.

davidif:
I wish more Nigerians were really passionate about this issue cos property rights is the most foundational building block of any successful economy without it, the society will continue to be poor and massive inequality will continue to reign in the land. If there was any thing all Nigerians should be up in arms about it's should be this issue. Someone needs to explain this topic so that the common man can understand this. That if I find gold (Or oil) on my land, it's mine and not the govts. As long as I pay property taxes on the land to the local govt I am good. The govt has no right to come and take it from me.

davidif:
I wish more Nigerians were really passionate about this issue cos property rights is the most foundational building block of any successful economy without it, the society will continue to be poor and massive inequality will continue to reign in the land. If there was any thing all Nigerians should be up in arms about it's should be this issue. Someone needs to explain this topic so that the common man can understand this. That if I find gold (Or oil) on my land, it's mine and not the govts. As long as I pay property taxes on the land to the local govt I am good. The govt has no right to come and take it from me.

omohayek:

My guess is that most Nigerians don't recognize the problem because most of them have never lived under a system in which private property rights have been treated seriously, especially rights to land. That's why it seems normal to them that state governors should get to decide who to hand out certificates of occupancy to, as if they were kings in medieval Europe.

davidif:


And What what does this have to do with anything? Gosh you Nigerians are so unnecessarily defensive
I am using Lagos as a model for governmental dysfunction in Nigeria because I travelled there and because it's what I am familiar with so stop getting your panties all in a bunch like a teenage girl.

omohayek:
While I agree with Ambode that the Land Use Act needs to go, I strongly disagree with his suggested replacement. Why should the state governors, using the legislatures they control, be given even more freedom to act like mini-dictators?

What needs to replace the Land Use Act is to make clear and easy provision for individuals to acquire perpetual title to land, and to then dispose of said land as they please, whether by sale, gifting it or whatever. It should be made much harder for politicians to interfere with individual property rights except where eminent domain clearly applies, and een then individuals should be entitled to receive fair market value (as assessed by an agency independent from the government) for the land taken from them.

Of course, all of the above is what one would wish for in a sane country whose leaders are actually serious about making the citizens lives better, rather than merely searching for new opportunities to steal. As such I don't expect any governors, senators or house members to come forward in favor of individual land rights.

omohayek:
While I agree with Ambode that the Land Use Act needs to go, I strongly disagree with his suggested replacement. Why should the state governors, using the legislatures they control, be given even more freedom to act like mini-dictators?

What needs to replace the Land Use Act is to make clear and easy provision for individuals to acquire perpetual title to land, and to then dispose of said land as they please, whether by sale, gifting it or whatever. It should be made much harder for politicians to interfere with individual property rights except where eminent domain clearly applies, and een then individuals should be entitled to receive fair market value (as assessed by an agency independent from the government) for the land taken from them.

Of course, all of the above is what one would wish for in a sane country whose leaders are actually serious about making the citizens lives better, rather than merely searching for new opportunities to steal. As such I don't expect any governors, senators or house members to come forward in favor of individual land rights.