Oyo State Government has flagged-off the payment of the Land Use Charge, with a call to residents of the state to key into the government’s move to uplift people of the state from poverty to prosperity.
While speaking shortly after the symbolic flag-off, held at the Executive Council Chamber of the Governor’s Office on Tuesday by Governor Seyi Makinde, the Commissioner for Finance in the state, Mr. Akinola Ojo, maintained that the essence of the bill was to ensure that the state has the revenue required to carry out all the exceptional projects to uplift people from poverty to prosperity.
He noted that across the state, a lot of significant projects are going and the only way the government could fund these projects was by ensuring it has adequate revenue to complete these projects.
The commissioner said: “At the exco today, the governor flagged off the payment of the Land Use charge, which was one of his cardinal electioneering promises.”
“The whole essence of the bill is to ensure that Oyo State has the revenue required to carry out all the exceptional projects to uplift our people from poverty to prosperity. Across the state, you can see a lot of significant projects going on and the only way we can fund these projects is by ensuring we have adequate revenue to complete these projects.”
“The governor 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 has 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 smart phone 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 smart phone. That is the easiest way of paying your land use charge bill.”
“He whole essence of the bill is to ensure that Oyo State has the revenue required to carry out all the exceptional projects to uplift our people from poverty to prosperity. Across the state, you can see a lot of significant projects going on and the only way we can fund these projects is by ensuring we have adequate revenue to complete these projects.”
“You can also go to the bank if you don’t have a smart phone, 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 you can pay the bill and you get the receipt.”
“So, we encourage every resident of Oyo State to embrace this lofty idea and ensure that we find a way to revolutionise this state,” he said.
In another development, the state government in its bid to create effective data base for residents, has also approved the state resident registration programme.
Disclosing the development on behalf of the governor, the Special Assistant to the Governor bon ICT and E-Governance, Mr. Bayo Akande, said: “It is a programme that involves the renumeration and registration of all residents of Oyo State.”
“This is in a bid by His Excellency to secure the state, so we can know the people coming into and going out of the state.”
“This will also enable the government to plan more effectively. It will also help in revenue collection as we can then bring more residents under the Oyo State catchment.”
“It will help the government provide more resources based on the data that we have gotten from the registration.”
On the state of education, Governor Makinde approved the relocation and establishment of College of Agriculture and Renewable Natural Resources of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH to Iseyin.
According to the state’s Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barr. Olasunkanmi Olaleye, the university would commence steps to work with the community to ensure that land is provided for the establishment of that college.
He said: “As mandated, in the course of the University, we will commence steps to ensure that the approval of the NUC and also that the Ministry of Education and the management of LAUTECH work with the community to ensure that land is provided for the establishment of that College.
“Finally, the council also approved that the take-off grant be provided.”
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